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Did Your Cable Provider Promote "Cable FM" Or Stereo Feeds?

Back in the 80s Rogers Cablesystem in Huntington Beach CA ran MTV's stereo feed on FM. One of my favorite songs was "jack and diane" by John Cougar because of the stereo mix. Also, back in the day the FM feed sounded way better than the TV audio so I was :D!
 
I would pay Comcast $9.95/month for this service of utilizing their VHF antennas through the existing connection so I don't have to install an FM roof antenna on the chimney and worry about the grounding (and the ugliness complaints from the HOA and neighbors) and still not get all stations clearly in stereo.

I would like to get KTSU and KACC clearly and KPVU, both in stereo. It could help rimshots like KTHT. This could help with reception of the proposed KUHC in southern Houston since they mentioned that they are going to add boosters in Clear Lake and Katy (presumably at the old K217DP site). KFNC and other Beaumont rimshots could have a spot on the dial, bringing ESPN to the populated western half of Houston.

Imagine hearing KPVU over Comcast Galveston lines or KSHN available metro-wide? It's a win-win for everyone. Carriage agreements could be similar to the broadcast TV stations and the big radio station groups would feed the cable directly from the studios and listeners could enjoy listening instead of fiddling with the antenna (like during tropo events).
 
My cable system promoted a Cable FM hook-up that would give you the local FM stations, stereo sound for MTV, VH-1, HBO, etc. plus 24 hour BBC World Service. But they charged extra each month for the hook-up so, even though I like the BBC, I passed.

Today, of course, not only can I get BBC World Service over the computer but all the BBC Channels, national and local, and even archives of past shows. I think Sara Kennedy on BBC 2 is a great listen. She's on 5-7am weekdays but you can get her archived shows from the previous week anytime.

Gregg
[email protected]
 
Essex Cable (later Cablevision then MediaCom) offered Cable FM back in the 80's (around the 25 TV channel cable lineup days). Like others posted the lineup was MTV and HBO in stereo along with 3-5 FM radio stations that didn't reach the county very well. They also charged $ for the "splitter" to get the service working right. When I canceled after a couple months they never came by to pick up their splitter so I kept it. They seemed to forget the service existed and after the local FMs started upping their power it just made a mess of the shifted FM frequencies FM cable used... yet they kept the system alive for years after it was worthless. This was well before they upgraded the cable system to carry stations in stereo that the TV could decode itself. I bet I still have the old odd splitter but I wish I still had the channel lineup card/info sheet because this topic comes up about once a year.
 
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