For those of you who lived in Northern NJ in the 1990s that had WSBK... - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Frank Gannucci · 03-05-2019, 11:11 PM

When I lived in Northern NJ, I subscribed to the Record and got their TV guide. In the back of the guide, they had a channel chart that had the names of the cable systems on top and the channels on the left. In order to see if a cable system had let’s say TNT, you would look for TNT and look under the cable system name. Now, the Record TV Guide served eight cable systems five of which are now part of Altice USA, one is now Spectrum Cable of Palisades Park, one is now defunct US Cable of Paterson and one is Comcast. As late as 1993, I seem to recall that one of the cable systems carried WSBK and that system was the last holdout because the Sydnex Exclusivity Law that went into effect in 1988 required Cable systems to block out similar programming on out-of-town stations that was on local stations. Some cable systems carried out-of-town stations like WSBK even after the law went into effect (blackouts and all) but the blocking was so cumbersome that they dropped them. Now as far as that last cable system in NJ that carried WSBK in 1993 goes, what system of the above was it? I know it couldnt have been the future Altice USA cable systems so I am thinking of the future Spectrum cable system of Palisades Park or Comcast or Us Cable of Paterson.

favoriteshow · 03-06-2019, 10:25 AM

I don't know the answer to your question, but WSBK was a superstation that was uplinked on C-Band. It was also carried in Dish Network's superstation package and was a second UPN affiliate in the package. So, it's not really a big deal IMO that a cable system was carrying it then.

We used to get WWOR, WPIX and TBS in the basic package, outside of the NYC area, but WOR dropped it's special feed, WPIX was being deleted too often, and TBS decided to declassify itself as a superstation. What bothered me was cable company would just put channels like QVC and TBN as replacements and yet package costs would increase. I always wondered if a cable system out there, could replace TBS with TBN on the same channel and fool customers by not telling them a change had happened.

CosmicCharlie · 03-07-2019, 09:49 PM

Boston WSBK tv 38 (UHF) for decades - related ?

Home of the Bruins hockey

MikeLutton · 03-08-2019, 02:07 AM

i miss the old super stations tbs wgn wwor

03-05-2019, 11:11 PM	#1
Frank Gannucci Member Forum Star Join Date: Mar 05, 2007 Posts: 16,007	For those of you who lived in Northern NJ in the 1990s that had WSBK... When I lived in Northern NJ, I subscribed to the Record and got their TV guide. In the back of the guide, they had a channel chart that had the names of the cable systems on top and the channels on the left. In order to see if a cable system had let’s say TNT, you would look for TNT and look under the cable system name. Now, the Record TV Guide served eight cable systems five of which are now part of Altice USA, one is now Spectrum Cable of Palisades Park, one is now defunct US Cable of Paterson and one is Comcast. As late as 1993, I seem to recall that one of the cable systems carried WSBK and that system was the last holdout because the Sydnex Exclusivity Law that went into effect in 1988 required Cable systems to block out similar programming on out-of-town stations that was on local stations. Some cable systems carried out-of-town stations like WSBK even after the law went into effect (blackouts and all) but the blocking was so cumbersome that they dropped them. Now as far as that last cable system in NJ that carried WSBK in 1993 goes, what system of the above was it? I know it couldnt have been the future Altice USA cable systems so I am thinking of the future Spectrum cable system of Palisades Park or Comcast or Us Cable of Paterson.

03-07-2019, 09:49 PM	#3
CosmicCharlie Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 14, 2019 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 2,428	Boston WSBK tv 38 (UHF) for decades - related ? Home of the Bruins hockey
	Last edited by CosmicCharlie; 03-08-2019 at 09:49 AM.

03-08-2019, 02:07 AM	#4
MikeLutton Mike Lutton DVD Legend! Forum Veteran Join Date: Jan 05, 2005 Location: usa pennsyvania Posts: 6,883	i miss the old super stations tbs wgn wwor
	__________________ Tv And DVD Addict got over a hundred dvds in my collection more than anyone in the neighborhood. also huge Animal lover family man

03-06-2019, 10:25 AM	#2
favoriteshow Member Forum Regular Join Date: Dec 08, 2018 Posts: 587	I don't know the answer to your question, but WSBK was a superstation that was uplinked on C-Band. It was also carried in Dish Network's superstation package and was a second UPN affiliate in the package. So, it's not really a big deal IMO that a cable system was carrying it then. We used to get WWOR, WPIX and TBS in the basic package, outside of the NYC area, but WOR dropped it's special feed, WPIX was being deleted too often, and TBS decided to declassify itself as a superstation. What bothered me was cable company would just put channels like QVC and TBN as replacements and yet package costs would increase. I always wondered if a cable system out there, could replace TBS with TBN on the same channel and fool customers by not telling them a change had happened.