Shared-Time Cable Channels

[mvcg66b3r]

On a thread on radioinsight.com, I noticed that in the '80s and '90s some cable lineups had shared channels, with one network airing during the day and another at night. The Boston lineup in 1987 was one that caught my eye. What were some other examples? And is it still done today?

 

[ftballfan]

I remember (I was little at the time) CMT and PASS used to share channel 35 in Manistee, MI. About the time Fox Sports Detroit replaced PASS, both FSD and CMT went full-time on cable, with FSD on channel 35 and CMT on channel 56 (even today, FSD is still channel 35)

 

[harrisburgpatv2]

When I first lived in the Harrisburg area, in the early '80s, the cable (Sammons..it's now Comcast) had all the local stations, plus the "big 3" from Baltimore, the "big 3" from Philly and independents 17, 29, and 48. Slowly, of course, the out of market network stations were replaced by cable channels like ESPN, CNN, etc. Eventually WMAR-2 and WBAL 11 from Baltimore shared a station, as did WPVI-6 and WCAU-10 from Philly. Not sure of the rhyme or reason of what was selected to air, but I do remember that during network time, those stations were blacked out. These two eventually went off the lineup as well, around the early 1990's.

 

[CTListener]

Warner Amex Cable in suburban Boston, early '80s, used to carry WSBE Providence (PBS) most of the day on Channel 36, replacing it at signoff -- usually 11 or midnight -- with WTBS. 'TBS went full-time on its own channel before long, but I definitely recall watching halves (or less) of Braves games because that PBS station in Providence hadn't signed off yet.

 

[Mr Tony]

In suburban Minneapolis in the 90's they had 4 stations that would be PPV from 6PM to 5AM. I forget what was on them but I remember 42 was Univision.
When I worked at Rat Shack we were a Primestar beta market and I'd sell a ton of them to the Spanish folks in the area. I'd turn it on and say 5 words to them
"Univison 24 hour a day"

sold a ton of them

 

[K.M. Richards]

In the early days of cable, multiple networks sometimes shared a satellite transponder and it was therefore common to find all networks on a single transponder on the same cable channel.

For much of the 1980s ...
Nickelodeon's evening hours were taken up by the Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS).
USA's transponder also carried C-SPAN (when all they had was live House coverage) weekdays and BET Friday prime-time.
ACSN (Appalachian Community Service Network, an educational channel) was Home Theater Network (premium) nights.
Before WTBS went 24/7, the overnight hours were Satellite Program Network (SPN).

There were others but I'm not racking my brain to think of them all.

Local cable systems often split usage of a channel amongst two broadcast stations. In Ventura (northernmost part of the Los Angeles market) KMEX/34 used to sign-on at 3:00pm and KWHY/22 carried business news programming in the daytime, so they shared channel 8 for many, many years.

 

[ShawnHill1]

In the early days of cable, multiple networks sometimes shared a satellite transponder and it was therefore common to find all networks on a single transponder on the same cable channel.

Local cable systems often split usage of a channel amongst two broadcast stations. In Ventura (northernmost part of the Los Angeles market) KMEX/34 used to sign-on at 3:00pm and KWHY/22 carried business news programming in the daytime, so they shared channel 8 for many, many years.

In the area of Los Angeles where I grew up (South Los Angeles), The Weather Channel used to share channel space with Bravo on the old American Cable Systems/Continental Cablevision (now part of Time Warner Cable), and Playboy also share its channel space with another network (I forgot whom). Back in the those days, Bravo and Playboy would sign-on at 5pm local time (8pm Eastern), and of course Bravo as a pay channel (as was also then-sister channel AMC).

 

[onairb]

In the SF Bay Area, at one time there was an odd arrangement with stations in San Francisco and Sacramento sharing a cable channel. On TCI cable, channel 12 was split between KTXL 40 in Sacramento, airing from morning 'sign on' until 12:30(sometimes it was a few minutes late, and whatever was on at that time would 'go dark' about 5 minutes in). The channel remained 'dark' until just before 1, when KDTV, channel 14(the Spanish-language station) would air its full sign-on, and then, whatever 'telenovela' started at 1 would follow. This was around 1980-81, and then TCI finally put the two stations on separate channels.
I also recall TBS and a local PBS station shared a channel for a while, and C-SPAN was also shared, although the other station was on so much of the time, I don't know why TCI bothered with the arrangement.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Would current channels that have different formats at different times count, like Nick/Nick at Nite, or Cartoon Network/Adult Swim? If I remember correctly they’re each counted in ratings as separate channels.

There’s also ACTS, which was a Southern Baptist network, and VISN, which was a broader ranged religious network that shared channels, and eventually became Odyssey and then the Hallmark Channel

 

[CTListener]

In the early days of cable, multiple networks sometimes shared a satellite transponder and it was therefore common to find all networks on a single transponder on the same cable channel.

For much of the 1980s ...
Nickelodeon's evening hours were taken up by the Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS).
USA's transponder also carried C-SPAN (when all they had was live House coverage) weekdays and BET Friday prime-time.
ACSN (Appalachian Community Service Network, an educational channel) was Home Theater Network (premium) nights.
Before WTBS went 24/7, the overnight hours were Satellite Program Network (SPN).

There were others but I'm not racking my brain to think of them all.

Local cable systems often split usage of a channel amongst two broadcast stations. In Ventura (northernmost part of the Los Angeles market) KMEX/34 used to sign-on at 3:00pm and KWHY/22 carried business news programming in the daytime, so they shared channel 8 for many, many years.

ARTS lasted at least into the '90s. It was used to fill unbooked time on the public access channel (3) on Cox Cable here in central Connecticut. Snippets of classical music and other performing arts videos, kind of a high-brow MTV.

SPN was an odd little channel. It was on full-time on the system in suburban Boston, carrying a mix of cooking and self-help shows, a minor league baseball game of the week (on tape), a couple of shows directed at various ethnic groups, and a bit of pro wrestling. There was also a faux "auction" show in which items would be sold, supposedly to live bidders in the studio, and then offered to the viewers at home for that "low, low" price. Timex Sinclair computers showed up frequently, as did eel-skin wallets.

Add to the listing of coupled channels Financial News Network (predecessor of CNBC) and Score, a sports and sports-talk channel. Score aired mostly on weekends.

 

[mvcg66b3r]

Cablevision - Dix Hills NY 1990

2 – WCBS
3 – C-SPAN/SportsChannel NY
4 – WNBC
5 – WNYW (Fox)
6 – HBO
7 – WABC
8 – CNN
9 – WWOR (Independent)
10 – The Weather Channel/Sports Channel America
11 – WPIX (Independent)
12 – News 12 Long Island
13 – WNET (PBS)
14 – On Cablevision (While everyone and their mother was using Prevue, Cablevision used their own in house program guide)
15 – ESPN
16 – A&E
17 – USA
18 – TNN/Product Information Network
19 – Discovery Channel/MEU
20 – TNT
21 – WLIW (PBS)
22 – Nickelodeon
23 – Lifetime
24 – CNBC
25 – Telicare (A catholic channel run by the church that mixes local services with programming from EWTN)/National Jewish Television/Extra Help (A block of instructional programs for high school students in the afternoon, on the better systems it shared a slot with Long Island One)
26 – The Family Channel/MSG2 (At the time it was coming out of the CBN Family religious era so it was frequently used as an alternate for sports)
27 – TBS
28 – VH1
29 – MTV
30 – E!/MSG/Silentvision/News 12 Weather
31 – Disney Channel
32 – AMC
33 – Bravo
34 – The Movie Channel
35 – Cinemax
36 – Showtime
37 – WLIG (Independent)
38 – WNYC (PBS)
39 – WHSI (Home Shopping Club)
40 – CMT/Public Access/Swap & Shop/RAI
41 – Valuevision
57/95 – WXTV (Univision)
58/96 – WNJU (Telemundo)
60/98 – OTB/Playboy at Night
61/99 – Request PPV

 

[nomadcowatbk]

In Kansas City on the American Cablevision system (now Time Warner) up until the late 90s, CNBC and BET shared a channel, CNBC during the day, BET at night

 

[anotherguyTN]

Another shared channel: Noggin and The N, until they were split into Nick Jr. and Teen Nick, and made full time for both.

 

[crainbebo]

You probably meant Classic Arts Showcase for that ARTS channel in the 1990s. They still air today on public affairs channels and government channels - sometimes even regular PBS and even network stations. WSIL-3 Harrisburg, IL airs Classic Arts Showcase overnights on Fridays and Saturdays - usually after about 2:30 or 3AM CT.
TCI Cable in Seattle used to have CNBC sharing time with BET (would begin at 8PM). Comedy Central was also shared with VH1. Speaking of VH1, back in the Viacom Cable days of the early 1990s, VH1 would air in the daytime on channel 15 and HA! The TV Comedy Network would air in the evenings. FNN would also be shared on channel 6 with Prime Sports NW.

-crainbebo

 

[K.M. Richards]

You probably meant Classic Arts Showcase for that ARTS channel in the 1990s. They still air today on public affairs channels and government channels - sometimes even regular PBS and even network stations.

I'm sure you are correct on that point. I suspect that the later poster was unaware that today's A&E was originally called The Arts & Entertainment Network, a merger of the original ARTS and a short-lived pay service called The Entertainment Channel, way back in 1984. It moved to its own transponder at the beginning of 1985 (I think they used both for about six months ... I really don't remember all that well, going back 30 years!) and that summer Nickelodeon launched Nick At Nite to fill the vacated time slot.

Speaking of VH1, back in the Viacom Cable days of the early 1990s, VH1 would air in the daytime on channel 15 and HA! The TV Comedy Network would air in the evenings.

Viacom owned both networks, and marketed the split channel for a while, targeting at systems which claimed to have few open channels, as a way to get both some viewership. So that arrangement wasn't just limited to their own owned cable systems.

(Of course, Comedy Central was a merger of Viacom's HA! and HBO's Comedy Channel in 1991, as was known for its first few months as CTV: The Comedy Network. The latter was composed mainly of stand-up clips and specials, whereas Viacom had a lineup consisting mostly of old sitcoms. HA! was where I got to see reruns of You'll Never Get Rich [Sgt. Bilko] and Mel Brooks' When Things Were Rotten for the first time in years, and it is also where I first saw the original U.K. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.)

18 – TNN/Product Information Network

"Product Information Network" is how The Nashville Network labeled its overnight infomercial block. I suppose you could call it a split channel, even though TNN was providing the programming, because they ran no "Nashville Network" IDs during that block.

 

[CTListener]

I'm sure you are correct on that point. I suspect that the later poster was unaware that today's A&E was originally called The Arts & Entertainment Network, a merger of the original ARTS and a short-lived pay service called The Entertainment Channel, way back in 1984. It moved to its own transponder at the beginning of 1985 (I think they used both for about six months ... I really don't remember all that well, going back 30 years!) and that summer Nickelodeon launched Nick At Nite to fill the vacated time slot.

I, the later poster (now the latest poster!) thank you for the clarification. I remembered seeing ARTS in the lower right corner of the screen while those videos ran and assumed now that they must have been associated with the ARTS channel described in the original post. I'm surprised that those culture clips are still running. Are they being updated or is it the same batch that I saw so often on Cox 3?

 

[CTListener]

"Product Information Network" is how The Nashville Network labeled its overnight infomercial block. I suppose you could call it a split channel, even though TNN was providing the programming, because they ran no "Nashville Network" IDs during that block.

PIN was 24/7 on the Cox system here in Connecticut for a while, running independently of TNN. (And remember when TNN, which had jettisoned most of its country programming, rebranded as The National Network until it became Spike?) It even had it own translucent "bug" (logo) in the corner of the screen.

 

[ftballfan]

You probably meant Classic Arts Showcase for that ARTS channel in the 1990s. They still air today on public affairs channels and government channels - sometimes even regular PBS and even network stations. WSIL-3 Harrisburg, IL airs Classic Arts Showcase overnights on Fridays and Saturdays - usually after about 2:30 or 3AM CT.
TCI Cable in Seattle used to have CNBC sharing time with BET (would begin at 8PM). Comedy Central was also shared with VH1. Speaking of VH1, back in the Viacom Cable days of the early 1990s, VH1 would air in the daytime on channel 15 and HA! The TV Comedy Network would air in the evenings. FNN would also be shared on channel 6 with Prime Sports NW.

-crainbebo

In Grand Rapids, MI (Comcast), a public access channel shows Classic Arts Showcase at times.

 

[crainbebo]

They are being somewhat updated but I do see a lot of black and white opera and classical clips on Classic Arts Showcase. Which speaking of CAS, when did it first hit the air? Early 1990s I suppose?
Many newspapers showed TNN as "off the air" after 3AM local time - that was probably when that Product Information Network channel began. Same with Discovery Channel for years in the 1990s before papers started showing "Paid Program" on the grid listings after 3am/2am CT. And the occasional "Teleworld Paid Program" (Tivo fed program) around 4AM (and that still airs today, Thursday mornings around 4AM on DSC feeding Showcase stuff and commercials to TiVo boxes)

-crainbebo

 

[K.M. Richards]

PIN was 24/7 on the Cox system here in Connecticut for a while, running independently of TNN.

Hmmm. I wonder if they were brokering the overnight hours on the TNN transponder as well as their own, in order to get some extra eyeballs?

Obviously I never saw it at any other hour, hence the erroneous presumption. All this time, I thought it was part of TNN.

(And remember when TNN, which had jettisoned most of its country programming, rebranded as The National Network until it became Spike?) It even had it own translucent "bug" (logo) in the corner of the screen.

You mean this one?