Questions about the so-called Copyright Tribunal

[Mr. Mike]

I don't know if anyone has brought this up, so I'll do the honors. Users of this board have made mention, on record, about the Copyright Tribunal with regard to early cable lineups of the 1970s and early 1980s. Some have made mention of the fact that after the formation of the Copyright Tribunal, out of market stations from places like Philadelphia, for example, could no longer be recieved by cable systems operating in places like, for instance, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and so on and so on.

If its of any interest, coincidentally the CRT, after it came into existence, would slowly set in motion the emergence of new cable channels in the 1990s and beyond.

So my question is, what was the Copyright Tribunal? What was its motivation for essentially forcing cable systems to stop carrying out-of-market stations in its service area, and why was it formed in the first place?

Any possible answers?

 

[mleach]

Can't answer your question..sorry but I have to wonder if some kind of..well similar rule was in place in radio on those 50,000 watters back in the day.

Examples...

Last week I heard an aircheck from Denver's KOA-AM 850 and their then-weekend overnighter show from 1981. The ads were national like Coke, JC Penney, and United Airlines..but nothing local like King Soopers Supermarkets, KWGN-TV 2, Joslins or May D&F Department Stores, Elitch Gardens or anything else Denver related. It was all national spots.

Growing up I can recall listening to Buffalo's WKBW overnights. Lots of ads for Dr. Pepper and Sears but NOTHING Buffalo related like AM&A Department Store, Tops Supermarkets or The Record Theatre even though I DO remember hearing ads for WKBW-TV at all hours on 1520 am but never for WIVB or WGR-TV but I do remember dx'ing one day back in 1979 and got 1520 at noon and heard an ad for WUTV, now would WKBW had aired this ad say at 1AM?

of course when the morning shows began..it was "back" to being, well local..

Makes me wonder hmmmmmmmmm?

 

[pqgeorge]

I don't know if anyone has brought this up, so I'll do the honors. Users of this board have made mention, on record, about the Copyright Tribunal with regard to early cable lineups of the 1970s and early 1980s. Some have made mention of the fact that after the formation of the Copyright Tribunal, out of market stations from places like Philadelphia, for example, could no longer be recieved by cable systems operating in places like, for instance, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and so on and so on.

If its of any interest, coincidentally the CRT, after it came into existence, would slowly set in motion the emergence of new cable channels in the 1990s and beyond.

So my question is, what was the Copyright Tribunal? What was its motivation for essentially forcing cable systems to stop carrying out-of-market stations in its service area, and why was it formed in the first place?

Any possible answers?

Whatever the CRT did, in the long run, caused most the local stations to lose many rights to some programming that otherwise would be available to local markets. When the Superstations (WPIX, WOR, KTLA, WPHL and others) began to disappear, almost immediately many cable channels like Nickelodeon decided to do something different and program vintage programming like Donna Reed, Car 54 Where Are You?, Patty Duke, Route 66 and others during evening and overnight hours. Slowly but surely, the cable channels would get national rights to programs that eventually would not be available to the locals anymore. Today, other than KTLA or WGN..... the Superstations are gone. And even WGN has created a sub-channel called WGN America which is almost totally separate from WGN-TV (Channel 9/Chicago). Most stations in most markets run nothing but news, court shows, Oprah type shows and some "reality" based programming. General entertainment programming and movies are only available on cable, satellite or sub-channels (THIS TV, RTV and so on). So, the CRT eventually cost the locals a lot of viewers. By '87 or so, I found myself watching cable channels like Nick At Nite, USA and others, rather than the local stations.

 

[wbhist]

I don't know if anyone has brought this up, so I'll do the honors. Users of this board have made mention, on record, about the Copyright Tribunal with regard to early cable lineups of the 1970s and early 1980s. Some have made mention of the fact that after the formation of the Copyright Tribunal, out of market stations from places like Philadelphia, for example, could no longer be recieved by cable systems operating in places like, for instance, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and so on and so on.

If its of any interest, coincidentally the CRT, after it came into existence, would slowly set in motion the emergence of new cable channels in the 1990s and beyond.

So my question is, what was the Copyright Tribunal? What was its motivation for essentially forcing cable systems to stop carrying out-of-market stations in its service area, and why was it formed in the first place?

Any possible answers?

Whatever the CRT did, in the long run, caused most the local stations to lose many rights to some programming that otherwise would be available to local markets. When the Superstations (WPIX, WOR, KTLA, WPHL and others) began to disappear, almost immediately many cable channels like Nickelodeon decided to do something different and program vintage programming like Donna Reed, Car 54 Where Are You?, Patty Duke, Route 66 and others during evening and overnight hours. Slowly but surely, the cable channels would get national rights to programs that eventually would not be available to the locals anymore. Today, other than KTLA or WGN..... the Superstations are gone. And even WGN has created a sub-channel called WGN America which is almost totally separate from WGN-TV (Channel 9/Chicago). Most stations in most markets run nothing but news, court shows, Oprah type shows and some "reality" based programming. General entertainment programming and movies are only available on cable, satellite or sub-channels (THIS TV, RTV and so on). So, the CRT eventually cost the locals a lot of viewers. By '87 or so, I found myself watching cable channels like Nick At Nite, USA and others, rather than the local stations.

For the record, the "R" in CRT stands for "Royalty" - the "Copyright Royalty Tribunal." But . . .

In the case of old cartoons and other children's programming which likewise disappeared from local stations starting in the 1980's, there was a one-two punch involved - the CRT, plus the influence of groups like ACT.