The Southern Command Network (SCN) was a unit of the
American Forces Network
The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the United States Armed Forces provides to soldiers stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. AFN comprises two sub ...
whose primary market was the
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...
. Its operation was provided initially by Armed Forces Radio (AFN) at
Albrook Field
Albrook Air Force Station is a former United States Air Force facility in Panama. It was closed on 30 September 1997 as a result of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties which specified that United States military facilities in the former Panama Canal Zon ...
and later as the
Caribbean Forces Network at
Fort Clayton
Fort Clayton was a United States Army base in the former Panama Canal Zone, later part of the Republic of Panama.
Base
Fort Clayton was located northwest of Balboa, Panama, with the Panama Canal located nearby. It closed in 1999 pursuant ...
with translators on the Atlantic side of the Canal Zone. In the early 1960s with reorganization of the command located in the Canal Zone, CFN became the Southern Command Network (SCN). SCN also broadcast to U.S. troops stationed in
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
starting in 1987. SCN discontinued broadcasting on 1 July 1999 just before the 31 December turnover of the Canal Zone to the
Republic of Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
when U.S. troops were removed from that country under the
Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
SCN also operated in
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
; its radio stations are now under the control of AFN Europe.
History
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
started donating 2,000 pounds worth of programs to a station in Panama in September 1941 before the invasion of Pearl Harbor; its broadcasts became definitive in early 1942.
On May 6, 1956, SCN started television broadcasts on channel 8 in the Panama Canal Zone, nearly four years before the launch of
RPC Televisión. It also had a relay on channel 10 in the Atlantic zone. The network adopted the SCN name in 1963.
[Roy, 2000] Although the channel was intended to be restricted to servicemen in the Panama Canal Zone, the signal was clear in Panama City and Colón, where bilingual families started buying television sets.
[
Instead of being a direct part of AFRTS, SCN was the only operation under the direct control of the local unified command (SOUTHCOM).] At the end of 1978, SCN pioneered the usage of satellite technology and completed construction of its local satellite earth station in April 1979. This prefigured the beginning of AFN's satellite broadcasts (SATNET) by three years, when its main facilities in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
started satellite delivery.
Until March 1989, SCN's main problem was regarding copyright issues with Panamanian television networks (RPC and TVN, later joined by Telemetro). The situation changed when the country was gearing up for the general election
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
followed by the aftershocks of the coup attempt. SCN was caught between the Panamanian and American governments, and had a central role in the events in case the bases were invaded. The situation stabilized on January 5, 1990. During the temporary suspension of Panamanian media outlets, SCN was the only television channel authorized to operate until RPC resumed on Christmas Day with a limited schedule.
SCN ceased operations in two phases, with local origination ending on July 1, 1999 and relays ceasing completely on December 31, 1999, when the Panama Canal returned to Panamanian control. Its equipment was relocated to the United States and Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
.
In 2001, following failed attempts at creating a regional educational station, the Panamanian government started setting a date for the fate of the former SCN frequencies, July 10. Since no company successfully bid for those licenses, channels 7 and 9 in the capital zone were given for a bid, Tele 7 (now Oye TV) and TVMax, both starting in 2005.
References
{{Panama television channels
American Forces Network
Radio stations established in 1942
Radio stations disestablished in 1999
Television channels and stations established in 1956
Television channels and stations disestablished in 1999
Television stations in Panama