When did you first get cable TV (non OTA)?

[ejjames]

Growing up in Burlington, ND (pop. 950) and receiving OTA from Minot, we had NBC, CBS and PBS. No ABC until about '84. (The CBS station had a secondary ABC affiliate and would air shows like GMA and MNF.)

Anyway back to the question, "When did you get cable, and how many channels did you get?" Being an A/V geek at even 8 years-old, I remember every one, we got it in about 1980. Channels 2-13 so no cable box was needed...
2-PBS
3-CNN
4-ESPN
5-WGN
6-CBC
7-Showtime
8-WTBS Superstation
9-NBC
11-ABC
12-CBS

[cadet502]

Northern New Jersey, 1977
2-CBS
4-NBC
5-IND
7-ABC
9-IND?
11-IND
13-PBS?
But we did get the box and I can't remember the numbers, but we got
MSG (at that time all Ranger/Islander home games were on MSG, Ranger away games were all on Channel 9)
We also got a selection of independents from Philly and Boston.
TBS
WGN

[Glen_D]

I first got Cable TV in 1992. It had been available in my neighborhood since the early 1980s. I got in on a promotion that included free installation (I didn't have an existing drop coming into my house).

I kept the Cable service until I got Dish Network in 1996.

[bidger]

My family had it ever since I could first remember. CBS out of Binghamton was over 50 miles away and there are lots of hills between and there was no way my Dad was going without the Jackie Gleason show in the early 60s. I had cable from 1987 until 2000, keeping Lifeline the last 2 years when I picked up DirecTV. Been with them from 1998 to present.

[RobertE]

Where my parents live, they got it in 90-91 when the small town finally got wired up. Sadly, the company got sold more times than they had channels. Last year the most current company (Cox I think) pulled the plug. Thankfully, my parents had finally seen the light and already had DirecTv installed. :) When the plug was pulled for the town, my parents had more HD channels than the total available channels on cable.

[Cholly]

First got cable from Pioneer Cablevision (out of Vestal, NY, I think - later acquired by Time Warner) in 1963. I moved several times between 1965 and 1972, and was mainly OTA. In 1972, was back in upstate NY and served by Time Warner until 2003, when I went with basic cable for locals and Dish Network. In 2004, Time Warner came to me with an offer of cable, Roadrunner and phone that I couldn't refuse, knowing that I'd be moving to NC before the special price ran out.
When I moved to NC to live with my oldest son and his family, they already had Time Warner cable. After we moved into our new house (still with Time Warner), I investigated going with satellite and due to our unique needs (7 TV's in 7 rooms, with two TiVo DVR's serving two of the TV's), cable turned out to be the practical solution. Although we had the house prewired, provision for room to room cabling was not provided, so we would have needed 7 individual satellite receivers and the TiVo boxes would have been useless.

[Jim5506]

We first got cable TV in the mid 1960's.

I lived in Carlsbad, New Mexico where we had a total of 3 OTA channels 6, 8 and 10and the transmitters for 8 and 10 were 70-80 miles away.

A local radio station owner went in with some other businessmen in town and put in a small cable TV system, bringing in 4 channels from Albuquerque, and 4 channels microwaved overland from Los Angeles, KTTV, KCOP, KTLA and one more - we had 12 channels (2-13) one was a weather channel that was a black and white camera panning a thermometer, barometer wind gauge amd clock.

[Getteau]

82 or 83ish from Storer Cable. We were in Clear Lake City Texas and I think Storer was in League City Texas. I don't remember if we had a box, but I remember it was always going out for hours at a time and I remember Storer's customer service was awful. They were the only game in town and they knew it.

[Stuart Sweet]

Northeastern Massachusetts, approximately 1981. There was cable there in the 1970s but we didn't have it.

[matt]

When I was growing up, we got Heartland Cable. It was wireless, and had a antenna at the top of a 20' pole that looked like a shelf from an oven with the little receiver sticking out of it.

House after house had a huge tripod, 20' pole, and 4 guy wires on the roof after TCI Cablevision screwed up their lineup.

We had ours mounted on the side of the house and looked a lot nicer. I still see them from time to time, even though the company is long defunct. I might snap a pic if I have my camera next time I see one so ya'll can see how ridiculous it looked.

[manxiemaxx]

Sept. 1980. Storer cable. North Central TX. Can't remember exact number of channels, but got HBO, SHOWTIME and a new (then) service The MOVIE CHANNEL.

Basic package included TBS,WGN,WOR, C-SPAN ,CBS CABLE(an arts channel),USA and a few more .HBO was on the air from 4P.M until around 4 A.M.
Basic cable was $7 and you could get HBO, SHOWTIME and TMC for $14.00 more.

[fluffybear]

It was sometime in the very late 1970's (i'm thinking 78 or 79) and we received a total of 4 channels (3 majors and PBS). Parents paid $4.00 a month.

I personally got cable for the first time in 1984 when I went off to college (lived off campus). There were 2 tiers, basic (around 14 channels) which ran about $7.00 a month and extended (around 30 channels) which ran about $20.00. HBO & Cinemax were the only 2 premiums being offered an I think they were around $10.00 for the two.

[spartanstew]

1985

[brant]

growing up, we never lived in an area w/ cable TV.

my brother left for college when i was 14; he got a primestar dish @ the duplex he rented. about a year later (1998), he moved to a house w/ cable and gave me the primestar setup. by this time they had been purchased by directv, and the local dish network dealer got me a free dish net system for being a primestar customer. i had it installed in my bedroom @ my parents and paid for it myself. my parents still weren't interested in having anything other than OTA.

anyhow, almost 6 years ago i got married and moved down the street to a house that had cable. $25/mo for 60+ channels including 3 HBO's.

I disconnected that 3 years ago when I got my first HDTV and signed up for dish network's HD package.

I disconnected that about a year ago and went back to OTA w/ streaming netflix through WMC.

I currently have no interest in paying for TV again, except for netflix because it has so many things we like to watch and all on-demand.

And having a DVR w/ OTA gives us plenty of choices for programming. Many shows I actually like come on network TV, and we can watch them @ our convenience.

[phrelin]

In 1974 in the Salinas Valley - brought NBC and CBS local channels plus ABC, PBS and some independents out of the Bay area.

[davidjplatt]

I couldn't get cable in Fairfax County, VA and when I moved to Arlington I could finally get cable in 1982.

I was shocked - 34 channels with a wired remote control (it used a modular phone cable to connect the remove to the cable box). I was in heaven - HBO, Cinemax, Showtime the local regional sports network was a premium channel - Home Team Sports and I refused to pay for it.

When I moved to Fairfax a couple of years later they actually had cable in the area I moved to. 120 channel system (not all of them live) - double cable system - two cables came in and both connected to a Zenith converter box - box was required because of the dual cable.

Moved to Prince William county and went back to a lousy 35 channel system.

Moved back to Fairfax to the 120 channel system and got so fed up with the service that I put in DirecTV in 1996.

Been with D* ever since.

[TheRatPatrol]

I remember having cable in our house around 1980, when I was about 8. I don't remember how many channels we had then. I do remember at one time we had a cable box that had a dial on it, then we got a "cataloged ordered" cable box that had a remote control. When they finally scrambled everything you had to have one of their boxes on every TV.

I remember they didn't broadcast the local channels on their OTA channel numbers. The cable channels that they did broadcast on the local channel numbers didn't come in very good sometimes as they got interference with the OTA channels leaking into the cable.

[Phil T]

I remember in the 60's we had friends in Frankfort KY who had cable that could pull in stations from Louisville and Cincinnati.

I lived in an apartment in 1980 that I could get HBO and WTBS on in Lakewood, CO. In 1981 We moved into our first house in Morrison CO and had Televents cable. We had a converter box that went up to 36 but I think I had about 25 channels including MTV (when they played videos).

Televents was bought out by Jones Intercable who was bought by TCI who was bought by AT&T who was bought by Comcast. I luckily got Satellite in 1997 and got to miss the TCI, AT&T & Comcast conversions.

[matt]

I was shocked - 34 channels with a wired remote control (it used a modular phone cable to connect the remove to the cable box).

Was it the one with a large array of mutually exclusive switches and the channel guide printed on the back? My grandma had that was back in the day.

[TheRatPatrol]

I remember in the 60's we had friends in Frankfort KY who had cable that could pull in stations from Louisville and Cincinnati.
They had cable in the 60's? I wonder if your friend actually had this?

The abbreviation CATV is often used to mean "Cable TV". It originally stood for Community Antenna Television, from cable television's origins in 1948: in areas where over-the-air reception was limited by distance from transmitters or mountainous terrain, large "community antennas" were constructed, and cable was run from them to individual homes. Link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CATV)

[jkane]

The house I grew up in and the house my brother still lives in plus the house my Dad lives in now still do not have cable. Central Wisconsin. The land of fresh "dairy-air". Even cell phone service does not work there.

Our cottage also does not have cable. It barely has electricity and phone service. They just put up the first cell tower last year.

My first cable was after I joined the Army. It was so amazing to see more than 3 channels!

[the_batman]

1977 back in Alabama

[Phil T]

I think you are right, it must have been CATV because I remember the channels being very fuzzy.

They had cable in the 60's? I wonder if your friend actually had this?

[Earl Bonovich]

1979 - Philadelphia

Don't recall the carrier... but remember the big push button box, that had an a/b/c switcher so you can have 39 channels.

I remember the 50ft cord that it was attached to, and vividly remember sitting up on the counter by the basement windows watching TV... waiting for dad to come home from work.

[djlong]

1976 - Nashua NH - Time Warner Cable TV

I remember the entire lineup.

2 - WGBH Boston (PBS)
3 - WMUR Manchester (ABC, Ch 9)
4 - WBZ Boston (then NBC)
5 - WCVB Boston (ABC)
6 - WLVI Boston (then IND, Ch. 56)
7 - WNAC Boston (then CBS)
8 - WSBK Boston (then IND, Ch. 38)
9 - Couldn't have anything on that channel due to interference from WMUR CH 9.
10 - WJAR Providence (NBC)
11 - WENH Durham NH (PBS)
12 - WPRI Providence (CBS)
13 - CKSH Sherbrooke Quebec (SRC / CBC)

[Athlon646464]

1979 in Webster, MA.

I don't remember the whole lineup, but I do remember HBO and seeing for the first time their movie intro on my 27" Trinitron. The intro showed you flying through a little city while using the same music they still use today. I remember seeing a piece on how it was made!

Also - HSN caused quite a stir the first time that came on!

iGPRWePIUUI

EDIT: Found the 'making of'!


3Et_LsxlX8Y

[harsh]

Lincoln Cable Television (later acquired by Charter)
Lincoln City, Oregon ~1974

This is an area that is essentially cut off from OTA by the Oregon Coast Range of small hills ("major mountain range" in Atlantic Coast parlance).

They had about 20 channels including all Portland DMA and Eugene DMA and some superstations. I later remember signing a contract for Showtime that said that they wouldn't play movies older than two years out of the theater.

The system included a weather channel that had a B/W camera panning and pausing (maybe the gauges were spinning about the camera???) at analog gauges for wind speed, wind direction, humidity, barometric pressure and temperature.

Comcast dragged out cable to my main residence in 1994 and replaced it all with fiber a couple of years later. Let's just say I lost interest when they went digital. ;)

[BattleZone]

My parents got cable in 1976. The cable box looked similar to this one (black & silver with a big knob), except ours had only a 2-position knob, labeled "2-13" and "Showtime".

http://i43.tinypic.com/9sazjq.jpg

We moved in mid 1977 and got a new box, very similar to this one, with a slider for a tuner:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3375/3298454963_068a3b8b20.jpg

I'm not sure what the cable company was called, but around 1980, they were bought out by Viacom, and soon after, we were upgraded to our first "modern" cable box, the Zenith ST-1600:

http://www.cable-descramblers-and-cable-descramblers.com/zenith-st-1600-new.gif

This box got the family well into the 1990s, eventually being replaced by a General Instruments model sometime in the mid-90s.

I bought my house in 1996, and very soon after moving in, my then-roommate/tenant and I went in together and bought a DirecTV system:

We paid:

- $150 for a Sony 18" dish with 2 (!) outputs on the LNB (a single-output LNB dish was only $99!).

http://www.satellitedish.com/npsys01.jpg

- $349 for a Sony SAT-A2 receiver (didn't even support DD5.1).

- $99 for a "Do-It-Yourself Satellite Installation Kit"

http://www.markdownalley.com/products/RCA_Satilite_Install_Kit.jpg

And then we got to do the install ourselves.

At the time, DirecTV didn't carry any premium movie channels; you had to subscribe to USSB, a separate company, to get them on your box.

[ARKDTVfan]

early 80s (circa 1982)

I remembering watching Gallagher on Showtime back in 1985 (yes mom let me watch that)

[TheRatPatrol]

EDIT: Found the 'making of'!
Wow a lot of work to make that intro, but it was a great intro, really got you pumped up to watch the movie.

The cable box looked similar to this one (black & silver with a big knob), except ours had only a 2-position knob, labeled "2-13" and "Showtime".
Ours looked similar to that one too, it had more channel numbers on it and didn't have the on/off switch. My dad had it sitting on the end table so you could change channels from the couch.

[jacksonm30354]

1972-1973. Columbus Cablevision (which became TCI which is now Charter).
2 - HBO
3 - music (audio only)
4 - WRBL-TV3 CBS
5 - ESPN
6 - WANX-46 Ind from Atlanta
7 - WTCG-17 Ind from Atlanta (predecessor to TBS)
8 - WYEA-38 NBC (now WLTZ)
9 - music (audio only)
10 - WTVM-9 ABC
11 WJSP-28 PBS/GPTV

I may have some of those wrong as I was only 5 :). We may not even have HBO or ESPN right off the bat as I don't think they launched until 1974 or 75. I do know They shuffled WTBS to 13 and they replaced WANX with WGN and moved it to 12. 7 became USA and 6 became CBN.

Columbus (the one in Georgia by the way, not Ohio) had 2 cable companies each assigned different neighborhoods. TeleCable (now Mediacom) expanded beyond 2-13 YEARS before Cablevision. I'd have to go to my friends homes in Telecable areas to watch MTV and they got it on launch (1982) I think it was 1985 or so before Cablevision expanded beyond 2-13.

Interestingly, Columbus added a 3rd cable company - Knology - in the 90's. So most neighborhoods have a choice between Knology/Charter or Knology/Mediacom. Competition at first brought prices down, but now they aren't really any less than what Comcast offers where I am in Atlanta now.

[B Newt]

When I was a kid we got cable in Dublin California in 1964.

[Athlon646464]

I remember as a kid in the early 60's living near Hartford, CT there wasn't cable, but there was a pay OTA station. It was channel 18.

I don't know what was on it, because our family did not subscribe. You needed a decoder box to see it.

http://www.wavgrp.com/18.jpg

The channel aired between 1962 & 1968. The idea died because the Zenith's Phonevision descrambler could not do color (according to a TV guide article).

http://www.kylebookholz.com/whct3.html

:D

[harsh]

I remember as a kid in the early 60's living near Hartford, CT there wasn't cable, but there was a pay OTA station. It was channel 18.In Salem Oregon, we had a short visit from the OnTV OTA pay channel. It used UHF and a simple scrambler. It was interesting in that they would occasionally send content in the clear. I remember them sending an adult feature in the clear one evening.

I also remember seeing something about an OTA pay channel in Chicago that used a special spherical antenna.

[Herdfan]

Milton, WV late 70's.

We got the local networks plus WGN, WTBS (which was something else back then before Ted named it after himself) and WXIX out of Cincinnati. Loved all the baseball I could watch on WGN and WTBS. I do remember not getting MTV at launch and wanting it so badly. Of course, we didn't have DVR's to record Friday Night Video's back then. :)

I ended up with DirecTV because I got married in 1994 and we were moving into a new neighborhood. CATV had not been run down our street yet, so while we were on our honeymoon, my parents had DirecTV installed for us. It was way better than cable, so I have never looked back.

Edit: WTBS used to be WTCG Channel 17.

[jazzyd971fm]

Got TCI cable in 1989. Upgraded to digital about 10 yrs later (by then went from TCI to ATT to Charter) When I moved in 2003, switched to DirecTv and never looked back ;)

[xmguy]

McMinnville, TN

Growing up. I sad C-Band Stationary sat for main channels and premiums. But prior had OTA. Sat was from early 90's to 94-95.

Got CableVision basic analog cable in 94-95 (later bought up by Charter). Since I was a kid I knew the main ones. BTW Sat was locked on G5 Sat.

2- WKRN (ABC)
3- WZTV (FOX)
4- WSMV (NBC)
5- WTVF (CBS)
6- Local Access
15- WGN (recorded Knight Rider on this one every Monday)
25- Nickelodeon
27- Disney (I think)
46- SciFi Channel

[sadoun]

I never had cable tv service. Always OTA or satellite. I had my 1st fully motorized C-band dish with Toshiba receiver back in 1989.

[n3ntj]

Growing up, my family first got cable TV around 1981 or so.. TeleMedia was the cable company (later became TCI, then Adelphia, it's now Time Warner where my parents still live)

I can still remember the basic cable lineup from day 1:

2 - HBO
3- USA Network (used to watch the NY Rangers when they were on there)
4 - WUAB - 43- Loraine/Cleveland (Ind)
5 - WQLN - 54- Erie (PBS)
6 - Community access (sometimes also carried WKYC, WEWS, WJW in Cleveland)
7 - WICU - 12- Erie (NBC)
8 - WJET - 24- Erie (ABC)
9 - WSEE - 35- Erie (CBS)
10 - WTBS Superstation (Atlanta)
11 - CHCH - Hamilton, ONT (Ind)
12 - Local ads/NOAA weather radio (didn't have programming since it would interfere with WICU)
13 - CKCO - Kitchener, ONT (CTV)

I've had D* since I bought my first home in 1998 and would never choose our local cable company (Comcrap).

[FTA Michael]

1981, Kansas City. Got a slider box with 35 channels including filler such as the old Satellite Programming Network, which provided slow-scan still photos and news. I care mainly because that's why they had to add an E to ESPN when it started.

At the time, I was working for a morning newspaper, so I didn't get home till 1:30 or 2 in the morning. During the day, cable meant the difference between about 25 watchable channels on the box vs. 6 OTA. By the time I got home, it was the difference between about 20 vs. 1 OTA. Huge difference! (Remember when most OTA stations would sign off at night?)

About 20 years later, my job included a super-low employee rate for cable TV. (Long story.) When I got laid off, I barely had time to make it home before the rate went up to normal. Dish Network was running a $9/month intro rate, so I bought a 311 at Sears and never looked back.

[scooper]

Mom and Dad had cable at home (not that I watched alot). The Residence Hall at KU did not have cable for the common TVs.

Wife had "bootleg cable" when she moved into an apartment at KU.

Most of the first 2-3 years out of college - I didn't even OWN a TV, then got a 12 inch B/W (which still works with a converter box) which I used OTA. When we moved to an apartment in Jacksonville Fl - we did have cable, as well as the condo in Reston VA (there was no TV at all in the building without it).

Wife had cable in her apartment here. and we kept it for awhile when we moved into this house until we got Dish in Oct 2000 and locals became available later, then we dropped TWC like a hot potatoe (36 channel system at the time, and Dish was already beating it). Been OTA / Dish ever since.

[olguy]

About 1980 or so in Garden Grove, CA. They pulled the cables from power pole to power pole along the property lines. My wife was beside herself waiting to get it. And when the pull was completed I think they started hooking up on the other end of town. That really had her going :lol: They pulled a dual cable into the house and the STB had an a-b switch. Don't remember how many channels but a bunch compared to what was coming down off Mt Wilson :). And before the cable we had On-TV with an antenna mounted on our OTA antenna.

When I transferred to Bakersfield in 1985 we were amazed that the area had underground utilities including cable. Time-Warner it was.

[Paul Secic]

My first cable TCI of Berkeley in 1977 just had ch 2-12 and A through O. All locals from SF, San Jose and Sacramento. They had a movie channel that came on 6PM with one movie a night. In 1979 they got CNN, WTCG (WTBS), ESPN, HBO. Horrid Service. You had to get up to change channels from a big box hooked to the TV.

[Skyboss]

Late 80's in San Diego. Cable was available then, but I think it was in the early 1980's when it launched. They didn't have much to offer outside of locals other than ESPN, HBO, Showtime and MTV if I recall, so dad didn't really care to pay for what was then crystal clear pictures by way of OTA. If he could watch Padre games OTA he wouldn't have cable now, so during baseball season he has cox turn on basic cable. Otherwise, he's back to OTA.

[purtman]

We had it in Pawcatuck, CT in the early-mid 70s. However, across the river in Westerly, R.I., cable was introduced in the 1960s. I believe it was the first town in the U.S. to have cable TV.

[Yes616]

May 1977 brought the cable down my street and luckily too as a new radio station at 98.3 placed their tower less 1000 feet from my location effectively killing channel 11 for me. I complained to WSUL about this and they paid the $250.00 cable installation fee.

We had Cablevision Industries (CVI) in Monticello, NY. The channels were..

2 - WCBS (CBS) New York, NY
3 - Home Box Office
4 - WNBC (NBC) New York, NY
5 - WNEW (Ind. / Metromedia Television) New York, NY
6 - Local (Reuters News printed on screen / Stock prices scroll and some pictures)
7 - WABC (ABC) New York, NY
8 - WNEP (ABC) Scranton, PA
9 - WOR (Ind. / RKO Television) New York, NY
10- WBRE (NBC) Wilkes-Barre, PA
11- WPIX (Ind.) New York, NY
12- WDAU (CBS) Scranton, PA
13- WNET (PBS) Newark, NJ

The cost was $9.95 for everything except that HBO was an extra $9.95 for total monthly bill of $19.90. More channels using a set top box were added in October 1979 but that is the start of a very long story. ;)

[Jimmy 440]

1978 Bayshore Cablevision - Middletown NJ. 25 miles via the crow to NYC but had each and every PHL channel and WTBS ch 17 from ATLANTA.

[Tom Robertson]

First apartment right out of college, December '83.

Moved to very rural house on a lake, eventually a cable company that serves that type of area came in.

Moved into the city, cable again.

Got a bonus and NFL Sunday Ticket Launched on BUD. Had one as quickly as I could get it in. (DIRECTV didn't have NFL ST yet, looked very closely.)

Dad and I both moved about the same time beginning 1998. Him into a new rural house in WI, me to Phoenix. Caught a fantastic deal on 2nd gen panny DIRECTV receiver/dish combos for both of us. Been DIRECTV ever since.

Cheers,
Tom

[Herdfan]

FirstGot a bonus and NFL Sunday Ticket Launched on BUD. Had one as quickly as I could get it in. (DIRECTV didn't have NFL ST yet, looked very closely.)

There was a very small window where DirecTV didn't have ST. I got it sometime in October/November 1994. Paid for a partial season.

[Game Fan]

1981 for me. I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

[Drucifer]

NYC (South of E96th Street)
Time Warner Cable TV
Either late 60's or early 70's

Paid for basic, but if you went to the roof, you could remove the filter and get MSG.