TC
[quote="rmc" pid="680735"]
Actually the music channel was Music Box, not MTV which I think did launch in Europe on Astra after Music Box had transformed itself into Superchannel I think. Music Box did produce 'shorts' which were carried on some ITV channels, Yorkshire I think being one. I'm not sure if Bravo existed before Astra but the original Bravo was a vintage black & white TV & film channel, nothing at all like the modern channels.
Sky Channel pre-dated the 1984 Rediffusion cablevision launch and had a life before Murdoch acquired it.
I seem to remember that Sky launched on cable networks in Milton Keynes and Swindon first at a time when the only other satellite channels were Russian, from the Ghorizont satellite.
[quote]
It was the Cable & Broadcasting Act of 1984 which permitted relay systems in general for the first time to carry programming other than terrestrial relays. Prior to this there were a number of Pay-TV experiments in a few select areas including Greenwich. In 1984 many small systems decided to ditch BBC/ITV (giving their customers aerials instead in order to comply with the requirement that they provided terrestrial!) and carry the new channels instead.
Indeed Buck's Fizz and I (in the days when I was still a C-list celeb) launched programming on the system in East Kilbride at a glitzy affair in a cold hall somewhere that was populated entirely by women with buggies. The impressive launch (Now, from 25 thousand miles in space.....) as each channel went live with an appropriate opening ("Now Music Box welcomes its new viewers in Scotland..") was a joy to behold. Little did the disinterested masses ("Goat ony free balloons, son?") know that all these openings were not coming from 25 thousand miles away but from four VHS players stashed under the stage. Still, it looked good.....
Initially, Bravo was distributed on low band U-Matic tape and played out from headends. After I left the ITC I worked briefly for United Artists and my brief was to launch Bravo and Discovery on satellite. That would have been 1990, I think.
Music Box was a sustaining service overnight for Yorkshire TV during its 24-hour experiment, by the way.
Actually the music channel was Music Box, not MTV which I think did launch in Europe on Astra after Music Box had transformed itself into Superchannel I think. Music Box did produce 'shorts' which were carried on some ITV channels, Yorkshire I think being one. I'm not sure if Bravo existed before Astra but the original Bravo was a vintage black & white TV & film channel, nothing at all like the modern channels.
Sky Channel pre-dated the 1984 Rediffusion cablevision launch and had a life before Murdoch acquired it.
I seem to remember that Sky launched on cable networks in Milton Keynes and Swindon first at a time when the only other satellite channels were Russian, from the Ghorizont satellite.
[quote]
It was the Cable & Broadcasting Act of 1984 which permitted relay systems in general for the first time to carry programming other than terrestrial relays. Prior to this there were a number of Pay-TV experiments in a few select areas including Greenwich. In 1984 many small systems decided to ditch BBC/ITV (giving their customers aerials instead in order to comply with the requirement that they provided terrestrial!) and carry the new channels instead.
Indeed Buck's Fizz and I (in the days when I was still a C-list celeb) launched programming on the system in East Kilbride at a glitzy affair in a cold hall somewhere that was populated entirely by women with buggies. The impressive launch (Now, from 25 thousand miles in space.....) as each channel went live with an appropriate opening ("Now Music Box welcomes its new viewers in Scotland..") was a joy to behold. Little did the disinterested masses ("Goat ony free balloons, son?") know that all these openings were not coming from 25 thousand miles away but from four VHS players stashed under the stage. Still, it looked good.....
Initially, Bravo was distributed on low band U-Matic tape and played out from headends. After I left the ITC I worked briefly for United Artists and my brief was to launch Bravo and Discovery on satellite. That would have been 1990, I think.
Music Box was a sustaining service overnight for Yorkshire TV during its 24-hour experiment, by the way.