Any resources for old (1980s) schedules for Guest Cinema channel?

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justin1981

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Jun 20, 2023
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Hello,

I had an old VHS from the 80s that had a 6-hour uninterrupted block of movies from the defunct Guest Cinema Channel. I'd love to know the date that the tape was recorded. Are there any resources online or elsewhere that contain old schedules? I have looked on Newspapers.Com to no avail. So, I'm wondering if maybe a satellite TV specific guide from back then might have something. Any ideas?

Thanks,
JS
 
Do the movies have any breaks between them?... might have a few clues there..might mention a month or something like that
 
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Found something that might help...


In 1985, the first U.S. cable channels to show only pay-per-view, Viewers Choice, Cable Video Store, and Request TV began operation within days of each other. Viewers Choice was available to both home satellite dish and cable customers. Request TV was available to only cable viewers at first. Dish owners could not use it until the 1990s.

The term "pay-per-view" became more well known in the 1990s when companies like iN DEMAND, HBO, and Showtime started using it to show movies and other things. In Demand would show movies, concerts, and other events at prices between $3.99 to $49.99. HBO and Showtime would offer championship boxing, with prices between $14.99 to $54.99.[source?]
 
Thanks very much for the information. Unfortunately, the bumpers on the tape are not helpful. No months or dates are specificed. Just genrric statements are made such as "playing this month on Guest Cinema."

The movies on the tape are Bull Durham and Three Men and a Baby. There are also ads for other movies such as the Great Outdoors, Red Heat, Shoot to Kill, and Rambo III. My best guess as vintage is fall of 1988 or spring of 1989. I think Bull Durham was released on VHS in early January 1989, so that might be a good guestimate.

Incidentally, the "Guest Cinema" channel was only accessible to hotel chains and TVRO owners. My parents had a big dish in the late 80s and early 90s, so I'm guessing that was how they recorded it.
 
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justin1981 said:
Thanks very much for the information. Unfortunately, the bumpers on the tape are not helpful. No months or dates are specificed. Just genrric statements are made such as "playing this month on Guest Cinema."

The movies on the tape are Bull Durham and Three Men and a Baby. There are also ads for other movies such as the Great Outdoors, Red Heat, Shoot to Kill, and Rambo III. My best guess as vintage is fall of 1988 or spring of 1989. I think Bull Durham was released on VHS in early January 1989, so that might be a good guestimate.

Incidentally, the "Guest Cinema" channel was only accessible to hotel chains and TVRO owners. My parents had a big dish in the late 80s and early 90s, so I'm guessing that was how they recorded it.
Click to expand...
Do you know the Hotel Chain?
 
justin1981 said:
Thanks very much for the information. Unfortunately, the bumpers on the tape are not helpful. No months or dates are specificed. Just genrric statements are made such as "playing this month on Guest Cinema."

The movies on the tape are Bull Durham and Three Men and a Baby. There are also ads for other movies such as the Great Outdoors, Red Heat, Shoot to Kill, and Rambo III. My best guess as vintage is fall of 1988 or spring of 1989. I think Bull Durham was released on VHS in early January 1989, so that might be a good guestimate.

Incidentally, the "Guest Cinema" channel was only accessible to hotel chains and TVRO owners. My parents had a big dish in the late 80s and early 90s, so I'm guessing that was how they recorded it.
Click to expand...
Bingo

View: https://youtu.be/OHwvMxLQEC8
 
Hi,

Thanks for the research on this. To address a couple points:

I do not know the hotel chain. My feeling is that the service was available to hotels in general if they chose to subscribe, rather than being geared toward one specific hotel chain.

The YouTube videos you found are the EXACT ads that are on my old tape. The YouTube clips surfaced maybe 5 years ago or so. I reached out to the poster, back then, to see if he had more information - this was back in the days when YouTube users could message each other. The poster told me that he got the tape in an estate sale, if I remember correctly, and he was convinced that someone recorded it off TVRO. My best guess is that it was around the same time my parents were rolling tape off their own TVRO - perhaps even the same timeshift.

I also found this post, here on the Satellite Guys forum, indicating that Guest Cinema was occasionally in FU (full authorization?) mode.


So, that's my best guess as to how my parents came across it on their TVRO (and probably the YouTube taper). I recall that my parents had a VideoCiper II. This would have been roughly from 1987 until 1991.
 
justin1981 said:
Hi,

Thanks for the research on this. To address a couple points:

I do not know the hotel chain. My feeling is that the service was available to hotels in general if they chose to subscribe, rather than being geared toward one specific hotel chain.

The YouTube videos you found are the EXACT ads that are on my old tape. The YouTube clips surfaced maybe 5 years ago or so. I reached out to the poster, back then, to see if he had more information - this was back in the days when YouTube users could message each other. The poster told me that he got the tape in an estate sale, if I remember correctly, and he was convinced that someone recorded it off TVRO. My best guess is that it was around the same time my parents were rolling tape off their own TVRO - perhaps even the same timeshift.

I also found this post, here on the Satellite Guys forum, indicating that Guest Cinema was occasionally in FU (full authorization?) mode.


So, that's my best guess as to how my parents came across it on their TVRO (and probably the YouTube taper). I recall that my parents had a VideoCiper II. This would have been roughly from 1987 until 1991.
Click to expand...
I doubt there isca actual schedule...its a service similar to the PPV channels on dish and directv...just a continous loop of the same movies that get changed every month..only consolidated on one channel
 

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