[DaiPlusPlus]

Cable TV was originally a way for communities outside of broadcast OTA TV reception areas to receive TV signals with little signal-degradation. People paid only for the ability to receive channels - not for the channels themselves. Premium TV came later.

[amyjess]

Yes. Here's a little historical tidbit: if you have an older TV, you'll need to put your TV in CATV mode in order to watch cable. CATV stands for "community antenna television", referring to the practice of having one antenna to receive OTA TV and then using cable to distribute it throughout the community.

[DaiPlusPlus]

Ahhh I thought it stood for "CAble TV".

[ghaff]

There was also basic cable fairly on. Things like CNN and AMC. When I bought a house in the late 1990s, I couldn’t receive any TV without cable.