Netflix and HBO aren’t what I was referring to - I was referring to “real” over-the-air and cable television. Cable is paid for everywhere by channel/package. OTA is paid for in many places in the world through e.g. tv license in the Uk.
Ads still all over.
In contrast to op assuming built in payment would have had replaced ads.
Likewise cable TV. You pay for a subscription and you also see a lot of ads (more than on OTA TV, which is one of many reasons I cut the cord.) In the early days of cable networks, many had no ads because it was thought they could survive on subscription revenue. That idea didn't last long.
Where I lived the only reason to have cable was to watch premium channels. OTA worked perfectly fine for everything else.
So, probably you're right on your perception, but it doesn't invalidate my point of view and of other people who clearly remember a time where you did have ad-free television in Cable, because we only cared for the premium channels.
Easy - they paid for cable because it was an orange to OTA's apples. You'd only get a few OTA channels, and even then, not all of them would come in clearly. People paid for cable because it offered more channels. Most channels would still show commercials. Relatively few paid for premium channels, but it wasn't because they were commercial free (they were), it was because they offered better content (newest movies), in a time when piracy wasn't nearly as accessible.
If it helps you understand, originally cable tv was a way to pay for tv (as opposed to free OTA) that then had no ads, almost like how HBO operates today. Of course, that could only last for so long.
People paying for online streaming services versus cable may be a counter to that argument, although then it seems like it takes decades for the ad-fatigue to set in.
Pay-TV over cable arrived in the US in 1972. Netflix's streaming service was first available in 2007. The problem wasn't that people took decades to be annoyed by advertising on cable but that for decades Netflix (Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Now) did not exist. Once paid commercial-free streaming services arrived, uptake was rapid.
Cable TV didn't have ads when it started, and then started adding advertisements once they realized they could get away with it. That's when you ended up with HBO, which was an additional cost above standard cable TV. Corporations are never "content", but always require more and more income.
Why are there ads on cable tv? Why can't they just charge tv subscribers the whole amount and get rid of ads on tv? If netflix can do it, why can't tv do the same?
You do agree there was a paid service that had no ads. We're good on that, right? No objections, I reckon.
I see you have a point with me and others calling it cable, when it was a subset of all the cable you could get. I readily concede your point here.
So ok, there was a fucking paid service that had no ads, and I have no hard data to back what I am going to say, but I strongly suspect that those premium channels were all that mattered for most people. I never ever found a house amongst my friends and family during the 90's that had only basic cable.
And this subset of people, who I suspect was a plurality of cable users, that cared most about those premium channels and paid for that, had the experience of seeing those channels introducing ads while charging the same for their packages.
100% agree. I hate paying for TV which still has ads. It's why almost all content I consume through the flat screen in the living room now is either Netflix, Amazon or Youtube. About the only thing I watch OTA or via Sling now is sports. And I was born before Nixon was President.
Where does the myth that cable ever was ad free come from? Cable started out as a method to deliver broadcast TV to people who couldn’t get reception. Then superstations like TBS started broadcasting local content. Cable always had ads besides premium TV like HBO
If you're paying for Internet, you're paying for someone to provide with you advertisements in exactly the same way. Cable is merely the delivery method -- the networks and stations themselves are providing the content separately and using advertising to fund it.
If you pay for premium cable channels like HBO then you're actually contributing your money to the production of advertisement-free content.
And? As I said -- when you pay for cable TV, you're paying for the TV feed. Netflix is VOD carried over IP. The power company doesn't try to sell you energy-guzzling AC units.
Ads still all over.
In contrast to op assuming built in payment would have had replaced ads.
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