When cable first became available, its promise was no commercials.

Yeah don't you just hate capitalism?

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When cable first became available, its promise was no commercials.
That's what justified the cost. Now, not only do we get plenty of commercials, we get hours upon hours of those crappy 30 minute infomercials (albeit mostly at night).

They should pay me to watch that BS.

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I got rid of cable. I am saving $83 per month. I don't feel like I'm missing anything at all.

frick paying for TV. I'm done with that.

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Ha!. The youngsters probably don't even know that the networks would actually go off air at some point in the wee hours and they played the star spangled banner before going off air.

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Yeah, but that's when the ghosts would come out of the TV and get you.

I enjoy watching 2 and a half hour movies become 4 hour movies on A&E.

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I have to say I miss they days of network tv showing movies after hours.

Typically after 11pm on some networks and after 12 for the others, they used to show movies until they went off the air.

Ha!. The youngsters probably don't even know that the networks would actually go off air at some point in the wee hours and they played the star spangled banner before going off air.

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I am 32, and I can remember some channels still doing that. During many summer nights, my friends, cousins, and I would stay up very late until we would see an NBC or ABC sign-off.

When did cable come about? I'm just a dumb 21 year old

It really didn't proliferate in the NO area until the early 80s.

I only remember a few WEALTHY people having it before the early 80s.

Then about the same time all of my friends got it. So around 79 or 80.

My parents would never spring for cable so I always had to watch it at other people's houses. I remember when my buddy Matt's family got it in the early '80s. The box looked like this-

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It really didn't proliferate in the NO area until the early 80s.

I only remember a few WEALTHY people having it before the early 80s.

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That sounds about right...I remember in the mid '70s it was still a big deal in my middle-class neighborhood to have color TVs too.

We didn't get cable until mid '80s, but my friends had it when I was in junior high school (early '80s). The MTV station was the last one on the box, and I remember we'd go into their house and immediately slide the switch all the way to the end of the box. (This was when MTV still showed videos most of the time!)

Back to the original topic: I agree, it really does suck that the "Pay TV" stations have SO many ads. I really can't tell the difference between network stations and basic cable stations anymore.

DVR shite and fast forward through them. Television became a major market. What the hell do you want?