Big Ends

The 'And Finally' thread brushed upon the subject of TV channels closing down and so thought this might be an apt new topic for the dying days of the forum.

Firstly here's a poignant and celebratory look back followed by a long list of credits:
Lifestyle


and here's David Hamilton in a similar mood a couple of decades earlier closing down another TV station

Goodnight and goodbye from ABC North presented by David Hamilton at 11.55 p.m. on Sunday 28th July 1968... pic.twitter.com/GyPIm6e7tZ

— The Telly Box (@tellytvbox) February 28, 2021

Here's Setanta Sports News saying goodbye while people in the newsroom behind pick up their belongings and start to head to the pub


Alternatively some channels just stop broadcasting without even a goodbye:


.... or just cut to bars during an ident



Here's some Americans doing it geekily with a compilation of old testcards and logos


and turning the transmitter off live on air




Or if that's not enough with a bit of YouTube magic here are 61 channels all closing down at the same time:

Let’s face it, it’s hard to top this one, a dignified exit from a quality broadcaster, who had every reason to be bitter, but weren’t:

To which here’s the behind the scenes of the transmission area during the final junctions:

I’m turning back the clock 25 years exactly tonight as we said goodbye to the great Thames Television as London’s Weekday ITV. Thought I’d share for the first time a couple of the videos I shot that night at the Euston Road HQ as Thames finally went off air. Happy New Year Mark pic.twitter.com/O8BV8jfIRN

— Mark Lipscomb (@marklipscomb) December 31, 2017

And here’s the second of my videos as we mark 25 years since we said goodbye to Thames. Enjoy Mark pic.twitter.com/dOrhbhXuoK

— Mark Lipscomb (@marklipscomb) December 31, 2017

I was going to save the next one until the 31st March, however its a bit of fun:

Those videos by Mark Liscomb are an amazing piece of TV history. I worked with some of those present a few years later and can see a few familiar faces.

Great he thought to film it, these days virtually everyone there would have been filming and taking selfies

Looks like whoever recorded that likes Make Room For Daddy

You can die dignity-free as Southern did, where their final programme included a bitter speech from the chairman as well as Richard Stilgoe:

Technically it wasnt the final programme, it was Day by Yesterday which was shown earlier in the day (unless it was repeated as part of the final programme too). But, yes, a very bitter and undignified way to go.



I think TWW sulked off air back in 1968 as well, just before they handed over to ITSWW because they didn't want to keep broadcasting.

BBC Three's 2016 departure was incredibly low-key.

Doesn't help that they still came back on to broadcast occasional programmes for weeks afterwards, I think to keep the EPG slot for the closedown message.

A completion of various Disney channels closing down:

Sometimes they literally just pull the plug, like when Trace Latina and Starz closed, both of which were before the end of a music video (although Trace Latina wasn't far off the end, they pulled it a few seconds too early):

Quiz channel Cash House closing down in 2006

What channel was that on (or was it just its own channel?), I’ve never heard of it.