For every Nickelodeon and MTV that became a multi-billion dollar enterprise, there were plenty of early cable networks that never fulfilled their promise. For example, UPI started a news network in 1978--two years before CNN. But there is virtually no info on it, so few people know of it. Did anyone see this network or any others that have been lost to time? And why didn't these early networks succeed?
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Forgotten early cable networks
- Thread starter installLSC
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K
K.M. Richards
Guest
The best answer I can give you, since I remember a lot of those early networks, is that the industry had to figure out which audiences responded to "narrowcasting" best. A lot of channels threw money into a black hole trying to find a niche that would bring in enough viewers to make operation profitable.
There was, for example, the Cable Health Network. It was built on a target audience of those who either lived healthy or wanted to, and even had Regis Philbin hosting a daily program called Healthstyles. You probably could have counted the number of viewers on the fingers of one hand. Meanwhile, a network called Daytime was essentially a daily four-hour women's talk show which was having trouble just getting cable systems to carry it. (In my hometown, it ended up running on the local access channel.) They merged into Lifetime and still had trouble getting an audience for many years afterwards.
Cultural channels were thought to be the way cable would save television by airing quality programming that was no longer welcome on the broadcast networks. CBS Cable came and went in about one year's time. Bravo survived only by going more mainstream. The Alpha Repertory Television Service -- or ARTS -- merged with the pay service The Entertainment Channel to become the Arts & Entertainment Network after only a couple of years, and quickly ended up dropping all the highbrow content.
Where competition for niche audiences existed in the early days, often a cable system would choose one channel over another, due to early technical limitations (it wasn't until the 1990s that we started seeing cable systems with more than 36 channels). Cable News Network got the early toehold and later competitor Satellite News Channel was short-lived despite being a joint venture of ABC and Group W.
Even Showtime and The Movie Channel had a rough time of it against HBO for many years, and at least one well-funded competitor, Spotlight, ended up selling out to Showtime after only about three years of operation.
I hope that at least begins to answer the question.
There was, for example, the Cable Health Network. It was built on a target audience of those who either lived healthy or wanted to, and even had Regis Philbin hosting a daily program called Healthstyles. You probably could have counted the number of viewers on the fingers of one hand. Meanwhile, a network called Daytime was essentially a daily four-hour women's talk show which was having trouble just getting cable systems to carry it. (In my hometown, it ended up running on the local access channel.) They merged into Lifetime and still had trouble getting an audience for many years afterwards.
Cultural channels were thought to be the way cable would save television by airing quality programming that was no longer welcome on the broadcast networks. CBS Cable came and went in about one year's time. Bravo survived only by going more mainstream. The Alpha Repertory Television Service -- or ARTS -- merged with the pay service The Entertainment Channel to become the Arts & Entertainment Network after only a couple of years, and quickly ended up dropping all the highbrow content.
Where competition for niche audiences existed in the early days, often a cable system would choose one channel over another, due to early technical limitations (it wasn't until the 1990s that we started seeing cable systems with more than 36 channels). Cable News Network got the early toehold and later competitor Satellite News Channel was short-lived despite being a joint venture of ABC and Group W.
Even Showtime and The Movie Channel had a rough time of it against HBO for many years, and at least one well-funded competitor, Spotlight, ended up selling out to Showtime after only about three years of operation.
I hope that at least begins to answer the question.
My favorite early cable channel was the weird SPN (Satellite Program Network) -- a bizarre mishmash of advice shows, public-domain movies, gospel music, ethnic programming, wrestling shows from obscure promotions, minor league baseball games shown on tape a full week after they were played, and a sales show dressed up as an in-studio auction with phony "bidders" determining the "outrageously low" price that the host would then offer the item to viewers for. And, unlike most networks that kept the technical bleeps and bloops off the air, SPN seemed to take great pride in airing long bursts of cueing sounds between shows and during breaks. I'm thinking it was largely a leased-time operation, but at the time, it looked like a channel that was put on the satellite for just for the novelty of being on the satellite. You don't get TV like that anymore!
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FredLeonard
Guest
Two news channels....
Conus' (Hubbard-Viacom) All News Channel (1994-2002) 48 30-minute newscasts daily, relied heavily on material from Conus participating stations.
ABC-Westinghouse's Satellite News Channel (1982-1983) Counter-programmed CNN with Group W format, forcing CNN to launch CNN2 (later re-branded Headline News).
Financial News Network (FNN) (1981-1991) Bought out by CNBC.
The Comedy Channel and Ha! (1989-1990) Merged into Comedy Central.
ARTS and The Entertainment Channel (1981-1984) Merged into A&E. Fine arts programming.
Superstations WGN, WTBS, KWGN, WOR, KTLA, KTTV
Maybe we should add those channels that have kept a long-standing name but are nothing like how they started - like Bravo, once a premium fine arts channel. And American Movie Classics, once was what TCM now is.
Conus' (Hubbard-Viacom) All News Channel (1994-2002) 48 30-minute newscasts daily, relied heavily on material from Conus participating stations.
ABC-Westinghouse's Satellite News Channel (1982-1983) Counter-programmed CNN with Group W format, forcing CNN to launch CNN2 (later re-branded Headline News).
Financial News Network (FNN) (1981-1991) Bought out by CNBC.
The Comedy Channel and Ha! (1989-1990) Merged into Comedy Central.
ARTS and The Entertainment Channel (1981-1984) Merged into A&E. Fine arts programming.
Superstations WGN, WTBS, KWGN, WOR, KTLA, KTTV
Maybe we should add those channels that have kept a long-standing name but are nothing like how they started - like Bravo, once a premium fine arts channel. And American Movie Classics, once was what TCM now is.
All News Channel was on the air prior to 1994 (launched in 1989). Just like how many local stations were running CNN Headline News overnights, there were some that were running ANC all-night as well (KCAL in Los Angeles did so during the years they were owned by Disney).
K
K.M. Richards
Guest
I should also note that both All News Channel and Financial News Network were hybrid operations, affiliating with UHF stations in some markets and carried on cable in others. Of course, CNN also had a ton of broadcast affiliates airing Headline News; like ANC, CNN2/CNNHN was usually carried on an individual newscast basis by broadcast affiliates.
Thanks to Fred Leonard for adding the years for my previously mentioned SNC and A&E examples.
I'm in the process of researching SPN's history for Clarke Ingram's forthcoming site on the history of analog UHF television. It was not only unique in its programming and operation, it had a mix of cable system and LPTV affiliation ... its corporate parent even owned a few LPTV stations in the early days of that medium. I will "sneak preview" this much for you: CTListener is right on one of his conclusions. That eclectic mix of programming was due to the bulk of their operating day being leased, a half-hour or hour at a time, to programmers who delivered their shows completely pre-sponsored. SPN didn't even have a spot sales rep, because they didn't need one (the only spots that ran in sustaining programming -- like "All Night At The Movies" -- were per inquiry 800# offers). There is also a SPN/WTBS connection which I will reveal in the full article.
Thanks to Fred Leonard for adding the years for my previously mentioned SNC and A&E examples.
I'm in the process of researching SPN's history for Clarke Ingram's forthcoming site on the history of analog UHF television. It was not only unique in its programming and operation, it had a mix of cable system and LPTV affiliation ... its corporate parent even owned a few LPTV stations in the early days of that medium. I will "sneak preview" this much for you: CTListener is right on one of his conclusions. That eclectic mix of programming was due to the bulk of their operating day being leased, a half-hour or hour at a time, to programmers who delivered their shows completely pre-sponsored. SPN didn't even have a spot sales rep, because they didn't need one (the only spots that ran in sustaining programming -- like "All Night At The Movies" -- were per inquiry 800# offers). There is also a SPN/WTBS connection which I will reveal in the full article.
The Cable Music Channel, Ted Turner's short-lived attempt at an MTV of his own, came and went after only one month in 1984. The following year though, it was back...now as VH1!
You mean the concept was back, right? VH1, like MTV, was Viacom's creation.
K
K.M. Richards
Guest
You're both right.
Turner launched CMC on October 26, 1984 to compete with MTV.
After one month of trying to unseat MTV on cable systems (remember, this was an era where many systems were still upgrading from 12 channels, 20 was something of a norm, and 36 was only starting to become a standard) Turner sold the conceptual rights, trademark and the transponder to MTV for $1 million plus an agreement for MTV to buy $500,000 in ads on his other networks.
CMC went dark November 20, 1984 and VH1 launched on the same transponder January 1, 1985.
A
Avid Listener
Guest
Can someone explain to me how all of the defunct cable networks listed in here are "forgotten", since obviously someone remembered them and posted them?
I would list a forgotten cable network, but I can't remember any. That's why they are "forgotten"!
I would list a forgotten cable network, but I can't remember any. That's why they are "forgotten"!
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Obviously, they're not forgotten to the person who mentions them, but the assumption is that the average viewer might have known about them 30-35 years ago but, hasn't had a reason to think about them since then. Personally, I remember SPN, Cable Health Network (brought up in the original post) and most of the other channels mentioned. The only one that draws a blank with me is Cable Music Channel. But I don't doubt its existence and I'll be looking elsewhere to find out more.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Maybe "defunct" is better than "forgotten." "Forgotten" is better than "cursed."
Also...
Trio
News World International
Prism
Nostalgia
ABC News Now
America's Talking
Tempo
Court TV
Current TV
A
Avid Listener
Guest
Anything is better than that damned "cursed".
Actually I remember a couple of those well. Trio had some good programming, like reruns of "Laugh-In" and its "Brilliant But Cancelled" series where it ran short-lived critically praised shows. Nostalgia Channel I watched a lot, since as a preteen I loved movies from the forties and fifties. One odd program was movies for the deaf; it would show the movies with a loud voiceover to describe the action on the screen.
"Daytime" was seen in a lot of Holiday Inns and other hotels across the country, thanks to the network sharing transponder space with Home Box Office in the very early 80's, before the latter went 24 hours.
Here's another one: ACSN, the Appalachian Community Service Network, which despite its regional-sounding name, was on my cable system in Massachusetts in 1981 or so. It carried a variety of educational programming, including some interesting nature programs. I think it eventually was absorbed by the entity that wound up becoming TLC.
Oh, and Tempo was just dear old SPN, rebranded.
Oh, and Tempo was just dear old SPN, rebranded.
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The Monitor Channel, started by the Christian Science Monitor.
It lasted only a few months in 1991-1992. It was set up with no expense spared, and was shut down due to huge losses because few cable systems showed interest - probably because of the limited available channels on most as mentioned before.
It lasted only a few months in 1991-1992. It was set up with no expense spared, and was shut down due to huge losses because few cable systems showed interest - probably because of the limited available channels on most as mentioned before.
K
K.M. Richards
Guest
And "renamed" is not "defunct" or "forgotten".
Newsworld International (not "News World") became Current and then Al-Jazeera.
The Nostalgia Channel became GoodLife TV and is now YouToo.
America's Talking was killed to use the transponder for MSNBC.
Tempo, as corrected by CTListener, was the old SPN ... and was purchased by NBC just to get the transponder for CNBC.
Court TV rebranded as truTV.
I don't know if Prism belongs in the list or not, as it was a regional sports network and not a national service.
There was a previous similar thread here in 2012 (even though it branched off-topic into discussions of local stations almost immediately):
http://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?624328-Defunct-Cable-TV-networks-we-missed
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FredLeonard
Guest
When owners of a cable channel go out of business and sell the transponder space to somebody else, who introduce a new channel with a different format and having no connection with the first channel, then the first channel is defunct.
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