Troubles Deepen at QTV

The troubles at gay cable network Q Television keep getting worse, with the new CEO warning of “considerable accounting irregularities.” Lloyd Fan, chairman and CEO of QTV parent Triangle Multi-Media Limited, said in a statement that the financial condition of the company is worse than anticipated when he took over in March.

"Day by day, it became more apparent that the proper records were not kept and that the necessary support documents for accounting entries are not available,” Fan said. "I am deeply disappointed by these discoveries and am working to find alternative solutions for the company." Fan and other QTV executives could not be reached for comment.

The depth of QTV’s troubles became apparent in February when the network suspended production of news and talk shows, going into rerun mode. Founder Frank Olsen then left the company and was replaced by Fan, a financier who has been expected to inject new capital into Triangle. But it’s not clear whether any cash has come in.

Further, Time Warner Cable’s Houston system has dropped the pay network. When securing access on the system last year, QTV agreed to cash payments to support marketing. But the company hasn’t paid, so Time Warner dropped it last week. The network continues to be carried in nine other Time Warner systems but hasn’t convinced many subscribers to sign up.

QTV has long been a cloudy company, with Triangle trading in the over-the-counter "pink sheets" market, where information is much harder to come by than for stocks traded on larger exchanges. QTV trades for around one-one hundredth of a cent but has billions of outstanding shares and often trades more than a billion shares a day.