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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.
 
In 1980 at my location in northern California, The Rural Alaska Television Network (RATNET) and Learn Alaska were two of the strongest signals. Six of the twenty four transponders on Satcom F2 had an oval footprint with one end over Alaska and the other end over California. Each evening Anchorage would drop the RATNET signal and two, much weaker, half transponder signals would come up from Los Angeles. Each signal carried the evening network news from one of the networks. I don't remember for certain which two of the three networks, but vaguely recall CBS was one. After the news, the strong RATNET signal returned. BTW I was using an 8 foot dish and 120 degree LNA.

RATNET carried the local news from KTUU in Anchorage, a half hour of Alaskan weather, and occasionally an Anchorage stations in-depth coverage of Alaskan events such as the Iditarod dog sled race. I don't recall how delayed the network shows were. I believe RATNET was just picking and choosing programs from the Anchorage stations.

Over the years RATNET (now ARCS) has been on a number of satellites, some did not provide any signal outside of the PNW. Two years ago I was receiving it here in New Mexico on a 10 ft dish. I had to move and no longer have a C Band dish, but I believe it is still receivable in the western half of the country.

Both east and west feeds of CBC English used the CBC North ID. They were dual purpose, feeding programs to stations in southern Canada and the entire schedule was carried by low power stations across the north. During the minute or two before TOH they had graphics of the weather forecast in places across the north. I also recall graphics in the Inuit alphabet. There was a weekly program, Focus North, which had in-depth coverage of northern issues.

Tucked into the edge of the 3 CBC transponders were SCPC CBC radio feeds. I recall signals from Montreal, Toronto, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit). The northern stations had both CBC network and local local programming. Even things like messages to people in the bush that they had a package waiting for them in town.

The co-located Anik A2 and A3 had maybe 4 or 5 Cancom channels. These were non-CBC TV channels from across Canada. Vancouver and Hamilton Ont. were two that I remember. Each also carried one or two local radio stations on subcarriers. The Cancom channels were the first to scramble, well before HBO. They used the Oak Orion system, a hybrid analog video, digital audio system.

NPR had a number of SCPC channels on Westar 1. Long before the internet, finding all of these radio feeds was a lot of fun for an R.F. geek like me.

Good times!
 
The Cancom channels were CITV Edmonton (13), CHCH Hamilton (11), the aforementioned TCTV / TVA, and CHAN/BCTV Vancouver (8), as well as the three networks from Detroit, which were carried all over Canada for many years, and still are available on cable/satellite along with other US markets.

Here's an example of that CBC North blue-screen weather forecast...from a tape I found years ago. CBC North also carried an Inuit-language newscast along with the English-language news.

C-Band was so awesome, and I wish I had been around to see all of those wild feeds. It's fun finding a VHS recording second-hand and seeing the color bars, slates, and strange feeds.

Glad to see you on here, lost_mesa. Did you tape a lot of stuff from the satellite feeds?
 
Thanks for the welcome and refreshing my memory on the details of the Cancom channels. There was also NTV (CJON) from St. John's, but I think it was not part of the Cancom package.

I really enjoyed your tape of CBC North. I had lots of tapes and detailed logs, but unfortunately lost all of those when our little community burned down in 2011. So all I have now is memories.

One small bit of trivia. The Anik A series satellites were spin stabilized satellites with a rotating waveguide joint feeding the de-spun antenna. With age the waveguide joint had gotten lossy, causing the signal strength to vary over a period of a few seconds. With the Cancom channels being just below threshold on my system, the constant change in sparklies was very noticeable.
 


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