4 ms·

At first, cable TV had no ads because it was funded by subscriptions. Then most cable channels slowly started adding more and more ads and demanding higher and

At first, cable TV had no ads because it was funded by subscriptions. Then most cable channels slowly started adding more and more ads and demanding higher and higher rates from cable operators to carry their channels. Then the local channels started demanding rates from cable operators to carry their channels that are otherwise available for free over the air. Then eventually they even started showing ads at the movie theater before the movie you paid to see. What is happening with streaming services adding ads was entirely predictable because the financial incentives of a company that adopts a subscription model are to add ads to the subscription once they think they can get away with it. If they already have ads, the incentive is to add more and more of them until there's pushback (i.e. the NFL has been cutting down on commercial breaks because they got long enough and frequent enough to become a common source of fan complaints when ironically the 2 minute warning was originally added to the rulebook in the early 70s to guarantee TV broadcasters at least one commercial break each half that wasn't because the clock ran out on a quarter). This is why all of the people who want a subscription based model for online services that are currently free are hopelessly naive. If they get their way, things will get better for a few years and then will eventually end up right back where they are but worse because you'll have to pay for the privilege of watching ads.

TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
I am from Eastern Europe, so I have missed the "cable used to be subscription based without ads" time, so thank you for showing me how history rhymes and that ads in subscription based medium are inevitable.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- kuratkull 4y ago
  I think he's talking about the 70s or sometime back then
  - thakoppno 4y ago
    I looked into this and it’s not true that cable existed without ads. From a 1981 NYT article > Although cable television was never conceived of as television without commercial interruption, there has been a widespread impression - among the public, at least -that cable would be supported largely by viewers' monthly subscription fees. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv...
    - njarboe 4y ago
      Only the premium pay extra channels. Similar to today, you could pay to have no ads for some content.
    - autoexec 4y ago
      Cable television may not have been conceived of as television without commercial interruption, but it was heavily advertised as being ad free and for a time it really was. I remember the ad creep. It started with channels adverting themselves or shows/movies that would air or replay later on their channel, then came ads for shows airing on other channels, then came the commercials for cars and dish soap.
    - mixmastamyk 4y ago
      In 1980 we had Showtime at our house. Standard VHF channels 2-13 that did have ads and one extra premium channel with no ads.
  - thewebcount 4y ago
    Absolutely. In my area of the Midwest, first it was Channel 100 [0]. Then eventually they launched HBO. Shortly after that there came Cinemax and Showtime. These were all premium channels that showed only movies. (And many of them are still around.) It was a little while before they started having normal crap channels with ads, like WGN [1] and TBS [2]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_100 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_100 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGN-TV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGN-TV [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPCH-TV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPCH-TV
- bdw5204 4y ago
  Ad free cable may have been US centric and that era didn't last very long. The New York Times had an article in 1981[0] about how cable networks were excited about the potential to start running ads. [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-invaded-by-commercials.html https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv...
njarboe 4y ago
Since many services now split into two tiers with a cheaper option for no ads, maybe ads showing up in no-ads tier won't happen. There really wasn't the possibility to do that before streaming (multiple cable channels I guess could have been done). I pay for ad free YouTube, HBO, and Netflix (although often cancel for awhile when nothing on the service interests me). Ads for other shows on the service at the beginning of shows/movies that I can fast forward through is the most ads I will tolerate.
- lfowles 4y ago
  No such luck. The Hulu no-ad tier still has ads for a select few shoes.
  - pests 4y ago
    That's due to contract reasons. Hulu keeps a list of shows they are required to show ads on: https://help.hulu.com/s/article/no-ads-exceptions https://help.hulu.com/s/article/no-ads-exceptions
    - autoexec 4y ago
      Contracts the wrote themselves for themselves. Disney owns Hulu and ABC and ABC owns Grey’s Anatomy. They aren't being forced to show ads. They chose too.
      - thewebcount 4y ago
        Yeah, that’s really weird because my spouse and I watched a few seasons of it ad-free on Netflix. I think they had something like 16 seasons available, all ad-free. It seems really odd that the company that produced it couldn’t make it also ad-free.
      - purpleflame1257 4y ago
        Shonda Rimes owns Grey's. Take it up with her.

TheLoafOfBread 4y ago

I am from Eastern Europe, so I have missed the "cable used to be subscription based without ads" time, so thank you for showing me how history rhymes and that ads in subscription based medium are inevitable.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
kuratkull 4y ago
I think he's talking about the 70s or sometime back then
- thakoppno 4y ago
  I looked into this and it’s not true that cable existed without ads. From a 1981 NYT article > Although cable television was never conceived of as television without commercial interruption, there has been a widespread impression - among the public, at least -that cable would be supported largely by viewers' monthly subscription fees. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv...
  - njarboe 4y ago
    Only the premium pay extra channels. Similar to today, you could pay to have no ads for some content.
  - autoexec 4y ago
    Cable television may not have been conceived of as television without commercial interruption, but it was heavily advertised as being ad free and for a time it really was. I remember the ad creep. It started with channels adverting themselves or shows/movies that would air or replay later on their channel, then came ads for shows airing on other channels, then came the commercials for cars and dish soap.
  - mixmastamyk 4y ago
    In 1980 we had Showtime at our house. Standard VHF channels 2-13 that did have ads and one extra premium channel with no ads.
- thewebcount 4y ago
  Absolutely. In my area of the Midwest, first it was Channel 100 [0]. Then eventually they launched HBO. Shortly after that there came Cinemax and Showtime. These were all premium channels that showed only movies. (And many of them are still around.) It was a little while before they started having normal crap channels with ads, like WGN [1] and TBS [2]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_100 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_100 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGN-TV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGN-TV [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPCH-TV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPCH-TV
bdw5204 4y ago
Ad free cable may have been US centric and that era didn't last very long. The New York Times had an article in 1981[0] about how cable networks were excited about the potential to start running ads. [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-invaded-by-commercials.html https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv...

njarboe 4y ago

Since many services now split into two tiers with a cheaper option for no ads, maybe ads showing up in no-ads tier won't happen. There really wasn't the possibility to do that before streaming (multiple cable channels I guess could have been done). I pay for ad free YouTube, HBO, and Netflix (although often cancel for awhile when nothing on the service interests me). Ads for other shows on the service at the beginning of shows/movies that I can fast forward through is the most ads I will tolerate.

lfowles 4y ago
No such luck. The Hulu no-ad tier still has ads for a select few shoes.
- pests 4y ago
  That's due to contract reasons. Hulu keeps a list of shows they are required to show ads on: https://help.hulu.com/s/article/no-ads-exceptions https://help.hulu.com/s/article/no-ads-exceptions
  - autoexec 4y ago
    Contracts the wrote themselves for themselves. Disney owns Hulu and ABC and ABC owns Grey’s Anatomy. They aren't being forced to show ads. They chose too.
    - thewebcount 4y ago
      Yeah, that’s really weird because my spouse and I watched a few seasons of it ad-free on Netflix. I think they had something like 16 seasons available, all ad-free. It seems really odd that the company that produced it couldn’t make it also ad-free.
    - purpleflame1257 4y ago
      Shonda Rimes owns Grey's. Take it up with her.