Pivot just couldn’t pivot fast enough.

The small cable channel shuts down on Monday, ending its short life with the film “Good Night, and Good Luck,” the 2005 movie about Edward R. Murrow produced by Pivot owner Participant Media.

The movie’s title is an appropriate farewell for Pivot, and perhaps also serves as a message for the cable industry in general – as more networks face an uncertain future in the wake of so-called “skinny bundles” (cable packages with fewer channels) and the growth of cord-cutting.

“Some of the cable networks are pulling in very small audiences,” says one production chief whose company produced for Pivot. “How long do you stick with it?”

For Participant Media, it was just over three years. IndieWire spoke with past and present Pivot insiders about the network’s brief run, and the factors that led to its quick demise – although no one wanted to speak on the record,...