the first cable stations were OTA (network) stations from major cities being served to rural areas. those had ads.
the first cable-specific channel was TBS which was just a converted Atlanta NBC channel that also had ads.
as basic cable grew, new channels launched with ads.
Premium channels like HBO launched in the 70s without ads but afaik those channels are still ad-free except self-promotion between shows.
Well, not everyone lives in the US or has the same timeline or window of experience. I should have made the relativism of my statement more clear, though it was touched on briefly.
Unless for some countries the cable experience didn’t have ads from square one, then people in those countries have a different reality.
But globally, yes, you’re point is well made and I didn’t know about it (thanks!), and is arguably much more relevant if that timeline and jurisdiction/territory match that of the corporations which currently run the streaming world, which is very much the case by my count.
that’s patently untrue.
the first cable stations were OTA (network) stations from major cities being served to rural areas. those had ads.
the first cable-specific channel was TBS which was just a converted Atlanta NBC channel that also had ads.
as basic cable grew, new channels launched with ads.
Premium channels like HBO launched in the 70s without ads but afaik those channels are still ad-free except self-promotion between shows.
Well, not everyone lives in the US or has the same timeline or window of experience. I should have made the relativism of my statement more clear, though it was touched on briefly.
I don’t think my “window of experience” has any impact on the objective reality that cable had ads from square 1.
Unless for some countries the cable experience didn’t have ads from square one, then people in those countries have a different reality.
But globally, yes, you’re point is well made and I didn’t know about it (thanks!), and is arguably much more relevant if that timeline and jurisdiction/territory match that of the corporations which currently run the streaming world, which is very much the case by my count.