Analogue cable television networks

[Arran]

In the 1980s, and early 1990s, a small number of towns had their own analogue cable television networks. They had their own local TV channels and also carried some of the satellite channels.

Has anybody experienced them?

[George 1978]

I believe that Swindon was the first town to launch - it was a consortium with WHSmith being one of the company that launched it, and Kate Bush "officially" opened it on-air. Well, there's a YouTube clip which reveals all. The Daily Mirror did Mirrorvision in which only they published the listings of (as well as the Sunday Mirror and The People as well, I think). Someone elsewhere argued that cable TV existed in 1938, but I assume that they were referring to the old Rediffusion service.

Even when my late mother had the Diamond Cable telephone service installed (free local calls after 6.00 pm, etc), she resisted from having the cable TV installed at the same time. It took until 2000 for me to get the cable service installed at my old house and even then they had not come up for their first appointment and that we had to rebook and wait another eight days. Even getting Yorkshire TV in addition to Central back then would be just as good as getting extra Sky channels.