No, I’m talking about before the 70s when cable exclusive didn’t exist, the only “exclusives” that existed before then was signal from far away local stations that wouldn’t otherwise be accessible with regular antennas, but they were still channels available without cable in their local community. Heck, the FCC ended up forcing cable companies to carry local stations!
Also the number of subscribers might have been lower, but the number of TVs too. Cable subscribers before the 70s still represented a high enough portion of TV watchers that local stations put pressure on the FCC to regulate it.
HBO launched in 72, in 1980 there was 28 cable exclusive networks vs a multitude of local stations.
Why are you so bent about this?
Because I’m tried of seeing people who were kids or not even born back then pretend that it was better than it truly was. Facts are important and “the point of cable TV was to not have ads” isn’t a fact, it’s a lie that started from people who remember wrong (or only watched the few ads free channels because they were kids and uninterested in local TV or didn’t live it at all) when it’s extremely easy to prove the contrary. Heck, your parents would be the ones who could say considering they were the ones who decided to subscribe, not you.
In the late 80s, yeah. That’s after what I’m talking about.https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/rise-cable-television
https://www.cablecompare.com/blog/the-complete-history-of-cable-tv
https://www.ncta.com/cables-story
No, I’m talking about before the 70s when cable exclusive didn’t exist, the only “exclusives” that existed before then was signal from far away local stations that wouldn’t otherwise be accessible with regular antennas, but they were still channels available without cable in their local community. Heck, the FCC ended up forcing cable companies to carry local stations!
Also the number of subscribers might have been lower, but the number of TVs too. Cable subscribers before the 70s still represented a high enough portion of TV watchers that local stations put pressure on the FCC to regulate it.
HBO launched in 72, in 1980 there was 28 cable exclusive networks vs a multitude of local stations.
Why are you so bent about this?Because I’m tried of seeing people who were kids or not even born back then pretend that it was better than it truly was. Facts are important and “the point of cable TV was to not have ads” isn’t a fact, it’s a lie that started from people who remember wrong (or only watched the few ads free channels because they were kids and uninterested in local TV or didn’t live it at all) when it’s extremely easy to prove the contrary. Heck, your parents would be the ones who could say considering they were the ones who decided to subscribe, not you.