Greenwich Cablevision

Last updated

Greenwich Cablevision was the first community television station in Britain, broadcasting briefly in the Greenwich area of London during the 1970s.

Contents

History

Greenwich Cablevision was half-owned by Canadian business interests and had Maurice Townsend as its managing director. By January 1972 it has 12,000 subscribing households, each of whom paid 15 pence per week to access its cable television service. [1] This had originated in response to difficulties in receiving a terrestrial television signal in parts of the borough of Greenwich, notably some areas of Woolwich, most of Plumstead and Abbey Wood. These districts had poor reception caused by the location of the high point of Shooters Hill between them and the terrestrial transmitter at Crystal Palace. The company placed a television mast on a recently constructed high-rise block nearby and relayed the received terrestrial signal by cable to many local homes. [2] The system was known as the Woolwich and District Television Traders' Relay.

The move from being a relay service to a local television station that broadcast content not provided by the BBC or Independent Television Authority (ITA) broadcasters came after it lobbied Christopher Chataway, the then Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. It was already providing cable access to ITA terrestrial channels that were otherwise not available in the London area, such as Southern Television and Anglia Television, but Townsend expressed a desire to develop "a video platform for local people". [1] [3] There was a commercial imperative to seek new markets because improvements in the coverage of terrestrial transmitters were boosting the quality of reception of such signals and thus reducing the demand from consumers for cable relay services. [4]

The revised terms were conditional upon it providing high-quality local, community-oriented programmes and continuing to operate without public funding. It had been and remained barred from showing advertisements or seeking sponsorships, and it was also prohibited from showing films. As with some similar early cable operators in the United Kingdom, Greenwich Cablevision was hoping that the incumbent Conservative Party government would in due course provide a legislative environment that permitted pay TV services to develop. [1] [3]

Greenwich Cablevision was the first [5] [6] of five stations to commence locally oriented cable broadcasts following the granting of the experimental licences, with the other awardees being based in Bristol, Sheffield, Swindon and Wellingborough. [7] These licences were intended to expire in 1976 but their span was extended to 1979 after the election of a Labour government in 1974. [8]

With a subscriber base now standing at 14,000 [6] and a staff of seven, [9] Greenwich began its revised operations in July 1972, working from a former shop in Plumstead High Street. [2] Its chairman, Timothy Dudman, noted that "People like to see themselves and their friends on TV - it is natural and this, combined with a strong local interest, should make for good viewing." Initially, the in-house programming comprised a magazine-format current affairs show presented by Jillie Murphy, a local woman and former fashion writer. Called Cabletown, it had similarities with the Nationwide terrestrial programme, was broadcast daily for an hour in the evening and then repeated the following morning. [6] [9] Later efforts included a Saturday night show called Greenwich Meantime that provided early career breaks for the comedians Jim Davidson and Hale and Pace, [2] and a series called Your Song that featured a broadcast of community hymn-singing. [10]

The company had estimated in 1972 that it needed 17,000 subscribers from its 20,000 connected households in order to break even, and that it would then be able to consider adding a further 14,000 households to its cable network. [9] Townsend's concerns regarding local programming were more inspired by a desire to increase the number of people taking up the company's service than by the spirit of localism and democratisation as embodied by Michael Shamberg and other media activists of the time. The services provided by Bristol Channel and Swindon Viewpoint favoured the latter emphasis and aimed to involve their viewers in production of their output. However, by 1975 only Greenwich Cablevision, Sheffield Cablevision and the Swindon broadcaster were still operating; the others among the initial five licensees had been unable to survive in the constrained financial framework, which had also prevented them from increasing the price of subscriptions. [11] [lower-alpha 1] The various broadcasters had wanted permission to seek subsidies from local councils, to use their spare channel capacity to sell CCTV monitoring facilities and to show sponsored material. Instead came a government decision in 1975 to allow them to carry advertising. This concession followed pressure from the Annan Committee which feared that the entire experiment might collapse before it had time to review evidence of their impact. At that time, the New Scientist commented that the additional revenue would be insufficient to offset the operating costs especially since the small audiences and often "dull or amateurish" programming would deter advertisers. Earlier in that year, [13] Greenwich had cut its locally generated programming to two hours per week, while the Swindon operation refused to countenance advertising, believing that it was contrary to their public service ethos. [8]

Writing in The Guardian , columnist Peter Fiddick considered the decision to extend the licensing period from 1976 to 1979 as no more than governmental procrastination, putting off the time when politicians would determine the outcome of the experiment. He said that "the commercial decision the cable interests are having to take is whether continuing to shell out on the community experiments in the public interest will in the end, after Annan and all that, bring the multi-channel pay television, full-colour advertising backed, share of the mass audience business that is the real goal." [13]

A contemporary documentary produced for the BBC's Horizon programme portrayed the activities of the Greenwich and Swindon broadcasters. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cable television</span> Television content transmitted via signals on coaxial cable

Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadcast television, in which the television signal is transmitted over-the-air by radio waves and received by a television antenna attached to the television; or satellite television, in which the television signal is transmitted over-the-air by radio waves from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth, and received by a satellite dish antenna on the roof. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone services, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables. Analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation.

Superstation is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television signal—usually a commercially licensed station—that is retransmitted via communications satellite or microwave relay to multichannel television providers over a broad area beyond its primary terrestrial signal range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cable radio</span> Sound content transmitted via signals on coaxial cable

Cable radio is radio broadcasting into homes and businesses via a cable. This can be a coaxial cable used for television, or a telephone line. It is generally used for the same reason as cable TV was in its early days when it was "community antenna television", in order to enhance the quality of over-the-air radio signals that are difficult to receive in an area. However, cable-only radio outlets also exist. It can be both FM or AM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PRISM (TV channel)</span> Cable channel based in Philadelphia (1976–1997)

PRISM was an American regional premium cable television channel in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Launched in September 1976, PRISM was primarily distributed through area cable systems, although it was also available through a scrambled over-the-air signal on WWSG-TV from 1983 to 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">StarHub TV</span> Cable television operator in Singapore

Star Hub TV is a pay television service provided by StarHub in Singapore. It has been a subsidiary of StarHub Limited since StarHub acquired Singapore Cable Vision (SCV) in 2001, and was the sole pay-TV operator in the country until 2007 when mio TV, an IPTV service from its competitor, Singtel, was launched.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of the introduction of television in countries</span>

This is a list of when the first publicly announced television broadcasts occurred in the mentioned countries. Non-public field tests and closed circuit demonstrations are not included.

Cablevision is an American cable television operator with systems serving areas surrounding New York City.

Swindon Cable was the UK's first commercial Cable TV franchise. It was originally set up by Thorn Ltd as Radio Rentals Cable Television; the local company name was later changed to Swindon Cable. As well as relaying satellite channels it operated its own local cable TV channel known as Swindon's Local Channel. It closed permanently in 2000, after 16 years of broadcasting mostly local programming on the Wiltshire town's cable TV system.

SportsChannel Philadelphia was an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between Rainbow Sports, a unit of the Rainbow Media subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation, and NBC, and operated as an affiliate of SportsChannel. Operating as a sister network of the premium service PRISM and headquartered in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, the channel provided regional coverage of sports events involving professional sports teams based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, and college and high school sports events throughout the Delaware Valley region.

The NBA on USA is the de facto name for the USA Network's National Basketball Association (NBA) television coverage. The program ran from the 1979–80 season through the 1983–84 season.

Wire TV was a British cable television channel produced by United Artists Cable and featured a range of entertainment, lifestyle and sports programming. Branded as "The Cable Network" was originally set up and funded with £25 million by Cable Program Partners (CPP1), a consortium of British cable operators including NYNEX, US West and Comcast to bolster alternative content from the satellite-dominated multichannel environment of the time.

Community television is a form of mass media in which a television station is owned, operated or programmed by a community group to provide television programs of local interest known as local programming.

Swindon Viewpoint was a local community cable TV channel based in, and serving Swindon. It has been through several incarnations, including its early experimental phase, its main phase in the 1970s and 1980s, its 1990s phase where it operated under the title Swindon's Local Channel, and its current online phase.

Cable first started in 1963, when several companies, including state broadcaster RTÉ, started relaying the UK's terrestrial TV channels in some cities and larger towns. Today all Irish cities and many larger towns have cable networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheffield Cablevision</span> Television channel

Sheffield Cablevision was a cable television community channel in Sheffield, England which launched on 29 August 1973. The channel was one of five community cable television experiments that were authorised by the UK's Minister for Posts and Telecommunications in 1972. It closed on 2 January 1976 due to lack of funds.

Bristol Channel was a cable television broadcaster that operated in the Bristol area of England during a period of experimental licensing of cable community television in the 1970s. It was run by Rediffusion and existed from 17 May 1973 to March 1975.

Wellingborough Cablevision was a cable television broadcaster that operated in the Wellingborough area of Northamptonshire, England, during a period of experimental licensing of cable community television in the 1970s. It was run by a consortium of local businesses and existed for exactly a year to 24 March 1975.

This is a timeline of cable television in the United Kingdom.

This is a timeline of local television in the United Kingdom. This refers to stations transmitting to a small area such as a city or part of a county, not to larger regions covered by ITV and BBC regions.

TV Niue is a Niuean television channel owned by the Broadcasting Corporation of Niue.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Although Allen and Miller state that only the Greenwich and Swindon broadcasters were still operating in 1975, contemporary news reports indicate that Sheffield Cablevision did not cease broadcasting until 2 January 1976. [12]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Hanlon, Joseph (13 January 1972). "Sneaking in local TV". New Scientist. p. 60.
  2. 1 2 3 Moran, Joe (3 September 2013). "The bizarre world of 1970s hyper-local TV". BBC. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  3. 1 2 Rennie, Ellie (2006). Community Media: A Global Introduction . Rowman & Littlefield. p.  83. ISBN   9780742574465.
  4. ↑ Moran, Joe (2013). Armchair Nation: An Intimate History of Britain in Front of the TV . Profile Books. pp.  214–215. ISBN   9781847654441.
  5. ↑ "OK for local tv". New Scientist. 27 January 1972. p. 205.
  6. 1 2 3 Pownall, Garry (13 July 1972). "AV view". New Scientist. p. 104.
  7. ↑ Walker, John Albert (1993). Arts TV: A History of Arts Television in Britain. Indiana University Press. p. 167. ISBN   9780861964352.
  8. 1 2 Maddox, Brenda (13 March 1975). "Wrong life line". New Scientist. pp. 618–619.
  9. 1 2 3 MacManus, James (2 July 1972). "Carry on cable". The Guardian. p. 11.
  10. ↑ "In brief". The Catholic Herald. 20 July 1973.
  11. ↑ Allen, Rod; Miller, Nod (2002). "Panaceas and Promises of Democratic Participation: Reactions to new channels, from the wireless to the World Wide Web". In Henwood, Flis; Miller, Nod; Senker, Peter; Wyatt, Sally (eds.). Technology and In/equality: Questioning the Information Society. Routledge. pp. 52–53. ISBN   9780203134504.
  12. ↑ "Lack of funds closes local TV". The Guardian. 2 January 1976. p. 6.
  13. 1 2 Fiddick, Peter (6 January 1975). "We are facing the need for a political decision". The Guardian. p. 8.
  14. ↑ "Local television in 1970s Britain". BBC. Retrieved 4 September 2013.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.