Cablevision ad from the early 1970's. Courtesy of TVParty.com.
Next year marks the diamond anniversary of The Cable Show and for our 60th year we will be in Chicago from June 14-16. In celebration of our 60 years, here are some interesting facts about the cable industry over time in the United States:
- 60 years ago cable only had 850,000 subscribers. Today there are over 43 million digital video customers.
- Cable pioneer, Albert J. Ricci, created the iconic cable symbol, Abel Cable to help market cable. Today, Mabel Cable, Abel's granddaughter can be found on Facebook.
- November 8, 1972 saw the launch of the very first pay-tv network, Home Box Office and the first program aired was, "Sometimes a Great Notion".
- The term "broadband" first came into use in 1996.
What memories do you have of cable through the years? Feel free to share them in the comments.