Defunct Cable TV networks we missed

[willdav713]

I'm glad at least one person mentioned "SPN". It was so awful. Like watching a car wreck.
They also ran some guy named Joe who sold 45's of his bad jazz band.

And once again, YouTube delivers...in this case, it delivers your fill of cheesy 80's on-screen graphics as choreographed by SPN in their coverage of the 1985 Monon Bell college football game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU2zRD4YGGQ

(What, we have our choice of text colors? Let's use 'em all!)

I think this was the PPV network on Rogers Cablevision back in 1988 in San Antonio on Channel 37, I am sure.

 

[milwaukee_dave]

Viewer's Choice. I remember when they first rolled it out to Warner Cable Houston subscribers about 1987, to 1988.

My grandparents had all the channels, then in January 1989 they got scrambled.

I am assuming when the network first became availble, the did a extended free preview or something like that. I remember watching Bad Dreams, and some other titles from back in the day.

I remember Viewer's Choice. The Jones Intercable operation in my area began carrying the service in summer 1986. Each week, there would be one movie shown at select times throughout the week. I believe each movie was $4.95 and would be added to the cable bill at the end of the month. On the off hours, when a movie wasn't being shown, the channel would host previews of the current and future films, unscrambled. I have several brochures stashed away somewhere on Viewer's Choice. I believe, but am not 100 percent certain, that my particular cable operator placed Viewer's Choice on Channel 26 -- a slot that had been held by Satellite Program Network (SPN).

 

[crainbebo]

Viewer's Choice. I remember when they first rolled it out to Warner Cable Houston subscribers about 1987, to 1988.

My grandparents had all the channels, then in January 1989 they got scrambled.

I am assuming when the network first became availble, the did a extended free preview or something like that. I remember watching Bad Dreams, and some other titles from back in the day.

Out in San Antonio there was Valuvision some type of shopping network aired on Paragon cable.

And then there was the Jukebox network, Paragon cable channel 44, replaced EWTN religious back in 1990 until June of 1992, when the olympics triplecast replaced it, followed by yet another First Choice Pay Per View channel.

Jukebox Network later morphed into The Box, which was carried on a huge network of LPTVs and translators.

Valuevision was an LPTV shopping network, which would later morph into today's ShopNBC.

-crainbebo

 

[RyanHoward]

I also miss The Faith and Values Channel as well as the Odyssey channel.

Those two channels merged into the current Hallmark Channel.

 

[JayR]

2. WWOR
7. There was another station like WWOR I forgot what it was

Could your 7 be KTVT 11 from Dallas? They were carried on cable systems throughout TX and the south, and also on C-Band.

-crainbebo

Nope, I don't think so. I was another superstation I think it used an Apple (not the Mac) Logo.

That would be WWOR EMI Service.

 

[CrankyYankee]

I used to live beyond cable, so I had a BUD(Big Ugly Dish) in the back yard. I loved that thing!!! One channel on the C-band was "Channel America" which had lots of public domain stuff and a show that consisted of clips TV historian Ira Gallen would show, called "Matinee At the Bijou". "Channel America
must have been on some cable systems, does anybody recall it?

 

[rnigma1]

I vaguely recall Channel America, and I know "Matinee at the Bijou" only as a series PBS ran in the early-mid '80s. Attempts to revive the show are apparently stymied by lack of funding. Here's their blog:
http://matineeatthebijou.blogspot.com/

 

[crainbebo]

Yep. Channel America was an LPTV/translator network, just like The Box was. There was also the American Independent Network [AIN, anyone remember that?] in the mid '90s as well as Main Street TV, another LPTV network.

C-Band of course, had all the wild feeds you could take. Remember watching Star Trek TNG via a C-Band dish, raw with black in the commercial breaks? They still do that, but it's all digital or Pathfire [many syndicated programs are fed via a wild satellite feed, digitally and/or in HD].

-crainbebo

 

[ShawnHill1]

Yep. Channel America was an LPTV/translator network, just like The Box was. There was also the American Independent Network [AIN, anyone remember that?] in the mid '90s as well as Main Street TV, another LPTV network.

-crainbebo

Like rnigma stated, I too vaguely remember Channel America; the only thing I could remember about them is around 1990 or '91, they picked-up Wally George's "Hot Seat" talk show to air nationally.

Didn't Channel America eventually become (or merged with) America One?

 

[dhett]

Yep. Channel America was an LPTV/translator network, just like The Box was. There was also the American Independent Network [AIN, anyone remember that?] in the mid '90s as well as Main Street TV, another LPTV network.

And AIN got caught up with HTV (Hispano Television Ventures) and HTVN (Hispanic Television Network), another defunct network that got some full-power broadcast stations, but ended up mostly on LPTV stations. AIN's demise was due in large part to its owner's focus on HTVN, which itself wasn't making it as a OTA network. Following AIN's closure, HTVN's owners abandoned OTA to make it a cable-only network, however, cable carriage came too late to save it.

 

[willdav713]

Viewer's Choice. I remember when they first rolled it out to Warner Cable Houston subscribers about 1987, to 1988.

My grandparents had all the channels, then in January 1989 they got scrambled.

I am assuming when the network first became availble, the did a extended free preview or something like that. I remember watching Bad Dreams, and some other titles from back in the day.

Out in San Antonio there was Valuvision some type of shopping network aired on Paragon cable.

And then there was the Jukebox network, Paragon cable channel 44, replaced EWTN religious back in 1990 until June of 1992, when the olympics triplecast replaced it, followed by yet another First Choice Pay Per View channel.

Jukebox Network later morphed into The Box, which was carried on a huge network of LPTVs and translators.

Valuevision was an LPTV shopping network, which would later morph into today's ShopNBC.

-crainbebo

Valuevision aired on Paragon Cable during the early 90s. Channel 23 before the launch of KHCE.

Jukebox renamed The Box was on LP TV Channel 19 in 1995 TLC's Red Light Special aired a lot on it.

 

[willdav713]

2. WWOR
7. There was another station like WWOR I forgot what it was

Could your 7 be KTVT 11 from Dallas? They were carried on cable systems throughout TX and the south, and also on C-Band.

-crainbebo

Nope, I don't think so. I was another superstation I think it used an Apple (not the Mac) Logo.

That would be WWOR EMI Service.

Only availble with Big Ugly Dish, I remember in July 1990 at a satelitte dealer on Perrin Beitel now CD Traders having that in the channel lineup in the brochure.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

2. WWOR
7. There was another station like WWOR I forgot what it was

Could your 7 be KTVT 11 from Dallas? They were carried on cable systems throughout TX and the south, and also on C-Band.

-crainbebo

Nope, I don't think so. I was another superstation I think it used an Apple (not the Mac) Logo.

That would be WWOR EMI Service.

Only availble with Big Ugly Dish, I remember in July 1990 at a satelitte dealer on Perrin Beitel now CD Traders having that in the channel lineup in the brochure.

Some cable providers picked it up as well. Cablevision of Southern Illinois, which served my hometown, had it on their line-up beginning around 1990 (the Universal 9 era) and carried at least through mid/late 90s (EMI/UPN). At that time, UPN was covered by the EMI service feed, which sucked because Evansville, IN didn't have a UPN affiliate at the time (or, if they did, Cablevision didn't carry it) and I missed out on the first couple seasons of "Star Trek Voyager."

 

[crainbebo]

WWOR's EMI wasn't carried on a lot of systems for some reason. WGN was widely carried however.

-crainbebo

 

[azumanga]

WWOR EMI Service.

Only availble with Big Ugly Dish, I remember in July 1990 at a satelitte dealer on Perrin Beitel now CD Traders having that in the channel lineup in the brochure.

Some cable providers picked it up as well. Cablevision of Southern Illinois, which served my hometown, had it on their line-up beginning around 1990 (the Universal 9 era) and carried at least through mid/late 90s (EMI/UPN). At that time, UPN was covered by the EMI service feed, which sucked because Evansville, IN didn't have a UPN affiliate at the time (or, if they did, Cablevision didn't carry it) and I missed out on the first couple seasons of "Star Trek Voyager."

Paragon Cable in Tampa Bay also carried WWOR and the later EMI service, but dropped the channel around 1992 and 1993 in favor of another channel (don't know which) -- they picked it up again in 1995 following the merger of Vision Cable (which also carried WWOR) and Paragon, which created Time Warner Cable in the region.

After WWOR/EMI became Animal Planet at the end of 1996, another company picked up WWOR's original signal, but only for BUD satellite dishes.

 

[JayR]

Yep. Channel America was an LPTV/translator network, just like The Box was. There was also the American Independent Network (AIN, anyone remember that?) in the mid '90s as well as Main Street TV, another LPTV network.

I remember all three networks. I know that Channel America and AIN carried pro wrestling shows (not sure about Main Street TV).

Nope, I don't think so. It was another superstation I think it used an Apple (not the Mac) Logo.

That would be WWOR EMI Service.

Only available with Big Ugly Dish, I remember in July 1990 at a satellite dealer on Perrin Beitel now CD Traders having that in the channel lineup in the brochure.

Some cable providers picked it up as well. Cablevision of Southern Illinois, which served my hometown, had it on their line-up beginning around 1990 (the Universal 9 era) and carried at least through mid/late 90s (EMI/UPN). At that time, UPN was covered by the EMI service feed, which sucked because Evansville, IN didn't have a UPN affiliate at the time (or, if they did, Cablevision didn't carry it) and I missed out on the first couple seasons of "Star Trek Voyager."

When I lived in southwest Miami, TCI of South Dade carried WWOR EMI (later renamed AEC) Service until the end. I would tune in most nights at 7:00 pm to watch Night Heat.

 

[crainbebo]

WWOR EMI Service.

Only availble with Big Ugly Dish, I remember in July 1990 at a satelitte dealer on Perrin Beitel now CD Traders having that in the channel lineup in the brochure.

Some cable providers picked it up as well. Cablevision of Southern Illinois, which served my hometown, had it on their line-up beginning around 1990 (the Universal 9 era) and carried at least through mid/late 90s (EMI/UPN). At that time, UPN was covered by the EMI service feed, which sucked because Evansville, IN didn't have a UPN affiliate at the time (or, if they did, Cablevision didn't carry it) and I missed out on the first couple seasons of "Star Trek Voyager."

Paragon Cable in Tampa Bay also carried WWOR and the later EMI service, but dropped the channel around 1992 and 1993 in favor of another channel (don't know which) -- they picked it up again in 1995 following the merger of Vision Cable (which also carried WWOR) and Paragon, which created Time Warner Cable in the region.

After WWOR/EMI became Animal Planet at the end of 1996, another company picked up WWOR's original signal, but only for BUD satellite dishes.

That would be National Programming Services [NPS]. I think they also picked up the Primetime 24 service [WSEE, WNBC, etc], maybe even the Denver stations on Satcom F1.

-crainbebo

 

[EricStein]

Like rnigma stated, I too vaguely remember Channel America; the only thing I could remember about them is around 1990 or '91, they picked-up Wally George's "Hot Seat" talk show to air nationally.

Channel America aired on low-power K25DM in North Phoenix from 1990-93. I remember Channel America airing some second- or third-tier wrestling association (World Class Championship Wrestling?) right before "Hot Seat with Wally George".

Didn't Channel America eventually become (or merged with) America One?

I read somewhere that Main Street TV eventually changed its name to America One, and Channel America just faded away. I could be wrong about that though.

 

[Bob1370]

"Anyone remember CBS Cable? I remember it in 1981 or so. It was a "fine arts" channel that didn't last long."

CBS poured a lot of cash into trying to push that channel--which was Bill Paley's last brainchild. He hoped it would be a commercial, fulltime cultural alternative to PBS' nighttime cultural programming and present the cream of the classical music, jazz, drama and stage comedy crops. It gobbled a ton of cash at a time when stockholders were screaming about profit margins (remember that the country was just coming out of another bad recession in '81), they had to cut back on ambitious program plans almost immediately, and it reportedly broke Paley's heart when he had to shut it down after trimming programming several times to try to keep it alive through the rough times. It just didn't quite make it. Would it have lasted if they'd given it another six months or a year to get going, at a time when cable penetration was starting to rise nationally? Who knows? Paley reportedly thought to his dying day that a little more time and CBS Cable would have gotten the audience it needed to stay alive, but no one today can say (and probably no one around CBS today even remembers it, or admits to...).

 

[AKA]

My cable system carried KSTW out of Tacoma/Seattle until the mid-'90s. The station aired a lot of syndicated fare that the locals in Spokane didn't, as well as the Mariners, the Sonics, original programming, and a 10 pm newscast. After KAYU affiliated with Fox and KSKN went off-the-air, Spokane didn't have any independents, so KSTW was sort of adopted as our own. It was a great station.

When the Syndex laws went into effect, things got complicated. Turning on KSTW, one was often greeted with a dark blue screen with white text that began, "We are required by the FCC..." After a few years of this, Cox (Spokane's cable system at the time) put KSTW on a part-time basis only, splitting its channel space with VH-1 half the day. The station was dropped altogether shortly after it affiliated with CBS.

In its place, we got newly-independent KIRO's 12 billion daily newscasts and Mariners broadcasts on our public access station. Lame.

Here's an article that appeared in The Spokesman-Review about the brutal attack KSTW faced from Spokane stations, most vocally KAYU-28, after Syndex began being enforced:

KSTW faces Spokane assault

New rule gives local stations a competitive advantage

By Michael Murphey
The Spokesman-Review
Sunday, March 18, 1990

Robert J. Hamacher loves it every time he sees that blank blue screen light up on channel 23.

Hamacher, the managing general partner of KAYU-TV Partners in Spokane, is no diplomat. “I want KSTW out of here,” he says. And by exercising his exclusive rights to certain syndicated television shows in the Spokane market, he is doing his best to push the Tacoma-based independent television station back over to its own side of the Cascades.

Although the other three Spokane television stations are a little less blunt in their public assessments of competition from KSTW, they, too, are aggressively pursuing options that require Cox Cable of Spokane to black out four to five hours of programming on KSTW each day.

Syndicated exclusivity, or “syndex,” in TV talk, is a Federal Communications Commission rule that went into effect Jan. 1. The rule allows local television stations to protect their exclusive rights to syndicated programming by blacking out distant stations that reach the local market via cable.
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