Cable and the Decline of the Big Three

CABLE AND THE DECLINE OF THE BIG THREE

More Channels

Cable television has been around since the 1940s but until recently was used almost exclusively to bring watchable television reception to communities that were separated from broadcasting antennae by distance or physical barriers such as mountains. In the 1970s individuals in a few communities had cable connections to their homes that allowed them to see movies, sports, and special events on a subscription basis. By the 1980s, however, the availability of commercial telecommunications satellites made it economically feasible for independent stations and special-interest channels to broadcast nationwide. As more material became available to the nation's cable providers, the business grew dramatically, gaining subscribers in urban centers around the country. In 1976 the average American home received seven channels on its television set; by the end of the 1980s the average number of channels had climbed to nearly thirty.

New Options

Before the 1980s the "Big Three" networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—were practically television's sole providers of national news and sporting events, major Hollywood releases (which were edited for content), and original dramatic series. But during the decade ten million viewers defected from the networks to watch what was on cable. There were a variety of reasons for the switch: cable channels offered audiences round-the-clock news (CNN), sports (ESPN), movies (Home Box Office, Showtime, and The Movie Channel, among many others), music videos (MTV, VH1, CMT), and reruns of favorite older series. Unlike the networks, whose success had always depended on appealing to as broad an audience as possible, cable channels practiced "narrowcasting"—targeting a specialized viewership. The programming on cable channels was generally far cheaper to air than network fare; and, since the new networks made money both by selling their programming to cable distributors around the country and by selling advertising revenue, the profits stood to be much greater.

Less Regulation

Cable networks were also less restricted in content than the major networks. The premium movie channels that charged a monthly subscription fee, such as Home Box Office (which premiered in 1972) and Showtime (debuted in 1978), could show their movies unedited, without commercials, and at all hours of the day. Even basic-service channels (those that did not require the additional monthly fee) were more liberal in their content standards than the Big Three. In order to compete, ABC, NBC, and CBS tried to spice up their programming, and prime-time television became more titillating and more violent over the course of the decade. "Trash TV" began to dominate the airwaves, especially on the local stations that bought sensational syndicated talk shows and pseudojournalistic "tabloid" shows such as Inside Edition and A Current Affair.

Consolidation

Weakened by the bewildering variety of new competitors, the major networks were ripe for takeover during the merger mania of the mid 1980s. In less than a year all three networks changed ownership. ABC was first, bought by the Capital City Communications group of affiliate television stations in March 1985. In October of that year CBS was purchased by Laurence Tisch and the Loews Corporation. And in December NBC was swallowed by the corporate giant General Electric. The networks' new owners all had strong ideas about how to reverse their acquisitions' falling profits. Each of the Big Three faced budgetary cutbacks in the latter part of the decade, most notably in their news divisions, which were notorious money losers.

Profits

By 1986 the major networks, with the exception of NBC, were earning fewer profits than several of the most popular cable channels; the second-highest earner that year was HBO. In 1987 cable's ratings jumped by a third, so that 15 percent of television sets were tuned to cable networks every night. Half the homes in America were connected to cable television, and that number would continue to grow. Cable channels continued to claim more programming that had once been the exclusive domain of the networks: ESPN brought national coverage of college basketball and Major League Baseball, and TNT contracted with the National Foot-ball League to show Sunday night games. The Cable News Network's coverage of the peace demonstrations in Beijing in 1989 and Operation Desert Storm in 1990-1991 established the all-news network as the channel that even the president watched to stay on top of events.

The Cost of Cable

By the end of the decade, however, many issues relating to cable and broadcast television were unresolved. Although cable's rating continued to improve and the networks' continued to slide, not every television viewer could afford cable's rates. Free television had been an American institution for almost four decades and in some ways was a necessary part of the life of the country. Some observers of the medium wondered if cable were capable of bringing the nation together the way network television had been able to. With a growing number of channels aimed at increasingly specialized audiences, it was less likely that a family would sit together and watch the same program. It was becoming less likely, in fact, that anyone would watch an entire program at all. With thirty or more channels to choose from, many viewers were plagued with the fear that there was always something better on. Channel surfing—restlessly flipping through one's available channels with the remote control—became a common pastime for the cable junkie.

Sources:

Ken Auletta, Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way (New York: Random House, 1991);

Harry P. Waters, "Trash TV," Newsweek (14 November 1988): 72-78.