Subj : Re: Old Geek Thoughts...
To   : McDoob
From : acn
Date : Thu Jan 06 2022 08:27:00

Am 04.01.22 schrieb McDoob@21:4/135 in FSX_RETRO:

Hallo Mcdoob,

M> Um...I don't know where you grew up, but where I lived, there were
M> only two free TV channels: CBC (national) and local. If you wanted
M> to watch any more than that, you had to pay a pretty massive
M> subscription...just to watch a bunch more ad-filled channels...

That highly depends on where you live on this planet.

Here in Germany, until 1984 (just a coincidence? *g*) we only had  
public TV stations (2 nationwide: ARD and ZDF and several local  
stations for one or more state). These also had (and have) ads, but  
limited and not after 8pm.
(oh, and cable TV and satellite TV reception also started in the 80s)
1984, private TV stations were allowed which only have income from ads  
(and product placement ...), but as per law they are only allowd to  
transmit ~12 minutes of ads per hour. But they were, and most are  
still, free to watch without subscription (at least in SD quality).

In 1990, the first PayTV station (Premiere, now Sky) went on air, but  
with limited success. Another one started in the late 90s as a digital  
TV station ("DF1"), it later merged with Premiere to become Sky.

Starting with HDTV, you often have to pay extra to receive the HD  
versions of private TV stations; but if I'm correct, then there were  
and are no other PayTV stations here worth mentioning.

Regards,
Anna

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