Defunct Cable TV networks we missed

[johnnya2k6]

WCLF in Tampa Bay, the flagship of the Christian Television Network, also aired both shows during the 1980s and early-1990s -- usually Huntley at 5PM and 700 in the evening (don't know exactly).

That station also brought us another kids' Christian show I grew up watching in the '80s: Joy Junction!!! I understand they still show it in reruns after ending production sometime in the '90s.

 

[johnnya2k6]

3. Lifetime Medical Television

Lifetime Medical Television was actually Lifetime's Sunday block devoted to physician programming, and as it was brought up here before, also the only place anywhere to see those prescription ads before they went mainstream (with a separate show at the end of the block featuring all the disclaimers for the advertised drugs).

 

[Tim L]

100 Huntley Street is rarely seen in the States anymore, but unlike The 700 Club (KJNP used to air both shows until about early 1993: Huntley Street at 6:00, 700 Club at 8:00), they don't full episodes on their YouTube channel!

WCLF in Tampa Bay, the flagship of the Christian Broadcasting Network, also aired both shows during the 1980s and early-1990s -- usually Huntley at 5PM and 700 in the evening (don't know exactly). I imagine a few other religious stations also aired both during this era.

Not to be nitpicky, but I believe WCLF is considered flagship of Christian TELEVISION Network..Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) had been Pat Robertson's OTA stations, then the original CBN Cable before being sold to Fox, then ABC (Now ABC Family)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCLF

 

[azumanga]

100 Huntley Street is rarely seen in the States anymore, but unlike The 700 Club (KJNP used to air both shows until about early 1993: Huntley Street at 6:00, 700 Club at 8:00), they don't full episodes on their YouTube channel!

WCLF in Tampa Bay, the flagship of the Christian Broadcasting Network, also aired both shows during the 1980s and early-1990s -- usually Huntley at 5PM and 700 in the evening (don't know exactly). I imagine a few other religious stations also aired both during this era.

Not to be nitpicky, but I believe WCLF is considered flagship of Christian TELEVISION Network..Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) had been Pat Robertson's OTA stations, then the original CBN Cable before being sold to Fox, then ABC (Now ABC Family)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCLF

That's what I meant -- I overlooked that detail.

 

[willdav713]

3. Lifetime Medical Television

Lifetime Medical Television was actually Lifetime's Sunday block devoted to physician programming, and as it was brought up here before, also the only place anywhere to see those prescription ads before they went mainstream (with a separate show at the end of the block featuring all the disclaimers for the advertised drugs).

It was actually aired in the nightime like with Nick at Nite. It was not on just Sunday's. I have quite of few tapes of LMT programming. CNBC had American Medical Television, but we didn't get it, as we got FNN/Playboy on the Rogers Cablesystem channel 42. We didn't subscribe to Playboy so the screen was blank when the switch came on a night, scrambled on the No Box TVs.

 

[crainbebo]

Then of course like I mentioned in that PA-NY Retro listing a few days ago, some stations had the Physician's Television Network early in the morning [a "telecourse" for physicians, pretty much.] In New York you could see it before morning cartoons on WPIX 11.

-crainbebo

 

[NHRadio]

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

 

[jwgreek8606]

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

 

[jwgreek8606]

The CBS Cable days of TNN, when they reran Dallas, Dukes of Hazzard, Alice, and TV's/Super Bloopers and Practical Jokes. Now, when they aired Bloopers they aired it in it's entirety and not edited like The Family Channel did.

VH1 when they were music-related, and VH1 Classic when they aired all-music videos all-the-time

 

[searadiofreak]

Anyone remember when MTV was cutting edge videos, and VH1 was less cutting edge videos? Those were the good 'ole days...and who would ever think of these networks in terms of the "good 'ole days"? Gawd, I'm getting old. ;D

 

[boiseengineer]

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.

 

[Markxxx]

Pinwheel and the awful puppets before it morphed or merged into Nickelodeon. Which gave us "You Can't Do That On Television," (at least gave it to the USA). Go Christine!!!

 

[hubcity]

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!)

 

[milwaukee_dave]

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!)

Thanks for sharing the You Tube link, hubcity. I remember SPN avidly throughout the 80s. Even as a kid, I could pick up pretty quickly that it was a low-budget channel.

 

[milwaukee_dave]

Does anyone remember the Modern Satellite Network (MSN)? I don't think it qualifies as a TV network "we missed," but it's one of those vague channels that seemingly came and went in the blink of an eye.

Here's what I remember: My cable company at the time, Jones Intercable, carried MSN on Channel 39 circa 1984-85. (It was considered a "bonus channel," since my parents had a cable-ready TV; those with boxes only went up to Channel 36 and couldn't receive it.)

I can't really recall what MSN carried, though I do remember watching a show on space travel on one occasion. Jones Intercable only carried MSN for three hours, 9 a.m. to noon Central Time. I'm not sure if MSN's schedule was a mere three hours, or if this was all my cable company carried. As for as I know, Jones Intercable didn't share Channel 39 with any other cable networks. In this era of cable TV, a slot on Channel 39 was akin to being in Siberia.

 

[azumanga]

My cable company at the time, Jones Intercable, carried MSN on Channel 39 circa 1984-85. (It was considered a "bonus channel," since my parents had a cable-ready TV; those with boxes only went up to Channel 36 and couldn't receive it.)

Speaking of Bonus Channels, there was a couple of instances where a cable company allocated a slot for one cable channel only, but though the channel was part-time, did not bother to cover up any off-time. In the 1980s, Group W in Tampa Bay offered the Home Theater Network as a premium channel, but as it broadcasted only during the afternoons and evenings, it shared transponder space with the Appalachian Communications Network, a foreerunner of today's TLC. Even though ACN was not a premium channel, it was still scrambled, as Group W intended the slot solely for HTN. Later on, after becoming Paragon Cable, Sports Channel Florida came on the scene, but as it was on only in evenings and weekends, it shared its transponder with a Christian channel, the Keystone Inspirational Network, as well as specialty and wild feeds that would also use that transponder when it was vacant. Paragon showed it all.

 

[milwaukee_dave]

My cable company at the time, Jones Intercable, carried MSN on Channel 39 circa 1984-85. (It was considered a "bonus channel," since my parents had a cable-ready TV; those with boxes only went up to Channel 36 and couldn't receive it.)

Speaking of Bonus Channels, there was a couple of instances where a cable company allocated a slot for one cable channel only, but though the channel was part-time, did not bother to cover up any off-time. In the 1980s, Group W in Tampa Bay offered the Home Theater Network as a premium channel, but as it broadcasted only during the afternoons and evenings, it shared transponder space with the Appalachian Communications Network, a foreerunner of today's TLC. Even though ACN was not a premium channel, it was still scrambled, as Group W intended the slot solely for HTN. Later on, after becoming Paragon Cable, Sports Channel Florida came on the scene, but as it was on only in evenings and weekends, it shared its transponder with a Christian channel, the Keystone Inspirational Network, as well as specialty and wild feeds that would also use that transponder when it was vacant. Paragon showed it all.

I, too, recall the shared channel space scenario. My cable company in the mid-80s, Jones Intercable, carried The Learning Channel and the Financial News Network.

I vividly remember, as a kid, TLC signing off at 3 p.m. Central and the transponder space immediately being turned over to Home Theater Network. Jones Intercable didn't carry HTN, but once in a while someone would be asleep at the switch and let HTN run for an hour or so.

FNN shared channel space with the short-lived Sports Time in 1984-85. (This predates FNN's own evening sports-themed network called SCORE.) Jones Intercable didn't carry Sports Time but, like the TLC-HTN scenario, Sports Time sometimes played out a bit before being zapped. The switch from FNN to Sports Time, as I recall, took place at 6 p.m. Central.

Jones Intercable did carry the full signal of Nickelodeon and the Arts & Entertainment Network when the two still shared one channel space before the launch of Nick at Nite in 1986.

 

[milwaukee_dave]

Azumanga's mention about shared channel space really jogged my memory of my childhood observations. Curiosity got the better of me, and I came across this You Tube video from 1985: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE3C1BWE3a4

As you'll note, The Learning Channel is signing off and Home Theater Network is signing on. I vividly remember that jingle as TLC signed off. It's funny seeing it again for the first time, more than a quarter of a century later.

 

[milwaukee_dave]

Jones Intercable did carry the full signal of Nickelodeon and the Arts & Entertainment Network when the two still shared one channel space before the launch of Nick at Nite in 1986.
[/quote]


Correction on my earlier post: Nick at Nite launched in 1985.

 

[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.