4 ms·

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 a

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...

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...