$10 HBO Ending ?

[bobvick]

The difference, as I see it, was lack of competition back then. We now have Epix, Starz/Enc, Netflix, Showtime, etc.

That was way way overpriced for 1986 anyway. It was cable’s answer to try and kill off TVRO. Of course it did put a big dent in sales beginning in 1985-1986 that TVRO really never recovered from when you look at the projections for system sales in say early 1985 or back in 1984.

 

[PHXHoward]

Growing up in the 70’s-80’s, HBO was one of those luxuries that we could not afford. We had basic cable which was a big deal. I had a couple of wealthy friends with HBO and it was always exciting to visit them and watch Fraggle Rock or whatever.

 

[joewhite57]

I remember getting one channel in the late 70's for $6.95. They'd show the same movie all day long. It included a movie guide in the mail.

 

[The Fat Man]

I found something today they will make $15 not seem so bad, in a 1986 issue of SatelliteTV Week I found there was an ad from HBO. It was 12.95 or HBO or Cinemax (only E&W feed of each at that time) or $19.95 for both. Doesn’t make $15 for 8 feeds and VOD/HBO Go seem so bad 32 years later. FYI, that $12.95 would have had the same spending power as $29.37 today.

View attachment 133759

Back in the 80s, HBO and Cinemax were changed to a snowy picture with just the audio, if the customer didn't subscribe on our cable system. However, our RSNs and Disney Channel were scrambled. We had one of those boxes to unscramble the RSNs, but it didn't unscramble Disney. I always wondered how they worked.

 

[The Fat Man]

I remember getting one channel in the late 70's for $6.95. They'd show the same movie all day long. It included a movie guide in the mail.

OTA Pay TV was a thing for a short while in the Boston area. I'm not sure if my parents subscribed, as I was too young. The earliest I can remember was having Cinemax and due to my waking up around 2:30 in the morning, my parents switched it to HBO. I know they originally got Cinemax, because it was 24 hours at launch, and HBO originally signed off at night. Cinemax wasn't known for adult content at first either.

It's the same reason I dumped Cinemax when Dish started to carry EPIX in the Dish Movie Pack. My wife removed the Yogi Bear movie off our 722K DVR to make room for the 2012 London Games. I later added it back on, but got it off the West Coast Channel at 8:00 in the morning, which was really a 5:00 showing. So, I told my daughter to go get a snack and went to start the movie for her, and all I can say is thank God she wasn't in the room. That's when I shopped for the alternative. At first Cinemax had most the movies I wanted and was cheaper than HBO.

 

[Juan]

Back in the 80s, HBO and Cinemax were changed to a snowy picture with just the audio, if the customer didn't subscribe on our cable system. However, our RSNs and Disney Channel were scrambled. We had one of those boxes to unscramble the RSNs, but it didn't unscramble Disney. I always wondered how they worked.

Back in the early 80's..they had the old manual click type tv tuners...with a pair of pliers you could hang the tuner between channels 3 and 4..HBO would come in free unscrambled

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[The Fat Man]

Back in the early 80's..they had the old manual click type tv tuners...with a pair of pliers you could hang the tuner between channels 3 and 4..HBO would come in free unscrambled

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

I tried to get Cinemax unscrambled, and heard of methods. But, I was a kid and heard that I needed to climb the pole outside to do it, so I never tried. But I do remember those tuners. We had the "wood" Gerald tuner with the A/B cable inputs, but we never had anything for cable B. I would hook my Nintendo or VCR to it just figure out what it did. Those were the days when I could plug the cable line directly into the TV and still get HBO through the TV.

I never had a channel 3/4 switch. I do remember being able to change our console TV to channel 2, 3, or 4, and the channel numbers on the tuner would change. For instance, HBO was channel 14 on the cable tuner. If I switched the TV to channel 4, HBO would be on 15 on the cable tuner. If I switched the TV to channel 2, HBO would be on channel 13 on the cable tuner. So channel 3 on the TV was our default for the "normal" channel lineup on the cable tuner.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I tried to get Cinemax unscrambled, and heard of methods. But, I was a kid and heard that I needed to climb the pole outside to do it, so I never tried.

Depending on the method of encryption, sometimes adding filters or removing traps was all that was needed. But NO ONE in my family EVER did that.

 

[Juan]

I tried to get Cinemax unscrambled, and heard of methods. But, I was a kid and heard that I needed to climb the pole outside to do it, so I never tried. But I do remember those tuners. We had the "wood" Gerald tuner with the A/B cable inputs, but we never had anything for cable B. I would hook my Nintendo or VCR to it just figure out what it did. Those were the days when I could plug the cable line directly into the TV and still get HBO through the TV.

I never had a channel 3/4 switch. I do remember being able to change our console TV to channel 2, 3, or 4, and the channel numbers on the tuner would change. For instance, HBO was channel 14 on the cable tuner. If I switched the TV to channel 4, HBO would be on 15 on the cable tuner. If I switched the TV to channel 2, HBO would be on channel 13 on the cable tuner. So channel 3 on the TV was our default for the "normal" channel lineup on the cable tuner.

this was before cable boxes..only had 2-13 and a "special" box for HBO

 

[joewhite57]

Depending on the method of encryption, sometimes adding filters or removing traps was all that was needed. But NO ONE in my family EVER did that.

Right(in a Bill Cosby voice)

 

[The Fat Man]

this was before cable boxes..only had 2-13 and a "special" box for HBO

Ah. I see. I believe that when my parents first got cable, they had the box that require the sub to manually switch a lever across to get their channels, but it had more than channels 2 to 13. So, I'm assuming that what you speak of is before my time.

 

[bobvick]

Depending on the method of encryption, sometimes adding filters or removing traps was all that was needed. But NO ONE in my family EVER did that.

I know what you mean. No one here ever had a modified VCII after HBO, et al. began scramble and charge exorbitant fees in 1986-87.

 

[Bobby]

Depending on the method of encryption, sometimes adding filters or removing traps was all that was needed. But NO ONE in my family EVER did that.

I remember the silver bullet the cable folk put on your coax. Take the bullet out and voila!

 

[Foxbat]

The early Sony Trinatron had a Voltage Controlled Oscillator and our cable system put Showtime and HBO just below Channel 7 in the upper half of the VHF band. Each channel button had a three-position switch and a 10-turn potentiometer for fine tuning control. All you needed to do was go below Ch. 7 and they would come in, nice and clear. That lasted 4-5 months before Cablevision caught on and added the in-line traps. The 1970s...

 

[comfortably_numb]

I remember the silver bullet the cable folk put on your coax. Take the bullet out and voila!

View attachment 133765

Yep, never removed one of those either

 

[mwdxer1]

I remember as a kid we lived in an apt building and a neighbor kid decided that everyone in the building was going to have free HBO, so he took all of the filters to each apt. I don't know if Cox Cable ever caught on as we moved shortly after that.

 

[PHXHoward]

We had something that looked a lot like this with a long cord going to the cable box. This was when I was eight and pretty much only watched pro wrestling and MTV on cable.