NOYZ was an American television network owned and operated by
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
-based Blue Frog Media. Blue Frog also established BULLA, a Hispanic music channel similar to NOYZ. BULLA was discontinued in December 2007 due to budget and staffing cuts.
History
Founding by Blue Frog Media
NOYZ was an American television network owned and operated by Seattle-based Blue Frog Media.
Blue Frog Media was a Seattle mobile media and entertainment company co-founded by
Ron Erickson.
Originally called Blue Frog Mobile, it sold ringtones, wallpaper images, and games to cell-phone users.
Erickson was Chairman and CEO
of the company until 2007.
In addition to NOYZ, Blue Frog also established BULLA, a Hispanic music channel similar to NOYZ. BULLA was discontinued in December 2007 due to budget and staffing cuts.
Start of NOYZ
In 2006 Blue Frog became best known for founding NOYZ, a television network that aired mostly
pop and
hip hop music videos, where members could send
text messages
Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/ laptops, or another type of compatible comput ...
to be placed on the air.
The videos featured a continuing interactive chat on the bottom third of the screen, where members could talk using text messages transmitted to the network to be placed on air. Each message cost 99ยข, and had to be broadcast-safe to be featured on-air.
Discontinuation
The network aired beginning in 2007 overnights on the men's digital cable network
MAVTV, but as of January 10, 2008 that network discontinued airing it, suggesting NOYZ went off-the-air. Shortly after, the network's
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...
was taken offline and would lead to a
domain parking
Domain parking is the registration of an Internet domain name without that domain being associated with any services such as e-mail or a website. This may have been done with a view to reserving the domain name for future development, and to prot ...
page. Blue Frog Media had burned through $16 million of
venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...
funding over three years and was unable to raise any more money, and filed for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy
Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...
on February 1, 2008, with $1 million in liabilities from service providers, television stations and other creditor
Blue Frog had planned further expansion before their bankruptcy in 2008, using the funds from the shutdown of BULLA to establish Noyz Country (a country-oriented channel), and UR Noyz, which would focus on Christian music.
See also
*
The Box (US TV channel), The Box - former over-the-air music network similar to NOYZ, later evolved into MTV2
*
MTV2 - available in some areas
over-the-air
*
Mas Musica
MTV Tres (taken from the Spanish word for the number three ''tres'', stylized as tr3s, with an acute accent over the '3') is an American owned by Paramount Media Networks, a subsidiary of Paramount Global.
The channel is targeted toward biling ...
- former over-the-air music network, evolved into MTV Tr3s
*
MTV Tr3s
MTV Tres (taken from the Spanish word for the number three ''tres'', stylized as tr3s, with an acute accent over the '3') is an American owned by Paramount Media Networks, a subsidiary of Paramount Global.
The channel is targeted toward biling ...
- available in some areas over the air
References
Music video networks in the United States
Mobile phone culture
Defunct companies based in Seattle
Television channels and stations established in 2006
Defunct television networks in the United States
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2008
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