Warner Cable lineup from 1993 (Houston, San Antonio: rental, credit, house)

[astrohip]

I recently came across a lineup card from Warner Cable, dated 1993. Not Time Warner, just Warner Cable.

45 channels. Most of today's big names only had one channel--ESPN, HBO, etc. There was Discovery, but not the 87 sub-Disc channels available today. WGN, TNT & TBS were the "super-stations". And 14-19 are STILL the vast wasteland they are today.

I remember getting QUBE cable in 1984 or so. Had a box on the TV, with a 20' cable running from the box to a remote.

[astrohip]

BTW, Mitchell is our son. He would have been 7 then. I'm guessing the yellow highlights are the channels he watched.

[houstmom]

Thanks for posting this. I love this kind of stuff. Its so cute that your son highlighted his favorite channels.

How in the world did you still have this card?

Hasn't KUBE come back again? Recently in the evenings I have seen a new channel playing old shows like Hunter and I think its KUBE.

[astrohip]

It's QUBE, not KUBE. QUBE was the name of the original cable provider in Houston, QUBE Cable. Back in the mid '80s, Houston awarded the cable franchises, which was a highly political process. I think they split the city into sections, with different companies getting parts of the city. At the time, we lived in Shephard Park Plaza, around Ella & 43rd. QUBE was the provider in that area, and we signed up. Maybe others can remember who else had early franchises?

I'm assuming KUBE is a channel/network? I'm not familiar with it.

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by houstmom

How in the world did you still have this card?

Whoops, forgot to answer this. We recently moved out of our house while we remodeled it (and are now back in), and I used the opportunity to go thru some old boxes and "un-clutter". Found all sorts of '80s and '90s stuff. Actually some '70s stuff from my youth & college days, but most of it is considered incriminating evidence, so let's leave it buried.

[jfre81]

Heh, "20 Vision." Takes me back. Astros games on the road.

[worldlyman]

TNN, the Nashville Network, before it became...Spike TV!

[LongLiveCassettes]

Originally Posted by astrohip

It's QUBE, not KUBE. QUBE was the name of the original cable provider in Houston, QUBE Cable. Back in the mid '80s, Houston awarded the cable franchises, which was a highly political process. I think they split the city into sections, with different companies getting parts of the city. At the time, we lived in Shephard Park Plaza, around Ella & 43rd. QUBE was the provider in that area, and we signed up. Maybe others can remember who else had early franchises?

I'm assuming KUBE is a channel/network? I'm not familiar with it.

Houston had the following Cable Companies in the 80's

1. Warner-Amex (which owned QUBE) Qube was the name of the first two-way cable box)
2. Storer Cable (Pasadena, Clear Lake, Spring which also received Warner later on)
3. TCI (Lake Jackson, Freeport, Jones Creek got bought out by Cablevision) (Now served by Comcast)
4. Jones-Spacelink (served Rosenburg, and scrambled MTV via phone line)
5. Phonoscope (out in the rural areas, I think Verizon took them over)

QUBE was never a Cable Company.

Amex sold it's Warner Cable division, and focused just on Credit and Banking in the mid 80's about 1985 soon after the Cable Companies were no longer priced controlled by the Federal Government as they were subsidized by the government, they lost money.

QUBE was required back in 1986 to order movies from Viewers Choice PPV II from Warner.

[LongLiveCassettes]

Originally Posted by astrohip

I recently came across a lineup card from Warner Cable, dated 1993. Not Time Warner, just Warner Cable.

45 channels. Most of today's big names only had one channel--ESPN, HBO, etc. There was Discovery, but not the 87 sub-Disc channels available today. WGN, TNT & TBS were the "super-stations". And 14-19 are STILL the vast wasteland they are today.

I remember getting QUBE cable in 1984 or so. Had a box on the TV, with a 20' cable running from the box to a remote.

That channel lineup was after they expanded with fiber optics. Around the same time when San Antonio's Paragon offered Court TV on Channel 46, Food Network on Channel 47, and the Travel Channel on 45, ESPN 2 on Channel 46. The package cost about $3 more plus a cable box rental of $3.05. The E! channel for Houston has also on Converter Box channel E during that time on the Pioneer Cable Box BA6830? (which replaced QUBE)

The PPV channels were moved from 35, 36, and 37. During that time.

Remember when those channels blinked when you didn't subscribe to them and showed Warner Home Theater bumpers?

[14Bricks]

I remember when me and my brothers use to try and sneak and watch scrambled porn on tv when our parents were asleep. Ah the good old days!