No, cable was developed to deliver standard TV (i.e., programming with regular commercials) to places that couldn’t get broadcast TV. It has always been a subscription service and has always had commercials. It was also always “bundled” with a selection of channels. You couldn’t even choose what came in your bundle until much later.
That depends. Yes, the cable standard did carry broadcast TV with commercials, but a big selling point in the beginning was also the existence of cable only paid TV channels that did not have commercials. Premium cable as an offshoot of cable only networks also did not have commercials, it was a major selling point. As the medium expanded and the channel breakdown shifted commercials came back in a big way, and even many premium channels got commercials. Prime examples would be USA Networks, HBO, Nickelodeon, and quite a few more.
No, cable was developed to deliver standard TV (i.e., programming with regular commercials) to places that couldn’t get broadcast TV. It has always been a subscription service and has always had commercials. It was also always “bundled” with a selection of channels. You couldn’t even choose what came in your bundle until much later.
That depends. Yes, the cable standard did carry broadcast TV with commercials, but a big selling point in the beginning was also the existence of cable only paid TV channels that did not have commercials. Premium cable as an offshoot of cable only networks also did not have commercials, it was a major selling point. As the medium expanded and the channel breakdown shifted commercials came back in a big way, and even many premium channels got commercials. Prime examples would be USA Networks, HBO, Nickelodeon, and quite a few more.
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