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C-Band as of 12/5/1982

C

crainbebo

Source: an ad for Brazos Valley Satellite TV in the Bryan-College Station Eagle, via Newspapers.com.

I am unfamiliar with some of these networks. Help me out if you can.

Interestingly, this ad listed the channels by transponder number...NOT by satellite! So the transponder/channel 1s are listed first, followed by the transponder/channel 2s, etc. OCCASIONAL FEED/WILD FEED TRANSPONDERS NOT LISTED. It could be possible that some of these networks never made it to air, or were on for a very short time. Early cable TV subscribers...please help out with identification!
Listed are satellites AB (Anik B), AD (Anik D), D3 (Comsat?), Satcom F2/F3, and Westar W4/W5. F2 was later home to the original Primetime 24 package of WXIA, WBBM and WABC. Westar 5 would continue to be used into the early '90s and held a few regional sports networks, Gene Scott, and a lot of syndication and sports feeds, including Group W's syndicated feed on W5-18.

D3-1 NBC Network (East)
F3-1 Nickelodeon / ARTS
F3-2 PTL Network (People That Love)
F3-3 WGN Chicago IND
W5-3 WOR New York IND
F3-4 Spotlight (short-lived pay network)
F3-5 The Movie Channel
F3-6 WTBS Atlanta IND
F4-6 Bravo
W4-6 XEW-TV Mexico City
F4-7 National Christian Network
F4-7 Escapade (Playboy Channel)
W5-7 CBS Cable
F3-7 ESPN
AD-8 CHCH-TV Hamilton
F4-8 The Entertainment Channel (??? help on this one)
F3-9 USA Network
F3-10 Showtime West
W5-10 Black Entertainment Television/BET
AB-11 CBC North
W5-11 Satellite News Channel
F3-11 MTV
F2-11 LearnAlaska TV Network (probably had a spot beam away from the lower 48, like the Alaska Satellite TV Project. Even those living in Vancouver BC had fuzzy, sparkly-filled reception.)
F3-12 Showtime East
D3-13 ABC Network (E Feed)
F3-14 CNN
AD-14 TCTV-TV Montreal (TQS, I believe?)
F3-15 CNN-2
AB-15 CBFT Montreal (SRC)
W4-15 PBS Feed A
AD-16 CBC French (north feed?)
F3-16 Appalachian Community Service Network (now TLC) / Good Stuff (??? what was this?) / Home Theatre Network Plus (pay cable)
D3-17 CBS Network East
F3-17 Cable Health Network
F4-17 TBN
W4-17 PBS Feed B
AD-18 CITV Edmonton
W4-18 SelecTV / Financial News Network
F3-19 C-SPAN
F4-19 American Movie Network (???)
W4-19 EROS (??? adult channel?)
F3-20 Cinemax East
F3-21 Weather Channel (newborn at that point)
W4-21 PBS Feed C
AD-22 BCTV Vancouver (CHAN-TV, CTV)
F3-22 Modern Satellite Network / Daytime (later Lifetime) / also the USA Blackout Channel
W4-22 Satellite Programming Network (SPN)
F3-23 Cinemax West
W4-23 PBS Feed D
F2-23 Alaska Satellite TV Project
AD-24 CBC English (maybe the western North feed? or CBMT Montreal?)
F3-24 HBO East
W5-24 Black Entertainment TV
W4-24 Galavision (Spanish)

Of course, about everything you see here was unscrambled for the early TVRO users! Including HBO and Showtime!
 
Just popping in long enough to solve one of your mysteries, since you asked for help ...

The Entertainment Channel was a short-lived pay channel owned by NBC through a subsidiary corporation, Rockfelller Center Television. It was the "Entertainment" part of the Arts & Entertainment Network after the merger with Hearst-ABC's Alpha Repertory Television Service.

TEC had the American television rights to a lot of BBC programmes, which is how such treasures as "Yes Minister" came to the Friday night A&E lineup post-merger. (Which I will forever be grateful for, as I still find that to be the most brilliant political satire ever.)

And you're welcome!
 
If memory serves ...
Anik D 14 was TVA, a French-language network flagshipped by CFTM Montreal. TQS wasn't created until 1986 ...
Anik D 16 was indeed the Societe Radio-Canada (CBC French) feed that went to every affiliate ...
Anik D 24 was the CBC North Pacific Time feed ...
The Alaskan feed on Satcom F2 11 was indeed full of sparkilies away from Alaska, but you could discern it ...
Westar 4 19's Eros was an R-rated adult movie channel ...
Westar 4 22's Satellite Program Network is why there's an E in ESPN. SPN was already taken ...
The occasional use birds included Westar 1, the first U.S. domestic satellite, launched in 1984 (Canada's Anik 1 was first in North America, in 1972). By 1982 Westar 1 was nearly out of station-keeping fuel and was allowed to wobble. You could see the signal strength vary as the feedhorn tilted up and down.
 
Thanks for your help. I'm guessing a lot of the Entertainment Channel's BBC content later went to PBS, as that's how shows like Fawlty Towers and Are You Being Served? took off here in the US.
I have never found anything from the RATNET/ARCS channel on VHS, even though I have a few Anchorage recordings. I know for decades they have aired selected shows from the Anchorage stations. Was that the case even then, or was their programming all videotaped and delayed multiple days? Did they air Anchorage commercials or substitute with PSAs and bumpers, ala AFRTS?

There were a few years in the late '80s where CBC North (PT feed) was available on local cable in Yakima. I just found a Fish'n Canada episode from 1989 via CBC North. It was probably by popular demand as other cable systems as far as Walla Walla were carrying a microwave feed of CHEK/6 Victoria. Why the Yakima cable provider didn't carry CHEK, I have no idea. It wasn't carried in Ellensburg either.
 
TCTV, by the way, wasn't TQS - that network didn't launch until 1986. It was a national network feed of TVA, the older commercial network in Quebec. It was mostly a feed of CFTM in Montreal but also picked up some other local newscasts from around Quebec. It was replaced by a straight feed of CFTM by the end of the 1980s.
 


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