SelecTV USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (May 2007)

For other uses, see SelecTV.

**SelecTV**
Type	Pay television network
Availability	United States, national
Launch date	1976

SelecTV was a subscription (Pay TV) television service beginning operation in 1976 and ending in 1991. The service focused entirely on televising movies.

SelecTV was transmitted via scrambled signal from a local UHF television station. A decoder box was required to unscramble the signal and permit normal viewing. The service aired on WCGV, channel 24 (now MyNetworkTV) in Milwaukee. During the nighttime hours, the service aired also on KWHY in Los Angeles(now a Spanish Independent), and WWSG channel 57 in Philadelphia (now WPSG with The CW). On 57, the service utilized the gated-pulse scrambling technique for the video and moved the audio to a different subcarrier, freeing the standard audio channel for use as a "barker" (sales promotion) channel.

In 1983, the service went national via satellite and was later purchased by Starion Entertainment, which eventually dropped the SelecTV branding in the late 1980s and renamed it Starion Premiere Cinema. The service ceased operations in 1991.

Unlike rival service OnTV, SelecTV specialized in airing movies and did not air sports events. In the early '80s, the Los Angeles affiliate simulcast some shows from Z Channel. By 1984, OnTV and SelecTV merged, and some sports were broadcast on the combined service. Most of those events were simulcast from Prime Ticket, which was then a new regional sports network.

[edit] See also

SuperTV A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV USA located in Washington, D.C..
Prism (TV channel) A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV USA located in [[Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaZ Channel A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV USA located in Los Angeles, California.
Wometco Home Theater A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV USA located in Sacramento, California.
ON-TV A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV USA.
Spectrum A Chicago pay-tv service and direct competitor to ON-TV.
Phonevision the first pay-tv station, an experimental station from Chicago in the 1950s.
Preview (TV channel)A pay-tv service similar to SelecTv owned by Warner communications. VEU A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV owned by Golden West Networks.