Forgotten early cable networks

[RyanHoward]

There was also the Mizlou Sports News Network(SNN), which existed for a few months in 1990. My local cable system carried it as a share with
SportsChannel Philadelphia, which eventually evolved in the current Comcast SportsNet.

 

[Avid Listener]

I would mention Hollywood Home Theater, an early competitor to HBO in the 70's, but since I remember it, it isn't forgotten.

 

[K.M. Richards]

When owners of a cable channel go out of business and sell the transponder space to somebody else, who introduce a new channel with a different format and having no connection with the first channel, then the first channel is defunct.

I'll buy that, but it still negates three entries from your list.

Nostalgia -> GoodLife -> YouToo ... same channel, rebranded.
America's Talking -> MSNBC ... same transponder and owner.
CourtTV -> truTV ... same channel, rebranded.

 

[CTListener]

I vaguely remember something called Celtic TV or Celtic Vision on cable in the '90s or early '00s. It carried a very limited number of shows, repeated endlessly. The big attraction was Scottish football (soccer) every Saturday.

 

[JeffM]

Here's another one: ACSN, the Appalachian Community Service Network, which despite its regional-sounding name, was on my cable system in Massachusetts in 1981 or so. It carried a variety of educational programming, including some interesting nature programs. I think it eventually was absorbed by the entity that wound up becoming TLC.

Ah, yes! ACSN! I'd been trying to remember what it was called, thanks! I think that's the channel I remember offering programs like "Survival Spanish with Vivian Ruiz" (a most charming instructor) and a late-night newscast in Filipino language. On my area's cable system in Wisconsin, they were on a "shared" channel with various public-access and "special local" programming (city council meetings, etc.) and were often unintentionally pre-empted by someone neglecting to flip a switch.

Their programming back then may have been ultra-low budget and of limited general appeal, but it was of serious intent and did a good job of serving specialized niche audiences. Now what do they show? 19 Kids & Counting, My 600-Pound Life, and THERE GOES Honey-Boo-Boo. Hur-ry, hur-ry, hur-ry, step right up...

(I only recently learned that Vivian Ruiz was/is not actually a language teacher, but rather a talented actress still active today in telenovelas and as a voice artist dubbing animated cartoons into Spanish.)

 

[K.M. Richards]

Here's another one: ACSN, the Appalachian Community Service Network, which despite its regional-sounding name, was on my cable system in Massachusetts in 1981 or so. It carried a variety of educational programming, including some interesting nature programs. I think it eventually was absorbed by the entity that wound up becoming TLC.

Finally had some time to research this, and the Library of Congress website had much of the background and pointed me in the right directions to fill in the gaps in the channel's history.

NASA started what was called the Appalachian Education Satellite Program way back in 1972 and was distributed via a NASA satellite. It was converted to an independent non-profit organization as the Appalachian Community Service Network in 1980 which took on the slogan "The Learning Channel" not long afterwards, although the primary branding was ACSN during the first half of the decade. In 1985, it was sold to a partnership that was 51% owned by Financial News Network (and lost the rights to continue using the ACSN name as a result); when FNN went bankrupt in 1991 Discovery bought the channel, and at first used it to repurpose material from its primary channel. Over time, the educational programming diminished and was replaced by (ugh) reality shows, leading Discovery to rebrand it just by the initials TLC in 1998.

If you try using Wikipedia as a source you get a muddier version of the above. And you also don't find out from there that Ted Turner had tried to buy FNN two years' previous or that Viacom had made a bid to buy FNN and TLC but withdrew under pressure from John Malone, who dropped Lifetime from his TCI cable systems until Viacom capitulated.

 

[Ultimajock]

Newsworld International (not "News World") became Current and then Al-Jazeera.

...more specifically, Al Jazeera America. Ironically, Newsworld International probably got its largest U.S. audience on 9/11; after the terrorist attacks, HSN cancelled its home shopping programming and aired Newsworld International instead, which in turn was carrying the coverage of parent network CBC, anchored by Peter Mansbridge from Toronto...

 

[Markxxx]

I used to watch the JC Penny shopping channel. At the time our cable company Jones, only had QVC, no HSN.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Ironically, Newsworld International probably got its largest U.S. audience on 9/11; after the terrorist attacks, HSN cancelled its home shopping programming and aired Newsworld International instead, which in turn was carrying the coverage of parent network CBC, anchored by Peter Mansbridge from Toronto...

Another of the many quirks in the history of television. Of course, the original vision for Current failed miserably (the viewer-supplied mini-documentaries, etc.) which is what caused Al Gore and partners to covert it to a more traditional model after MSNBC let Keith Olbermann go. And it was after Olbermann typically pushed the envelope and found himself off the tube again that Current was sold.

The latest chapter to the saga is that DirecTV is trying to get out of carrying Al-Jazeera America because they are still doing so under the original Current agreement and they claim the channel's shift away from the original viewer-provided content was a material change in the channel, giving them the right to drop it. Um, hello? If that's the reasoning, shouldn't the channel have been dropped when Olbermann came over there?

 

[FredLeonard]

Aspects of defunct cable channels linger on. CBN was a religious channel that morphed into the "Family Channel" and changed hands at least twice (Fox, then Disney). But they are still obliged to carry Pat Robertson until the second coming.

Some of these more recent channels have ties to defunct channels but it's sort of like the old joke about George Washington's ax. Antique dealer tells a customer that an old, battered ax used to belong to George Washington - but it's had four new heads and three new handles since he owned it.

Licensed OTA broadcasters can claim links even when the license has passed through different owners, call letters, formats and even COLs. Not sure cable channels can do the same.

 

[installLSC]

Back to ACSN. The obvious questions:
--Why was NASA broadcasting educational programming to begin with? The current NASA channel is almost entirely focused on space programming.
--If it's called the "Appalachian" network, why was the programming of general educational and not really focused on the Appalachian area? Or was it at the start?

 

[K.M. Richards]

Aspects of defunct cable channels linger on. CBN was a religious channel that morphed into the "Family Channel" and changed hands at least twice (Fox, then Disney). But they are still obliged to carry Pat Robertson until the second coming.

And the word "family" must also remain part of the channel's name, no matter who owns it.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Back to ACSN. The obvious questions:
--Why was NASA broadcasting educational programming to begin with? The current NASA channel is almost entirely focused on space programming.
--If it's called the "Appalachian" network, why was the programming of general educational and not really focused on the Appalachian area? Or was it at the start?

The available information is very limited. I don't know that the answers to those questions are going to be easily answered.

I do know that the present NASA TV channel was started immediately after AESP became ACSN.

 

[semoochie]

The new cable build-outs had more channels. I had the standard 70(or whatever)in the early to mid 80s. Older systems took awhile to "gain equality".

 

[CTListener]

Back to ACSN.
--If it's called the "Appalachian" network, why was the programming of general educational and not really focused on the Appalachian area? Or was it at the start?

I think the idea was that the schools in the poorest pockets of Appalachia were of such low quality that professionally produced educational programming of all kinds was needed there. The kids didn't need to know more about Appalachia from TV -- they lived there!

 

[thomwim]

There was this premium family channel I used to watch. It was called "BAM!" or "POW!" or something, and I think it was owned by Starz.

 

[harrisburgpatv2]

There was this premium family channel I used to watch. It was called "BAM!" or "POW!" or something, and I think it was owned by Starz.

I believe you're thinking of WAM!, which is now called "Encore Family".

 

[deepstblu]

My favorite early cable channel was the weird SPN (Satellite Program Network) -- a bizarre mishmash of advice shows, public-domain movies, gospel music, ethnic programming, wrestling shows from obscure promotions, minor league baseball games shown on tape a full week after they were played,

They had a woman named Susan Noon hosting a daytime interview show. I don't know if this clip is from an SPN program, but the interviewing style and production values seem familiar. No need to watch more than a minute or so, you'll catch on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySvu1VAzOHo

 

[Unregistered]

The international channel!

Here's a great one for all of you-The International Channel. It was on my cable system in the 1990s and featured ethnic TV programming from around the world in over 20 languages. They featured newscasts from Fujisankei in Japan, Filipino variety shows from GMA in Manila and anime in Japanese. It was one of the earliest national ethnic channels in our country.