Network Setting Up Shop at Glendale Studios

A fledgling television network has agreed to become the main tenant at the Glendale Studios and plans to make the facility the base for its production operations.

Channel America Television Network, a 24-hour television programmer founded in 1988, reaches 35 million homes in the East and Midwest, mostly through low-power broadcast signals or cable systems. Low-power television stations often operate in rural areas and broadcast in a radius of 25 to 30 miles.

Channel America, based in Darien, Conn., and run by founder David Post, provides such programming as old movies, vintage television shows and talk shows to these stations in exchange for air time it then sells to advertisers.

Allen Christopher, Channel America’s senior vice president of programming and network operations, said the firm’s production operations in Glendale will allow it to tap the skilled local work force as it expands. And it will provide a base from which it plans to launch into the West Coast broadcast and cable markets.

Previously, Channel America used independent contractors for its production needs. Now, with production offices and two sound stages at the Glendale facility, the company will produce its own programming. Christopher said the network is currently looking for a partner to start a home-shopping program.

Channel America will begin operations in Glendale with a full-time staff of about 20--in addition to the 20 employees who will remain in Connecticut, Christopher said.

But many more temporary employees could be brought on for various shows, he said. Christopher expects Channel America’s staff to grow as the company expands. He predicted the network would reach 50 million homes by early 1997.

“We’ve been very quiet about it, doing it the hard way,” he said of the firm’s growth. “We look at any designated market area and don’t put all our eggs in one basket.”