4 ms·
This is completely untrue. Cable TV always had ads. 1. The first thing that cable was used for was to get over the air networks to rural areas that couldn’t g
by raw_anon_1111 7mo ago
This is completely untrue. Cable TV always had ads.
1. The first thing that cable was used for was to get over the air networks to rural areas that couldn’t get a signal - these always had ads
2. The second was “Superstations” that were former local independent stations that ran ads like TBS. They always had ads.
3. The third wave was MTV, USA, Lifetime, (or its precursor), ESPN etc - they always had ads
The only reason you didn’t see many ads was because the cable native channels were still trying to convince companies to buy ads.
- icedchai 7mo agoNot entirely true. The "premium" channels (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Bravo, The Movie Channel, etc.) never had ads. Then there were channels like Nickelodeon that originally had no ads, then added them in the mid 80's. I remember this distinctly because I was annoyed by it. My parents got cable in 1980 when it first came to our area.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoIt was only because they didn’t have enough viewers to convince companies to pay for ads.
- icedchai 7mo agoThe "premium" movie channels had tons of paying subscribers. They didn't need ads. It was very much a selling point for those channels.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoI was talking about Nickelodeon