News / TV

FUSE channel files for bankruptcy

FUSE, the cable network that first broadcast Billy Eichner, is bankrupt.

Fuse Media has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company fell on hard times, getting dropped from major cable systems such as Comcast and Verizon Fios, and missing loan payments.

FUSE launched in 2003, inhabiting the space formerly occupied by Much Music, and incorporated plenty of music for years thereafter, while adding comedy, talk shows and other unscripted programming.

Billy on the Street premiered on FUSE in December 2011. Other shows and personalities with strong ties to FUSE included Gabriel Iglesias, Amy Schumer (she co-hosted Hoppus on Music with Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus in 2010) and Grace Parra (the former Nightly Show correspondent co-hosted White Guy Talk Show for the channel in 2015).

In 2014, SiTV Media, parent of NuvoTV, acquired Fuse for $226 million, and previous owner Madison Square Garden would retain a 15 percent stake in the company.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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