What was the first successful cable network? (movies, commercial, cable tv)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Which cable network was the first to put a dent in the audience held by the ABC-CBS-NBC triumvirate? Was it MTV, which debuted in 1981?

[jim9251]

I'm thinking maybe the old "superstations". WGN, TBS, a few others.

[SabresFanInSA]

Im sure the answer is in the interwebz somewhere but I would say either HBO (early 70's) or ESPN (1979), maybe USA network (1980) not sure who became successful first

[jay5835]

The earliest I remember is HBO, which I got in NYC in 1975.

[TheWiseWino]

Interesting, I suppose it depends on how you define successful because according to Wiki the first commercial system was organized by Robert Tarlton in 1950. Then there is The Turner Broadcast Network. The first premium network of course was HBO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_..._United_States

[tamiznluv]

I would say HBO. I remember going to my parents' to watch it when they first got it. No commercials??!!

[Robert5]

HBO, MTV and CNN. And I think FOX (not the news channel) but may be confusing that with another network.

[DanielAvery]

I don't think the "dent" in the Big Three networks was made by any one cable channel, but by the slow growth of several of those mentioned above. Since cable TV had been mostly a product of big-city life (where broadcast reception was lousy due to skyscrapers and such) since the 1960s, the vast majority of America had over-the-air TV. In fact, rural areas could NOT jump on the cable TV bandwagon until much later (like, the 1980s and 1990s) due to the expense of running the cables out into rural areas with few subscribers. The cable channels could not achieve larger ratings shares until the cable companies could afford to spread out their services. By then cable TV was 'bundled'--that is, you got a slate of channels when you signed up. Ratings for all those early channels expanded only as more people got wired, and put pressure on those big three networks as a unit rather than one individual channel.

[tantan1968]

Kinda hard to say as to which cable network was the first to put a dent in the audience held by the then big 3 networks but I do remember in the late 70s and early 80s NBC, ABC and CBS were VERY concerned about how popular HBO was becoming at the time. Since of course HBO would air uncensored movies the networks back in those days I can recall tried to to "tease" the viewers that some of their shows were just as dirty as to what could be seen on HBO such as in their TV Guide ads for some of their TV movies for example as there was usually a scene of a couple in bed together even if the actual scene in the movie lasted only for a few seconds. In the DC/Baltimore area even the local stations tried to be like HBO even on their newscasts such as "...channel 11 Action News will visit a Baltimore gay bar tonight at 6", "...Special Report !! SEX for Sale !! Hookers in Maryland !! Meet them tonight on News Scene 2". Oh there was that ad that WDCA channel 20 ran in TV Guide in 1980 that pointed out why watch HBO when they have Benny Hill and of course the ad would feature semi-nude women. This sort of thing probably would not had happened had the local stations and networks were not concerned about HBO.

[NewJeffCT]

If I recall, it was ESPN that pioneered the current way cable networks are paid - the cable companies have to pay them X amount per subscriber, and then ESPN allowed that cable company to broadcast ESPN. It was done differently before that.