Q Television on
the critical list

Whether it's death or just a near-death experience for the Q Television Network was unclear Wednesday. QTN chairman Lloyd Fan sent an e-mail to all the gay channel's employees announcing that network operations were being shut down and that employees were being laid off because the company was unable to meet its payroll. East Asian entrepreneur Fan took over the company two months ago, after founder Frank Olsen was pushed out in a management shakeup. In April, Fan ominously announced that QTN would be unable to deliver audited financial statements for its investors because Olsen and his team had failed to keep complete records. The announcement also revealed that one cable system, in Houston, had dropped the network.

But all may not be lost. Late Thursday afternoon, QTN executive vice president Carol Hinnant sent an eleventh-hour e-mail to those same employees announcing that "last-minute negotiations" were under way with potential investors and urging them to stay tuned for further developments. Hinnant did not return calls seeking comment. (Sirius OutQ News)