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Don't Just Watch TV: The Secrets of Sega Channel

The Video Game History Foundation

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Sega broke ground in the late 90s with one of the first digital game distribution systems for consoles… using television cable! Nearly 30 years after it was discontinued, little source material or game data remains from Sega Channel, and the service has been a subject of historical curiosity ever since.

For the last two years, we've been working on a special project to preserve the history of Sega Channel. We're ready to pull off the lid on what we've been up to, including some big surprises that we know you're been waiting for.

Read more: https://gamehistory.org/segachannel
Access the Michael Shorrock collection: https://archive.gamehistory.org/folde...
Access ROM data from Hidden Palace: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/2...

Listen to the full Genesis version of Unused Song 2 from The Flintstones: The Flintstones (Genesis) - Unused Song 2

Sources:
• Deborah Burns, "Dial-A-Game," Antic: The Atari Resource, Volume 2, Number 4, July 1983, p.82. Retrieved from Atari Compendium https://www.atarimania.com/atari-maga...
• Disney Channel Commercial Breaks (May 2, 2009) via Evan's Media Archive Disney Channel Commercial Breaks (May 2, 2...
• Dip Stick Stickly | Nick In The Afternoon | NickRewind via NickRewind Dip Stick Stickly | Nick In The Afternoon ...
• Jack Yarwood, "The Full Story Behind Sega Channel, Sega's Precursor To Game Pass," Time Extension, December 29, 2022 https://www.timeextension.com/feature...
• Icons from Windows 98
• "Scientific-Atlanta to demonstrate live Sega Channel video game delivery service over cable TV at NCTA Show," press release, May 23, 1994. Retrieved from Sega Retro https://segaretro.org/Press_release:_...
• "Bust A Move Again TV Commercial for GameTap - 2007" via Echoes of Playtime Bust A Move Again TV Commercial for GameTa...
• TLC Believe in Yourself PC (YouTube upload) via CJ TLC Believe In Yourself PSA
• Next Generation, Volume 1, Number 8, August 1995, p.29 https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/...
• Next Generation, Volume 4, Number 1, January 1998, p.140-141 https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/...
• Digital Diner, July 1997, p.8 https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/...
• Sega Genesis Model 2 photograph by Evan Amos (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
• Sprites and sounds used from Sonic the Hedgehog
• RisingFromRuins on Sonic Retro https://forums.sonicretro.org/threads...
• Infochunk - Reverse engineering the Sega Channel game image file format https://www.infochunk.com/schannel/in...
• Sega Channel LSZZ tools on GitHub https://github.com/Octocontrabass/cha...
• We Launched the NES 40 Years Ago Today - Gail Tilden, Lance Barr, Bruce Lowry - PRGE 2025 Portland We Launched the NES 40 Years Ago Today - G...
• David Foley resume, referencing Web Blaster. Retrieved via the Internet Archive [https://web.archive.org/web/199902242...]
• Popeye the Sailor footage mirrored by Video Game Shadows Popeye the Sailor Man | Sega Genesis | Ear...
• Popeye canon info: https://popeye.fandom.com/wiki/Bernice
• Bernice picture from Thimble Theater, May 7, 1930
• Mob Linked to Massive Stocks Scam by John Sullivan, Sun Sentinel, June 15, 2000. Retrieved from NewsBank
• Garfield: Caught in the Act - The Lost Levels PRGE 2024 footage by PZTunleaded Garfield: Caught in the Act The Lost Level...
• Garfield: Caught in the Act pre-release screens via The Cutting Room Floor, from Superjuegos issue 41 https://tcrf.net/Prerelease:Garfield:...) https://archive.org/details/Superjueg...
• Aegis Wing opening title via MobyGames https://www.mobygames.com/game/28294/...
• Aegis Wing co-op gameplay from Demon27248 Aegis Wing (Xbox 360) - Online Co-op 2023
• Sega VR ad from Sega Visions, August/September 1993, p.93

Music:
• Sega Channel music by John Baker, Howard Drossin, and David Javelosa
• Also Sprach Zarathustra performed by Kevin MacLeod, via Wikimedia Commons, (CC BY 3.0 Unported License) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
• Express Games demo music by unknown composer
• Hard Road from Super Hang-On (Genesis), sequenced by Chikako Kamatani
• Neo Tokyo from Pulseman by Junichi Masuda
• Wrath of the Demon (Amiga) music by David Whittaker
• Unused Song 2 from The Flintstones (Super Nintendo) by Dean Evans

Special resource thanks:
• Retromags
• The Spriters Resource
• The Sounds Resource
• Zophar's Domain

20 Comments

@GameHistoryOrg Creator 9 months ago (edited) Pinned

UPDATE: We heard back from David Foley at Foley Hi-Tech with more information about the development of The Flintstones!

According to Foley, FHT was contracted by Ocean to work The Flintstones after Paul Robinson left the company, before Sega Channel even entered the picture. It would've been early enough in development that it probably made sense for Ocean to start development over with this new company.

Due to the timeline and budget constraints from Ocean, FHT was unable to finish the port, and it was canceled. Later, when FHT was one of Sega Channel's preferred developers on Sega Channel software, the opportunity came up for them to finish The Flintstones as an exclusive for Sega Channel. Foley described it as a "reduced version" of the game, presumably referring to the fact that it was finished but not exactly at parity with the SNES release.

@jaysherman2615 9 months ago

I still have my Sega Channel cartridge. My mom and I actually had a "funeral" for tthe Sega Channel because we loved it so much. We got a letter telling us what day and time they were discontinuing service for the Sega Channel. We booted up the Sega Channel for one more game right before the service shut down. A minute or so before the shutoff time, we rebooted the console. We stood in silence watching Sega Channel trying to connect to the server, but that was it. No more Sega Channel. It never did connect again.

@saooran7364 9 months ago (edited)

That is the Sega curse: too in the future for the present, too in the present for the future.

@VariableVolumeMusic 9 months ago

I was the only person I knew who had Sega Channel back then.. I was still in middle school, or 'junior high'.. and NO, we weren't rich, at all.. we were actually low income, but my mom knew I REALLY wanted the Sega Channel when it came out.. i remember a few times our power would go out bc we couldn't pay the bill.. but we would also go through 'spurts' where we would be doing better 'financially', and when we did, we'd usually get cable and 1 movie channel, like Starz and Encore (came as a package) ... I remember I told my mother we could cancel the movie channels for Sega Channel! And she actually let me have it (she didn't really watch tv or movies anyways! My momma is an amazing woman! Anyways, nostalgia rant over... God bless

@EdwardLorn 9 months ago

RIP Stanley Thomas Jr. A true genius!

@phoenixmixgaming4625 9 months ago

this is a great way to end 2025 let us all thank The Video Game History Foundation for there hard work

@SockyNoob 9 months ago

RIP to all the people involved with Sega Channel and this recovery and fans who waited that are no longer with us :(

@MasterCWelch 9 months ago (edited)

My Mother worked as a Marketing Director for our local cable company which is now Spectrum. We had Sega Channel. We got to test it a a few times from our home unit to do bandwidth tests. Our signal from the Satillite was beamed to Cheyenne WY, then routed to our cable network in IA. I had so much fun with the technology. I always looked forward to the monthly refreshes to see the new game lists and backgrounds.

@CalebRazzleberry 9 months ago

SEGA in the 90s, as always, was truly deeply ahead of their time.

@TontoGoldstein78 9 months ago

12:52 "Want to rule your friends for the rest of their pathetic little lives" is peak 90's game marketing copy

@YeahItsThatBad 9 months ago

That Garfield game has surprisingly good graphics. I am impressed with how they gave Garfield a unique hat for each level.

@SockyNoob 9 months ago

We now have X-Link, Satellaview, and just about every other incredible piece of advanced gaming tech of the era working from back then. Won't be long before someone uses all this and makes some media converter to make a Sega Channel 2.0 that connects to the modern Internet and converts to coax cables for the Sega Channel. Great time to be a retro gamer, historian, and reverse engineer! It's the last big piece of the puzzle. Now you can have just about everything from the 90s working!

@SuperFromND 9 months ago

that web browser thing looks so incredibly scuffed oh my god i love it

@RodneyMunch117 9 months ago

I was actually part of the test rollout in Portland due to my father working at the local cable company at the time. When it became a paid subscription I had to convince (beg) my parents to keep it, which luckily I was successful in.

@midnightlunch3285 9 months ago

laughed unreasonably hard at "Curt the Hedgehog"
Amazing

@chrisd6287 9 months ago

I went to this kids BD party in 3rd grade and he had sega channel. I was so blown away by it and could hardly wrap my head around it at the time. That desire to understand how it worked (and a few other things) are greatly responsible for me getting into technology/computers etc. Yes I asked my Mom if we could get Sega Channel. She said no bc "the Gameboy your grandmother just got you is the same thing". Apparently mom didn't understand Sega does what nintendont. (Yes I know about Satellaview).

@Poyostar 9 months ago

Ah, to think we live in an era where Garfield: Caught In The Act's lost levels are no longer, well, lost...

Kudos to everyone who made this preservation effort possible!

@PallasPat 9 months ago

As someone who had Sega Channel from day one to its final day and is named Pat it's pretty awesome to find out that I share names with the mascot.

@GeekSHO 9 months ago

I worked at SEGA of America's customer support department for about the last year the office was open. One of our responsibilities was responding to fan mail. We got tons of fan art (some that were shockingly good, like paintings on canvas!) and of course <name> The Hedgehogs galore, usually with a request for them to be added to the next game and a list of their OC's outrageous super abilities. We would reply with a post card and some stickers, or even send them a full Sonic comic book.

@Eugenes84 9 months ago

A few things I remember about the Sega Channel. I remember the cable company gave me a Sega Channel shirt when my mom and I signed up. It was white with Sonic on it. I have never seen a photo of this shirt on the internet (It’s not the shirt in this video). I also remember the service hardly worked. Maybe 20% of the time it successfully connected. We had many poor middle aged cable men come over and hover over my Genesis trying to get it to work. I don’t remember what year I had it. Maybe it was when it was new and still had many flaws. I only had it for a half of year because the service was so poor my parents decided it wasn’t worth keeping. But when it did work, it was magical.