Transit Television shuts down, files for Chapter 7

It's bad enough when a company in our space files for bankruptcy, but we all know the drill: high up-front costs coupled with uncertain advertiser demand and even less certain consumer response makes our industry a dangerous one to play in. It's worse, though, when the company decides not to give it another shot under different management, but instead decides to just take its marbles and go home.

But that's exactly what Transit TV is doing - instead of filing for Chapter 11 "restructuring," they've opted for Chapter 7 "you can take our stuff, but we don't owe you nothin'."  It's a shame, considering their potential scope:

Transit TV is North America's biggest transit-based digital
advertising network operator. The company has installed and operates
digital ad technology on the transit systems in Los Angeles, Chicago,
Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Orlando, Fla.

Transit TV provides
advertising on 8,500 television screens and is seen by more than 500
million riders a year on nearly 4,000 vehicles.

But then, digital signage in moving vehicles has had a VERY rocky start everywhere it's been tried, from the dozen or so companies that have cut their teeth trying in-ride kiosks and screens in Las Vegas taxi cabs, to the much maligned NY10 taxi network in New York City.

I'm just wondering if IdeaCast, who had expressed interest in buying the network a few times, might now be willing to pick up the firm's assets on the cheap, and give it another try without quite as considerable an expenditure as Transit TV had.