TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Cable TV Advertising (was 'Transitional Fair Use'...)

Re: Cable TV Advertising (was 'Transitional Fair Use'...)

Barry Margolin (barmar@alum.mit.edu)
Mon, 20 Dec 2004 21:40:48 -0500

In article <telecom23.608.14@telecom-digest.org>, Neal McLain
<nmclain@annsgarden.com> wrote:

> So you're telling me that back in the late 40s and early 50s
> ("... when cable television was first getting underway"), "they"
> expected that the cable industry would create commercial-free "premium
> channels ... just for pay cable distribution"? And, by implication,
> that a technology would exist for distributing these channels
> nationwide at reasonable cost?

I don't know what people were saying about cable TV in the 40's and
50's. I'm talking about what happened in the 70's when cable-only
channels like HBO first started to appear. I believe that prior to
that, cable TV was just a way of providing TV service to communities
that had environmental difficulties receiving broadcast TV (e.g.
mountainous terrain blocking the signals).

Since you had to pay extra for these "premium" channels, there was an
expectation that this would obviate the need for commercials.

Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***

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