Public Access Cable Television in New York City

One of the links listed in the Internet Movie Database‘s “Hit List” today is to this article at Moving Image Source (a project of the Museum of Moving Image). The article, written by Leah Churner, is titled “Out of the Vast Wasteland” and is actually the first of a two-part discussion of public access cable television in New York City, specifically Manhattan. The second half can be found here. It’s a fascinating read.

Public access cable television is a subject I personally know nothing about by virtue of cable television being beyond the purview of my interests in broadcast television. According to the article, when Manhattan was wired for cable in 1971, public access was born as well. Channels C and D were the first, followed by Channel J in 1976. Only the latter allowed advertising, which led to adult entertainment programs with titles like The Ugly George Hour, Interludes After Midnight, Midnight Blue and The Robin Byrd Show (which is apparently still in production).

The article suggests that the heyday of public access cable in New York City came to in end in 1984 when it became obvious that no one was actually watching cable access channels. In 1991, Channel J was replaced by ESPN. But cable access in Manhattan is still around, as it is in many other cities all across the country (there are also government access and educational access channels). There’s a woman singing on my public access cable channel this very moment. But it seems the dream of public access leading to a bold new age of free speech never amounted to much, at least not in Manhattan.


Related Posts

Become a Patron Today

Are you a fan of obscure television? Please support Television Obscurities on Patreon by becoming a patron today.

2 Replies to “Public Access Cable Television in New York City”

  1. “The Death Of The Ugly George Hour Of Truth,Sex & Violence” is greatly exaggerated, as Mark Twain notes. If Obscurities had bothered to search 2 words ugly george you would currently see over 1 billion links. And, yes, the Show is still in production, as said U.G. is often seen cruising the dimly-lit streets looking for (dare I say?) Hot Babes ready for the Big-Time. Only now it’s not just the Isle Of Manahatta, but the entire world 24/7! UG’s famed website/channel soon kicks off with both classic & Modern videos: the world awaits!

  2. As youse Hi-Brows know, the vaunted “New York Post” recently ran a huge article about “NY’s Late-nite SleazeTV”. Why was it “hu-u-u-u-ge” (as Donald Trump would say)? Because Ugly George got it linked by Google/Facebook/Twitter bigtime! Note the 1980 pic of UG picking up the Beautiful Blonde was supplied by Getty Images-which quickly got its’ own Google Link-also the UK’s Queen Liz got on MY page,too! The long-awaited return of the updated “Ugly George Hour Of Truth,Sex & Violence” online is almost there-a few more nites with high-paying Socialite Babes & UG will have the bread needed to re-launch the Epic…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.