Page "Fairchild Channel F" Paragraph 45

The biggest effect of the Channel F in the market was to spur Atari into releasing and improving their next-generation console which was then in development.

Then codenamed " Stella ," the machine was also set to utilize cartridges ; after seeing the Channel F, Atari realized they needed to release it before the market was flooded with cartridge-based machines.

With cash flow dwindling as sales of their existing Pong-based systems dried up, they were forced to sell to Warner Communications to gain the capital they needed.

When the Atari VCS gaming system ( whose name was coined as a takeoff of the VES ) was released a year later, it had considerably better graphics and sound.