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Posted by Bill Vermillion on 05/03/06 02:35
In article <rcw4g.63620$_S7.59967@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com>,
Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:
>bv@wjv.com (Bill Vermillion) writes:
>>In article <ckdg42559o2dvtqlhtjlqutflalfm6c57k@4ax.com>,
>>(PeteCresswell) <x@y.Invalid> wrote:
>>>Per Dick Sidbury:
>>>>Philips acknowledged, however, that the anti-channel changing technology
>>>>might not sit well with consumers and suggested in its patent filing
>>>>that consumers be allowed to avoid the feature if they paid broadcasters
>>>>a fee.
>>
>>>Anybody remember when cable first came out? Seems to me like
>>>there was this wonderful new thing where you just paid N
>>>dollars per month and you got to watch all these shows with no
>>>commercials.....-)
>>
>>I remember when it came out just to be able to get TV stations
>>in areas where antenna reception meant at least a 100 foot tower to
>>get snowy pictures. It was about $15/month for 3 commercial
>>stations. The year was 1953.
>>
>>Then laster I moved to bit larger city that had ONE tv station and
>>the local TV dealer built a local cable with microwave repeaters
>>bringing in stations from a major city over 150 miles away.
>>Early cable was crude, but it was better than no TV at all.
>Wasn't even called cable then, just CATV (Community Antenna TV).
Everybody in town called it 'cable' I don't think I every heard
anyone call it CATV - even though that's what it was. The local
trucking company built it. They were looking for a good signal
and were going through areas in the mountains trying to find a
signal, and they got stuck in the snow, and found the best place
for the antenna. It was about a 150 foot wide rhombus on the side
of a mountain.
It was $15/month - back in 1953 - for three stations - that signed
off after the 11PM news.
The one that a local radio/tv store built - where I was living in
1958-1961 - built relay towers across the southern Idaho desert
[not technically a desert but surely like one] to import the
signals from Salt Lake City in addition to the one local station.
The alternative was watch snow, or listen to me on radio. :-)
Bill
--
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com
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