Hollywood Studio Magazine (February 1971)

are contingent on the agreement National Transvideo made with those cities. And the monthly subscription fees are similarly affected. In those areas, unless you're lucky enough to latch on to a "free introductory offer”, installation is $12.50. Now, let's take a look at what your cable-subscription money buys today — and what it's likely to buy in the very immediate future, like right after April 1. April 1 is the date arbitrarily set by the Federal Communications Commission requiring cable systems with more than 3500 subscribers to initiate what the FCC chooses to call "local origination". This is interpreted to mean that some of the specific television-viewing desires of the public will finally be met. One channel on your dial (possibly 6) will begin to transmit programs of local interest. Genuinely local — activities which actually take place within the limited area covered by each cable system. Early emphasis will probably be on local sports, high school and college, but that does not rule out potential coverage of city council meetings, PTA, school board, discussion panels, educational courses and, very likely, special interest educational films, including foreign language, all telecast on a "local" basis, for local audiences. Commercials may or may not enter these new pictures. Actually, advertising isn't all that important when you consider that the subscription rate for cable itself may very well cover the cost of cablecasting. Along with this new concept- in television fare, there's one other knotty problem still to be solved. Essentially, cable television is "closed circuit". This alone may open a can of worms, coupled with the fact that there are already "tuner" attachments available (you'll rent those too, for probably $1 a month) which can provide your existing TV set with, for instance, 17 additional channels! What's to prevent the local cablecaster from giving you beautiful coverage of home games otherwise blacked out on commercial TV? Some attempt at control is sure to get under way, but even that is nebulous at the moment. Companies like National Transvideo are already committed to innovative children's shows, which include child-participation at home, and to other types of participating shows like Cable TV Bingo, which has been enormously successful in cable-dependent communities throughout the south and southwest. Theta Cable expects to draw on UCLA and Cal-Tech for fresh program origination - and Theta already has that 9 -extra-channels tuner. (Theta is related to Hughes, you know) By the way, CATV is absolutely not Pay-TV. Pay-TV charges for programs, per program. CATV simply charges a subscription-fee for its services — and those services are myriad, including radio-equipped maintenance trucks, just in case the problems of fire, flood, and other "unforeseens" which often plague your phone system don't plague your television reception via cable. One more cursory look at what Cable TV represents to your community: it represents a mighty big investment. Millions, in actual fact. Cost of setting up a cable system above ground in almost any area averages out at about $10,000 per mile. Below ground, average investment is closer to $25,000 per mile, even with the plus of sharing shallow trenches with lights, power, and phone lines. Cable is coming into its own because mountains, hills and hi-rises block the transmission of signals. TV signals .travel A CATV SYSTEM in almost-straight lines. A new apartment-building next door to you and whammo, you've lost your TV reception. Not so with cable. If you're a cable subscriber, the only way you can lose good reception is to forget to pay your subscription fee — or one of those natural disasters peculiar to mountain and canyon areas has struck. In that case, call the company and yell a lot. Cable itself, wired into your home like your telephone from the nearest telephone pole or from underground installations, plugs neatly into the back of your TV set. Never again do you need rooftop antennas or “rabbit ears.” 9