The Sega Channel was an online game service developed by Sega for the Sega Genesis video game console, serving as a content delivery system. Launched on December 14, 1994, the Sega Channel was provided to the public by TCI and Time Warner Cable through cable television services by way of coaxial cable.
By June 1994, 21 cable companies had signed up to carry the Sega Channel service. US fees varied depending on location, but were approximately $15 monthly, plus a $25 activation fee, which included the adapter. The Sega Channel expanded into Canada in late 1995, with an approximately $19 monthly fee.
The service would go on to garner as many as 250,000 subscribers; however, Sega had anticipated having over one million subscribers by the end of its first year, and had made the service available to over 20 million households.
In late November of 1997 it was announced that the Sega Channel would be shut down on June 30, 1998, but it ended up staying on for another month, finally being discontinued on July 31, 1998.
We had this when I was a kid. It came strangely late in the console's life, but it was cool. This was before cable modems were a household norm and it felt like the future in a way that console gaming didn't recapture for another couple generations. In retrospect that monthly fee was over $30 adjusted for inflation and it's wild that my parents were actually willing to pay that.
We had this for what feels like a long time. No one seems to remember and looks at me like I was taking crazy pills when I talk about it.
It was only around for 4 years, and they peaked at 250k subscribers (against 19m segas sold in the US) so it remained pretty niche. I've similarly never met anyone else who had it and remembers it outside of my family.