117-464: (Redirected from ON TV ) ONTV or variant may refer to: ON TV (TV network) , now-defunct American UHF subscription television service ONTV Nigeria , a Lagos-based channel On E , formerly known as ON TV, an Egyptian digital television channel launched in 2009 CHCH-DT , a station in Canada that used the branding "ONtv" during the 1990s "On TV",
234-591: A natural monopoly . The FCC controlled telephone rates and imposed other restrictions under Title II to limit the profits of AT&T and ensure nondiscriminatory pricing. In the 1960s, the FCC began allowing other long-distance companies, namely MCI, to offer specialized services. In the 1970s, the FCC allowed other companies to expand offerings to the public. A lawsuit in 1982 led by the Justice Department after AT&T underpriced other companies, resulted in
351-604: A "chief" that is appointed by the chair of the commission. Bureaus process applications for licenses and other filings, analyze complaints, conduct investigations, develop and implement regulations, and participate in hearings . The FCC has twelve staff offices. The FCC's offices provide support services to the bureaus. The FCC leases space in the Sentinel Square III building in northeast Washington, D.C. Prior to moving to its new headquarters in October 2020,
468-559: A company majority-owned by Jerry Perenchio and Norman Lear , founded a joint venture initially known as World Pay Television, Inc. to create and operate a subscription television system in the Los Angeles market. The connection was made when Everitt A. Carter, an executive at Oak Industries, attended a tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in Houston , organized by Perenchio; Perenchio approached Carter and asked if
585-480: A deal with Zenith to produce its equipment, the company pulled out of the deal in October when major movie studios protested the potential for a monopoly on pay-TV programming between Time's STV holdings and Home Box Office cable network. ) The Dallas–Fort Worth market entered the picture when Oak reaffirmed a 1976 deal with Channel 21, Inc., the Sidney Shlenker and Milton Grant –led consortium that held
702-534: A form of parental control. When ON TV entered into a partnership to start SportsVision , a second STV service, in Chicago, Oak manufactured special two-channel decoders that supported both services. The last two new Oak STV installations—Dallas–Fort Worth and Portland—utilized a newer and more secure version of the Sigma scrambling system. A problem that would be a constant for all subscription television operators
819-499: A joint venture of Oak Industries and Chartwell Communications, ON TV was part of a new breed of STV operations that broadcast premium programming—including movies, sporting events, and concerts—over an encrypted signal on a UHF television station and leased decoders to subscribing customers. At its peak in 1982, ON TV boasted more than 700,000 customers—more than half of them in Los Angeles , its most successful market. However,
936-652: A monopoly on decoding its signals. Two months later, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a new law prohibiting the sale of unauthorized STV decoding equipment. For Oak, piracy became a serious threat—and one not easily remediated, given the extensive install base of decoders and the inability to pinpoint where pirate decoders were located. Further, in Los Angeles, ON TV had begun turning on disconnected decoders regularly to restore service to subscribers affected by power failures in neighborhoods. Affecting all STV operations—but most severely impacting Chartwell in Detroit—was
1053-432: A network could demand any time it wanted from a Network affiliate . The second concerned artist bureaus. The networks served as both agents and employers of artists, which was a conflict of interest the report rectified. In assigning television stations to various cities after World War II , the FCC found that it placed many stations too close to each other, resulting in interference. At the same time, it became clear that
1170-705: A new Federal Communications Commission, including in it also the telecommunications jurisdiction previously handled by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Title II of the Communications Act focused on telecommunications using many concepts borrowed from railroad legislation and Title III contained provisions very similar to the Radio Act of 1927 . The initial organization of the FCC was effected July 17, 1934, in three divisions, Broadcasting, Telegraph, and Telephone. Each division
1287-501: A new generation of addressable decoders in 1982. It would not be enough. When ON TV closed in Detroit on March 31, 1983, Chartwell shuttered a business in which it had invested $ 13 million but never turned a profit. The system—which was vigorously competing against it , the subscription service on Ann Arbor -based WIHT , and Livonia -based MDS service MORE-TV, in addition to rapidly proliferating cable services—had lost 26,000 of
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#17327971877951404-766: A new generation of decoder boxes. In 1984, ON TV Chicago, also afflicted by heavy pirating, offered "amnesty" to pirate users ahead of the launch of new scrambling equipment. ON TV was broadcast over the air on eight stations in the United States: The first ON TV service launched in the Los Angeles market on April 1, 1977, on KBSC-TV (channel 52), licensed to Corona ; ON TV's offices were in Glendale . Channel 52 shuffled its ethnic programming lineup in favor of carrying ON TV during evening hours beginning at 8:00 pm. (KBSC-TV changed its commercial program format to Spanish-language shows in 1980. ) By April 1979,
1521-524: A new headquarters building in the planned community of Rancho Bernardo . As very large cities, like Philadelphia, saw years-long delays in cable television wiring due to political disputes over franchises, the specter of services like ON TV loomed over the horizon and served as an impetus to consider more rapid action. Chartwell, too, began the task of developing markets. As early as 1977, NST had an agreement to run an STV service on WXON in Detroit , and
1638-588: A service with more program hours—and was the nation's most crowded. Anthony Cassara, president of the television division of VEU owner Golden West Broadcasters, had previously described that market as "total insanity" when it had three competing operators. Expanded hours were crucial to keeping services alive as cable companies grew: in June 1983, Cincinnati's WBTI axed hours of free programming and began taking satellite-fed ON TV programming from Oak in place of its local feed. In August, Willamette Subscription Television,
1755-410: A situation he found "perplexing". These efforts later were documented in a 2015 Harvard Case Study. In 2017, Christine Calvosa replaced Bray as the acting CIO of FCC. On January 4, 2023, the FCC voted unanimously to create a newly formed Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs within the agency, replacing the existing International Bureau. FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel explained that
1872-531: A song by the Buggles from the 1981 album Adventures in Modern Recording ...on TV or ...on Television , British TV programme See also [ edit ] TVOntario Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title ONTV . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
1989-560: A subscription television station had left a legacy that impeded Oak's ability to sell its stake in channel 44 for years. In 1982, Monroe Communications Corporation filed a challenge to WSNS's license renewal and a competing application to establish a channel 44 TV station in Chicago, charging that, as an STV station between 1979 and 1982, WSNS failed to serve the public interest and severely cut back on public affairs programming. An FCC administrative law judge found against WSNS licensee Video 44 and in favor of Monroe in 1985. The FCC later granted
2106-628: A victory when its direct competitor, Spectrum , opted to discontinue operating in Chicago and sell its subscriber base. However, Oak's condition continued to deteriorate. Later that month, the company announced it was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and it posted a loss of $ 166.1 million for 1983. One of the company's auditors, Arthur Andersen , qualified its statement, fearing that Oak could not fully realize its $ 134 million investment in subscription television. As pressure increased on Oak's finances and
2223-459: A week of unencrypted programming, KBSC began running ON TV 24 hours a day and displaced its existing Spanish-language daytime programming. However, as Oak dismantled its former STV empire, it quickly sold the ON TV subscriber base, by then dwindling, and KBSC-TV to separate parties weeks apart. SelecTV continued to broadcast over KBSC-TV for several more months until the new, Spanish-language KVEA
2340-424: A year; an inability to obtain more airtime from WXON; and competition from the it service that aired on Ann Arbor -based WIHT . The operating hours that WXON allowed ON TV to have in the Detroit market continually hampered the service's ability to show sporting events, directly causing it to drop a package of Detroit Tigers baseball games it aired. Oak was next to announce casualties. On April 15, 1983, citing
2457-545: Is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio , television , wire, satellite , and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access , fair competition , radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security . The FCC was formed by the Communications Act of 1934 to replace
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#17327971877952574-556: Is funded entirely by regulatory fees. It has an estimated fiscal-2022 budget of US $ 388 million. It has 1,482 federal employees as of July 2020. The FCC's mission, specified in Section One of the Communications Act of 1934 and amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (amendment to 47 U.S.C. §151), is to "make available so far as possible, to all the people of the United States, without discrimination on
2691-711: The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 sponsored by then-Senator Sam Brownback , a former broadcaster himself, and endorsed by Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan who authored a similar bill in the United States House of Representatives . The new law stiffens the penalties for each violation of the Act. The Federal Communications Commission will be able to impose fines in the amount of $ 325,000 for each violation by each station that violates decency standards. The legislation raised
2808-656: The Calgary Flames on October 29, 1981; the Red Wings had scored five goals in the first period before ON TV picked up the game. WXON then sued ON TV to get out of what Chartwell claimed was a "fifty-year contract" with the station. After the 1982 season, ON TV dropped its Tigers deal because it could not secure the air time it needed to telecast games in their entirety. In a bid to stem the piracy problem that had dogged it for nearly its entire existence, Chartwell began upgrading from its original Blonder-Tongue units to
2925-504: The United States Senate for five-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The U.S. president designates one of the commissioners to serve as chairman. No more than three commissioners may be members of the same political party . None of them may have a financial interest in any FCC-related business. Commissioners may continue serving until the appointment of their replacements. However, they may not serve beyond
3042-494: The breakup of the Bell System from AT&T. Beginning in 1984, the FCC implemented a new goal that all long-distance companies had equal access to the local phone companies' customers. Effective January 1, 1984, the Bell System's many member-companies were variously merged into seven independent "Regional Holding Companies", also known as Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), or "Baby Bells". This divestiture reduced
3159-457: The 1960s All-Channel Receiver Act ), to make UHF viable against entrenched VHF stations. In markets where there were no VHF stations and UHF was the only TV service available, UHF survived. In other markets, which were too small to financially support a television station, too close to VHF outlets in nearby cities, or where UHF was forced to compete with more than one well-established VHF station, UHF had little chance for success. Denver had been
3276-665: The 68,000 subscribers it claimed at its peak. In Phoenix, ON TV launched on a new UHF television station, KNXV-TV (channel 15), which signed on September 9, 1979, and immediately began carrying subscription television programming. The company immediately secured top-tier sports: in Phoenix, ON TV held telecast rights at various times to ASU sports, the Phoenix Suns , Phoenix Giants minor league baseball, and Los Angeles Kings hockey. By July 1982, it had 39,000 subscribers in Phoenix, but signs of trouble were emerging. In 1981,
3393-762: The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, and made substantial modifications to Title VI in the Cable Television and Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. Further modifications to promote cross-modal competition (telephone, video, etc.) were made in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, leading to the current regulatory structure. Broadcast television and radio stations are subject to FCC regulations including restrictions against indecency or obscenity. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held, beginning soon after
3510-522: The FCC a legal basis for imposing net neutrality rules (see below), after earlier attempts to impose such rules on an "information service" had been overturned in court. In 2005, the FCC formally established the following principles: To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice; Consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to
3627-587: The FCC in the newly created post of associate general counsel/chief diversity officer. Numerous controversies have surrounded the city of license concept as the internet has made it possible to broadcast a single signal to every owned station in the nation at once, particularly when Clear Channel, now IHeartMedia , became the largest FM broadcasting corporation in the US after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law - owning over 1,200 stations at its peak. As part of its license to buy more radio stations, Clear Channel
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3744-437: The FCC indicated that the public largely believed that the severe consolidation of media ownership had resulted in harm to diversity, localism, and competition in media, and was harmful to the public interest. David A. Bray joined the commission in 2013 as chief information officer and quickly announced goals of modernizing the FCC's legacy information technology (IT) systems, citing 200 different systems for only 1750 people
3861-563: The FCC leased space in the Portals building in southwest Washington, D.C. Construction of the Portals building was scheduled to begin on March 1, 1996. In January 1996, the General Services Administration signed a lease with the building's owners, agreeing to let the FCC lease 450,000 sq ft (42,000 m ) of space in Portals for 20 years, at a cost of $ 17.3 million per year in 1996 dollars. Prior to
3978-403: The FCC said that nearly 55 million Americans did not have access to broadband capable of delivering high-quality voice, data, graphics and video offerings. On February 26, 2015, the FCC reclassified broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service, thus subjecting it to Title II regulation, although several exemptions were also created. The reclassification was done in order to give
4095-459: The FCC's re-allocation map of stations did not come until April 1952, with July 1, 1952, as the official beginning of licensing new stations. Other FCC actions hurt the fledgling DuMont and ABC networks. American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) forced television coaxial cable users to rent additional radio long lines , discriminating against DuMont, which had no radio network operation. DuMont and ABC protested AT&T's television policies to
4212-514: The FCC, which regulated AT&T's long-line charges, but the commission took no action. The result was that financially marginal DuMont was spending as much in long-line charge as CBS or NBC while using only about 10 to 15 percent of the time and mileage of either larger network. The FCC's "Sixth Report & Order" ended the Freeze. It took five years for the US to grow from 108 stations to more than 550. New stations came on line slowly, only five by
4329-460: The Internet, cable services and wireless services has raised questions whether new legislative initiatives are needed as to competition in what has come to be called 'broadband' services. Congress has monitored developments but as of 2009 has not undertaken a major revision of applicable regulation. The Local Community Radio Act in the 111th Congress has gotten out of committee and will go before
4446-468: The Los Angeles and Orange County area. The next year, ON TV got a competitor: SelecTV , which pioneered a pay-per-program model and only showed movies. In October 1978, Oak and Chartwell, the partners in the Los Angeles system, reached an agreement to each develop six ON TV markets on their own; the Oak markets would be Chicago, Phoenix, Miami, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and Dallas–Fort Worth, while Chartwell
4563-541: The Miami–Fort Lauderdale market commenced subscription television broadcasts on January 11, 1980. The first licensed ON TV system, owned by Home Entertainment Network—a division of Buford Television—went live on that company's WBTI-TV in Cincinnati on February 1; the station itself took to the air on January 28. Oak went on air with ON TV in Chicago on September 22, after having bought a 49 percent stake in
4680-425: The ON TV systems continued to lose subscribers during 1984, cuts were made. In mid-July, National Subscription Television of Fort Lauderdale laid off 41 employees—half its staff. Less than two weeks later, Oak announced that it had sold WKID-TV to John Blair & Co. for $ 17.75 million; the new buyers intended to program it as a Spanish-language station. In August—after a year of speculation—it emerged that Oak
4797-604: The Oak expansion cities firmed up considerably in November 1978 when Oak announced it would begin operating in Phoenix in July 1979 in a joint venture with the New Television Corporation, which held the construction permit for KNXV-TV (channel 15); New Television would program the station during the day as a free independent, while ON TV would air in the evenings. Oak announced at that time that it would be on
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4914-567: The Portals, the FCC had space in six buildings at and around 19th Street NW and M Street NW. The FCC first solicited bids for a new headquarters complex in 1989. In 1991 the GSA selected the Portals site. The FCC had wanted to move into a more expensive area along Pennsylvania Avenue . In 1934, Congress passed the Communications Act , which abolished the Federal Radio Commission and transferred jurisdiction over radio licensing to
5031-535: The Portland licensee and also the operator of a microwave system transmitting HBO to customers, filed for bankruptcy; it owed $ 4.7 million to a group of 20 major creditors, including $ 1 million to Oak. By this time, however, it had ceased receiving programming from Oak. KECH, which itself filed for bankruptcy in November 1983, ceased ON TV broadcasts on August 19, 1984. As Oak Industries faced wider financial trouble, it sought to reduce its involvement in
5148-641: The STV franchisee for KECH in the Portland, Oregon , market. By May 1982, ON TV in southern California had 400,000 subscribers. Oak boasted some 600,000 subscribers in its five ON TV markets, not counting Detroit, Cincinnati, or Portland. Additionally, Oak planned to start a ninth system in Houston in 1983, broadcasting over KTXH (channel 20), the under-construction sister station to KTXA. However, by November, as KTXH itself neared air, it had become clear that Oak
5265-420: The STV operator. This led to several fights between station owners and franchisees, Oak-owned or otherwise. As early as 1980, WXON in Detroit was objecting to ON TV's airing of the movie Is There Sex After Death? . KNXV-TV in Phoenix had threatened to stop airing ON TV's "adults only" late-night fare, and ON TV took the station to court over its refusal to cede early evening hours, which generated 60 percent of
5382-548: The Suns signed a 13-year agreement to telecast games through American Cable (resulting in the launch of the Arizona Sports Programming Network ), which sub-licensed games to ON TV in part because they had not wired all of the metropolitan area. Late in 1982, KNXV resisted a request to expand ON TV to start before 7:00 p.m. on weekdays and 5:00 p.m. on weekends, while the station also wanted
5499-716: The Telstar joint venture. Oak chairman Everitt Carter, under a cloud of uncertainty, abruptly left the position in December 1984. SelecTV ultimately acquired the Los Angeles operation, by then with just 156,000 subscribers, in February 1985. That same month, Oak reached a deal to sell KBSC-TV to an investor group, Estrella Communications, headed by Joe Wallach , in a $ 30 million transaction. That station formally relaunched as Spanish-language KVEA in November. On June 1, 1985, WBTI—which had been sold and relaunched as WIII at
5616-492: The United States accelerated an already ongoing shift in the FCC towards a decidedly more market-oriented stance. A number of regulations felt to be outdated were removed, most controversially the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. In terms of indecency fines, there was no action taken by the FCC on the case FCC v. Pacifica until 1987, about ten years after the landmark United States Supreme Court decision that defined
5733-555: The air in Philadelphia and Miami by 1980. Meanwhile, the ON TV system in Los Angeles grew to more than 100,000 subscribers by the end of 1978 and 200,000 by August 1979, earning it the title of the world's largest single pay-TV operation. Oak's increasing involvement with the entertainment business spurred the entire company, previously headquartered in Crystal Lake, Illinois , to move to southern California, where it built
5850-618: The appointment and claimed that Chartwell and Perenchio had "surreptitiously" placed Siegel on the payroll; it was reported that Oak had no dispute with Siegel but wanted to affirm its authority as 51 percent owner of the venture. Oak chairman Carter was surprised to learn that Siegel made more money than he did. Further, Perenchio drew Oak's ire when the Chartwell ON TV operation in Detroit ordered new decoder boxes from one of Oak's competitors. Oak and Chartwell settled in September;
5967-422: The basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, rapid, efficient, nationwide, and world-wide wire and radio communication services with adequate facilities at reasonable charges." The act furthermore provides that the FCC was created "for the purpose of the national defense" and "for the purpose of promoting safety of life and property through the use of wire and radio communications." Consistent with
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#17327971877956084-572: The book value of AT&T by approximately 70%. The FCC initially exempted "information services" such as broadband Internet access from regulation under Title II. The FCC held that information services were distinct from telecommunications services that are subject to common carrier regulation. However, Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 required the FCC to help accelerate deployment of "advanced telecommunications capability" which included high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video, and to regularly assess its availability. In August 2015,
6201-635: The case of the Wolverines, it even ran one experimental 1979 telecast live, a presentation spearheaded by Michigan athletic director Don Canham with the blessing of the NCAA . WXON, however, proved to be a poor partner for ON TV. After airing the R-rated movie Is There Sex After Death? (which contained considerable sex and nudity) on March 12, 1980, the station then ordered ON TV to screen all movies it aired for WXON executives. More critically, however,
6318-444: The commission in 1934 comprised the following seven members: The complete list of commissioners is available on the FCC website. Frieda B. Hennock (D-NY) was the first female commissioner of the FCC in 1948. The FCC regulates broadcast stations, repeater stations as well as commercial broadcasting operators who operate and repair certain radiotelephone , radio and television stations. Broadcast licenses are to be renewed if
6435-494: The company could build a system to scramble over-the-air signals for pay distribution. While Oak was initially resistant to the idea, it ultimately agreed to develop the equipment if Perenchio fronted $ 200,000 for research and development, which he did. In 1976, Oak president Frank A. Astrologes was named chairman of the new venture, with Carter succeeding him at Oak. The company intended to open franchises in 14 different states, per Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filings at
6552-403: The company remained "bullish about STV"; it struck a deal with Telstar to sublease two satellite transponders, opening the door to satellite delivery of ON TV's programming to local STV and MDS franchisees, low-power television stations, and cable companies. Another problem faced by subscription outlets was that they leased time from television stations, which in some cases were not owned by
6669-561: The company stationed process servers outside of the Windsor offices of one decoder manufacturer, Video Gallery, to dissuade potential U.S. buyers. Chartwell then took Video Gallery and its American clients to U.S. federal court, seeking an injunction, and got it, preventing Americans from importing its products. In response, Video Gallery obtained an injunction in an Ontario court preventing ON TV representatives from interfering with customers entering its store. However, Chartwell would gain
6786-706: The construction permit for Fort Worth television station KTXA , to bring ON TV to the Metroplex. Oak also filed for construction permits in various cities around the United States, including channel 38 in St. Petersburg, Florida ; channel 38 in New Orleans ; and channel 20 in Denver . Those applications were joined by a 1981 filing for channel 16 at Everett, Washington , near Seattle . The Phoenix operation began September 9 when KNXV-TV began broadcasting, and WKID-TV in
6903-414: The conversion, Congress established a federally sponsored DTV Converter Box Coupon Program for two free converters per household. The FCC regulates telecommunications services under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. Title II imposes common carrier regulation under which carriers offering their services to the general public must provide services to all customers and may not discriminate based on
7020-528: The cottage industry that sprang up in Windsor, Ontario , Canada, across the Detroit River . The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission 's then-ongoing study of pay television services prompted the company to halt any plans to start its own business operations there; when asked about the possibility of ON TV being legal in Canada, communications minister David MacDonald replied that
7137-427: The designated VHF channels, 2 through 13, were inadequate for nationwide television service. As a result, the FCC stopped giving out construction permits for new licenses in October 1948, under the direction of Chairman Rosel H. Hyde . Most expected this "Freeze" to last six months, but as the allocation of channels to the emerging UHF technology and the eagerly awaited possibilities of color television were debated,
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#17327971877957254-421: The end of November 1952. The Sixth Report and Order required some existing television stations to change channels, but only a few existing VHF stations were required to move to UHF, and a handful of VHF channels were deleted altogether in smaller media markets like Peoria , Fresno , Bakersfield and Fort Wayne, Indiana to create markets which were UHF "islands." The report also set aside a number of channels for
7371-413: The end of the next session of Congress following term expiration. In practice, this means that commissioners may serve up to 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 years beyond the official term expiration listed above if no replacement is appointed. This would end on the date that Congress adjourns its annual session, generally no later than noon on January 3. The FCC is organized into seven bureaus, each headed by
7488-489: The end of the digital television transition. After delaying the original deadlines of 2006, 2008, and eventually February 17, 2009, on concerns about elderly and rural folk, on June 12, 2009, all full-power analog terrestrial TV licenses in the U.S. were terminated as part of the DTV transition , leaving terrestrial television available only from digital channels and a few low-power LPTV stations. To help U.S. consumers through
7605-466: The end of the year from Fort Lauderdale -based WKID-TV , which it had purchased. In Chicago, it reached an agreement with Video 44, owner of UHF station WSNS-TV , to use Oak equipment and technology in its service. (While Video 44 then attempted to sell 50 percent of the company to American Television and Communications, a subsidiary of Time, Inc. and owner of the Preview STV services which had
7722-423: The fine ten times over the previous maximum of $ 32,500 per violation. The FCC has established rules limiting the national share of media ownership of broadcast radio or television stations. It has also established cross-ownership rules limiting ownership of a newspaper and broadcast station in the same market, in order to ensure a diversity of viewpoints in each market and serve the needs of each local market. In
7839-598: The first post-Freeze construction permits. KFEL (now KWGN-TV )'s first regular telecast was on July 21, 1952. In 1996, Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996 , in the wake of the breakup of AT&T resulting from the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust suit against AT&T. The legislation attempted to create more competition in local telephone service by requiring Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers to provide access to their facilities for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers . This policy has thus far had limited success and much criticism. The development of
7956-435: The house floor with bi-partisan support, and unanimous support of the FCC. By passing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress also eliminated the cap on the number of radio stations any one entity could own nationwide and also substantially loosened local radio station ownership restrictions. Substantial radio consolidation followed. Restrictions on ownership of television stations were also loosened. Public comments to
8073-486: The idea "would appear to fly in the face of every statement that's ever been made about Canadian broadcasting". It was legal, however, for Windsor residents to build decoders to receive ON TV—and some 10,000 existed within two years of beginning STV operation in Detroit—but when those decoders started to enter the United States and pose a challenge to Chartwell's operation, the company moved to take action. In late May 1981,
8190-446: The identity of the customer or the content of the communication. This is similar to and adapted from the regulation of transportation providers (railroad, airline, shipping, etc.) and some public utilities. Wireless carriers providing telecommunications services are also generally subject to Title II regulation except as exempted by the FCC. The FCC regulates interstate telephone services under Title II. The Telecommunications Act of 1996
8307-512: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ONTV&oldid=1151902635 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages ON TV (TV network) ON TV was an American subscription television (STV) service that operated in eight markets between 1977 and 1985. Originally established by National Subscription Television,
8424-497: The intention of using it to bring ON TV to south Florida. ON TV then began operating on January 11, 1980, broadcasting subscription programming from 7:00 p.m. to midnight on weekdays and 5:00 p.m. to midnight on weekends. Operating in a market with few professional sporting franchises, one of the immediate draws was a package of games of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers . 5,200 subscribers were signed up in
8541-527: The largest U.S. city without a TV station by 1952. Senator Edwin Johnson (D-Colorado), chair of the Senate's Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee , had made it his personal mission to make Denver the first post-Freeze station. The senator had pressured the FCC, and proved ultimately successful as the first new station (a VHF station) came on-line a remarkable ten days after the commission formally announced
8658-827: The licensee of WSNS, and in Dallas–Fort Worth on February 28, 1981. Just eight months after going live in Chicago, ON TV was profitable in that market—said to be unprecedented in the STV industry—and by October 1981, it was joined by all of the Oak-owned operations except Dallas–Fort Worth. Still more stations appeared to be in the pipeline: Oak had a deal with Baltimore's WBFF to enter that market, and it owned 45 percent of an STV franchise for channel 29 at Minneapolis. Meanwhile, Chartwell—after having attempted to nab rights to New York Yankees baseball—dropped its New York subscription television plans, opting not to scrap WNJU-TV's successful Spanish-language programming and battle
8775-501: The market's dominant STV provider, Wometco Home Theater. (Perenchio would ultimately sell WNJU-TV in 1986. ) In Los Angeles—the largest ON TV market, where Oak and Chartwell remained partners—the arrangement came into doubt in March 1981. The two sides disagreed over Perenchio's appointment of William M. Siegel, the chief executive of Chartwell, as the general manager of National Subscription Television—Los Angeles. Oak refused to consent to
8892-415: The market, in the first three ON TV launches (Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Detroit). ON TV programming consisted of four basic components: movies, sporting events, special events such as concerts and boxing matches, and adult programming. Though there was variance between ON TV operations—particularly with regard to sports programming in each market—after 1983, when it established the Telstar joint venture, Oak
9009-492: The move was done to improve the FCC's "coordination across the federal government" and to "support the 21st-century satellite industry." The decision to establish the Space Bureau was reportedly done to improve the agency's capacity to regulate Satellite Internet access . The new bureau officially launched on April 11, 2023. The commissioners of the FCC are: The initial group of FCC commissioners after establishment of
9126-503: The negative effects of media concentration and consolidation on racial-ethnic diversity in staffing and programming. At these Latino town hall meetings, the issue of the FCC's lax monitoring of obscene and pornographic material in Spanish-language radio and the lack of racial and national-origin diversity among Latino staff in Spanish-language television were other major themes. President Barack Obama appointed Mark Lloyd to
9243-482: The newly emerging field of educational television , which hindered struggling ABC and DuMont 's quest for affiliates in the more desirable markets where VHF channels were reserved for non-commercial use. The Sixth Report and Order also provided for the "intermixture" of VHF and UHF channels in most markets; UHF transmitters in the 1950s were not yet powerful enough, nor receivers sensitive enough (if they included UHF tuners at all - they were not formally required until
9360-476: The next year. A worsening recession and faster-than-anticipated growth of cable television became hazards. As ON TV operations in some markets began to face headwinds, the financial picture of Oak Industries itself worsened. In October 1982, it revised down its earnings guidance due to declining sales of its 56-channel cable box, due to the recession and technical issues. Even though one analyst described subscription television as "clearly just an interim business",
9477-429: The notable exception of Chartwell's operation in Detroit, which used equipment from rival Blonder-Tongue , ON TV systems, including all five owned by Oak itself, used scrambling technology and decoder hardware developed and manufactured by Oak, known as the "Model I". The boxes, connected to a standard UHF television antenna, decoded the encrypted STV signal for paying subscribers and output it to their sets. Each decoder
9594-607: The notable pay-per-view presentations provided by ON TV (and other STV systems) was the first television screening of Star Wars in 1982, for which subscribers paid an additional $ 7.95. However, the system could not provide alternate fare for subscribers who did not pay for the movie, so those customers simply received no STV programming—just a blank screen. While more than 30 percent of customers in Oak's ON TV territory paid for Star Wars , conversion rates had surpassed 60 percent in some cases for boxing matches. Adult programming had high uptake in STV operations nationwide, and ON TV
9711-473: The objectives of the act as well as the 1999 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), the FCC has identified four goals in its 2018–22 Strategic Plan. They are: Closing the Digital Divide, Promoting Innovation, Protecting Consumers & Public Safety, and Reforming the FCC's Processes. The FCC is directed by five commissioners appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by
9828-521: The operation of its three remaining directly owned ON TV systems. In October 1983, operation of the Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami–Fort Lauderdale systems shifted from Oak to a new company, Twin Arts Productions, led by former Playgirl magazine publisher Ira Ritter; the three services counted 370,000 total subscribers, down from 550,000 in October 1982. In early 1984, Oak announced a revamped ON TV program lineup, and its operations did score
9945-584: The passage of the Communications Act of 1934, that the inherent scarcity of radio spectrum allows the government to impose some types of content restrictions on broadcast license holders notwithstanding the First Amendment. Cable and satellite providers are also subject to some content regulations under Title VI of the Communications Act such as the prohibition on obscenity, although the limitations are not as restrictive compared to broadcast stations. The 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan as President of
10062-473: The power of the FCC over indecent material as applied to broadcasting. After the 1990s had passed, the FCC began to increase its censorship and enforcement of indecency regulations in the early 2000s to include a response to the Janet Jackson " wardrobe malfunction " that occurred during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII . Then on June 15, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law
10179-423: The previous month. Ambitions to expand ON TV beyond Los Angeles were immediate. When the first system went live, Carter claimed "firm contracts" to move forward in eight cities—five of which would eventually be home to ON TV-branded subscription television operations—but stated he wanted to see if the Los Angeles system was a success first. In January 1978, Oak reached a deal with Sears to market ON TV service in
10296-654: The radio regulation functions of the previous Federal Radio Commission . The FCC took over wire communication regulation from the Interstate Commerce Commission . The FCC's mandated jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia , and the territories of the United States . The FCC also provides varied degrees of cooperation, oversight, and leadership for similar communications bodies in other countries in North America. The FCC
10413-408: The rapidly expanding availability of cable television, coupled with a recession, caused the business to quickly lose subscribers at the same time that Oak Industries was experiencing severe financial difficulties. Between March 1983 and June 1985, all eight operations closed. In 1973, Oak Industries , a maker of cable television equipment and other electronic components, and Chartwell Communications,
10530-621: The renewal, only for a federal appeals court to rule in Monroe's favor in April 1990. After the FCC officially denied the license renewal in September 1990, however, Chicago's Hispanic community and civic leaders rallied around WSNS. Video 44 and Monroe reached an $ 18 million settlement agreement in 1993, and Oak and fellow Video 44 partner Harriscope sold their stake in the station to Telemundo in 1995. Subscribers were charged $ 40 to $ 50 installation and $ 19.95 to $ 22.50 per month, depending on
10647-650: The report was the breakup of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which ultimately led to the creation of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), but there were two other important points. One was network option time, the culprit here being the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). The report limited the amount of time during the day and at what times the networks may broadcast. Previously
10764-960: The second half of 2006, groups such as the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the National Latino Media Council, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National Institute for Latino Policy , the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and others held town hall meetings in California, New York and Texas on media diversity as its effects Latinos and minority communities. They documented widespread and deeply felt community concerns about
10881-627: The service launched under the brand name ON TV on April 1, 1977, offering unedited, uninterrupted motion pictures, as well as limited slates of Los Angeles Dodgers , California Angels , Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings games, during evening hours. The first 500 subscribers lived in the San Fernando Valley , as part of a soft launch of the new system. It was the second subscription television system in operation, with Wometco Home Theater having launched in New York City
10998-467: The service was signing up 12,000 subscribers a month. By that year, it had grown its sports portfolio beyond the Dodgers, Angels, Lakers, and Kings to include USC Trojans college sports and Los Angeles Aztecs soccer, as well as horse racing from Santa Anita Park . After the FCC repealed a rule in late 1982 that required television stations offering a subscription service to broadcast at least 20 hours
11115-423: The service's first two months, and it claimed 15,000 by July. In September 1981, ON TV added further hours, starting at 6:00 p.m. on weekdays. It expanded again in July 1982. By July 1984, when ON TV laid off half its staff, subscriptions had fallen from a 1982 high of 44,700 to 28,500, making it the smallest of Oak's STV operations at the time. At the time that John Blair & Co. acquired WKID-TV, it
11232-479: The situations in each market, it announced it would shutter its Dallas–Fort Worth and Phoenix systems. In Phoenix, the advance of cable and other factors had caused subscribers to drop from a peak of 39,000 in July 1982 to 25,000 at closure. Besides the Dallas–Fort Worth conflict with KTXA, the company had been handicapped by a late entry into a market that at the time had two existing STV competitors—VEU and Preview, which merged their local operations in late 1982 into
11349-489: The start of the year—dropped ON TV, with just 3,200 remaining subscribers, when Oak ceased providing programming by satellite. Oak had one last portion of its subscription television business to dismantle, in Chicago, where WSNS ceased broadcasting as a subscription station on June 30 and began broadcasting programming from the Spanish International Network the next day. However, WSNS's years as
11466-435: The station meets the "public interest, convenience, or necessity". The FCC's enforcement powers include fines and broadcast license revocation (see FCC MB Docket 04-232). Burden of proof would be on the complainant in a petition to deny. The FCC first promulgated rules for cable television in 1965, with cable and satellite television now regulated by the FCC under Title VI of the Communications Act. Congress added Title VI in
11583-509: The station refused to cede any time before 8:00 p.m. and aired reruns in that time slot, severely crippling it as a sports broadcaster. Midweek Red Wings and Tigers games regularly began before ON TV was on the air, forcing the station to join games in progress (as with the Red Wings) or tape delay them (which it did for the Tigers). This flaw became highly visible when the Red Wings played
11700-438: The subscription service to stop screening adult movies. Phoenix was one of the first markets to show serious subscriber erosion. By April 1983, its subscriber base had dipped below 25,000, a drop of more than 35 percent. Oak Communications ultimately shuttered ON TV in Phoenix on May 4, 1983, resulting in the loss of 140 jobs. In 1979, Oak bought Fort Lauderdale television station WKID (channel 51) for $ 4.1 million, with
11817-551: The suit was dropped, and Oak bought out Chartwell's 49 percent share of National Subscription Television for $ 55 million. Oak now controlled the entire Los Angeles and Miami systems, as well as majority shares in the Chicago, Dallas–Fort Worth and Phoenix markets, while Chartwell continued to own and operate the Detroit ON TV system. Cincinnati was licensed, to be joined by another licensing agreement Oak made starting January 31, 1982, with Willamette Subscription Television,
11934-409: The television station's revenue. KTXA won a legal fight against ON TV in that market, taking away all its adult programming and prompting competitor VEU to run ads with headlines such as "For real adult entertainment, turn-on to VEU". The first ON TV service to close was Chartwell's Detroit system, which shuttered on March 31, 1983. It cited falling subscriber figures, from 68,000 to 42,000 in just
12051-442: The time. The system, which would use scrambling of a standard UHF television station, required a carrier. That was secured by the venture in 1976 when, under the name of Oak Broadcasting Systems, Oak and Perenchio purchased Los Angeles television station KBSC-TV (channel 52) for $ 1.2 million as part of the liquidation of its parent company, Kaiser Industries . After changing its name to National Subscription Television (NST),
12168-710: The two parties aimed for a July 1, 1979, launch. In 1979, the company, through affiliate Tandem Productions, acquired New York City -area station WNJU-TV , and Tandem was waiting in the wings to buy Washington, D.C.'s WDCA-TV if the FCC had rescinded its approval of that station's sale to Taft Broadcasting . Chartwell also explored buying a station in Sacramento, California , in 1980, going so far as to enter into advanced negotiations to purchase that city's KMUV-TV . As 1979 continued, activity accelerated. Oak announced its intention to open subscription television in Miami at
12285-644: The upper hand. After winning its initial injunction, the government closed the border to Canadian decoders in August. Video Gallery closed at the end of the year, and Chartwell won a $ 618,000 judgment against it in March 1982. Even then, it was estimated that some 10,000 additional households received ON TV in southwestern Ontario, including on master antenna systems in apartment complexes—none of them making money for Chartwell. ON TV companies responded to piracy by modifying pulse signals and introducing new scrambling techniques. In Detroit, Chartwell began migrating to
12402-465: Was able to supply much of this programming directly to affiliates and home satellite dish owners. The ON TV decoder supported additional program tiers and pay-per-view events on top of the normal service, for which subscribers would have to pay additional money. This functionality was used to broadcast pay-per-view events including boxing matches—consistently the most successful PPV offering —as well as an "adults only" service of late-night movies. Among
12519-409: Was broadcasting from 4:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. and from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. on weekends. Blair completed the acquisition in December. Channel 51 then went off the air as Blair prepared to implement the station's relaunch as WSCV, south Florida's second Spanish-language television station. Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission ( FCC )
12636-441: Was forced to divest all TV stations. To facilitate the adoption of digital television, the FCC issued a second digital TV (DTV) channel to each holder of an analog TV station license. All stations were required to buy and install all new equipment ( transmitters , TV antennas, and even entirely new broadcast towers ), and operate for years on both channels. Each licensee was required to return one of their two channels following
12753-563: Was in talks to sell the Los Angeles system to SelecTV, which had competed alongside ON TV for six years in the Southern California market. A deal was initially reached, then collapsed. That October, after a year, management of ON TV had been brought back in house after the Twin Arts arrangement was ended in order to cut costs; the company had also taken over its satellite distribution to some 140,000 subscribers after dissolving
12870-420: Was individually addressable, which meant they could be controlled centrally from the transmitter; addressability allowed for electronic connections and disconnections, as well as the ability to offer pay-per-view services, and allowed Oak to implement a theft deterrent where any disconnected decoder box stopped providing service after eight minutes. The decoders also supported an optional key module that served as
12987-560: Was led by two of the seven commissioners, with the FCC chairman being a member of each division. The organizing meeting directed the divisions to meet on July 18, July 19, and July 20, respectively. In 1940, the Federal Communications Commission issued the "Report on Chain Broadcasting " which was led by new FCC chairman James Lawrence Fly (and Telford Taylor as general counsel). The major point in
13104-462: Was no exception. In early 1983, 48 percent of subscribers across all ON TV systems paid an extra fee to subscribe to it. In Dallas–Fort Worth—despite being the last Oak market to offer the "Adults Only" tier —89 percent of subscribers opted in; it was 70 percent in Miami. Uptake ranged from 50 to 90 percent at other STV operations nationwide, including Wometco Home Theater and SelecTV Milwaukee. With
13221-600: Was not pursuing Houston plans, having essentially shuttered its part of the operation; Houston Chronicle television editor Ann Hodges cited the increasing wiring of the city for cable, the increased carriage of KTXH by cable systems without STV operation, and more expansive sports coverage planned in Houston than in Dallas–Fort Worth. Subscription television would prove to reach its zenith in 1982, however. That year, STV operations rapidly went from gaining subscribers to losing them. After seeing 65 percent growth in 1981, STV operators grew their subscriber rolls by just 0.8 percent
13338-435: Was ready to debut. In the only system Chartwell controlled outright, ON TV came to Detroit on July 1, 1979, broadcasting on WXON (channel 20); it had 15,000 subscribers within three months. The service quickly snared the rights to Detroit Red Wings hockey, Detroit Tigers baseball (consisting of 20 weeknight games a year from Tiger Stadium ), and Michigan Wolverines athletics (including tape-delayed football games). In
13455-574: Was signal piracy. As early as late 1978, the Los Angeles Times described the Oak ON TV decoder as one that "reportedly can be built at home by handy TV technicians". In 1980, a trio of lawsuits against manufacturers of pirate decoders converged. Oak won a case in Phoenix, as did Chartwell in Detroit. In a case involving pirate decoders in Los Angeles, however, a Los Angeles federal judge ruled against Oak and ruled that ON TV did not hold
13572-469: Was tasked with development in New York, Detroit, Atlanta, San Francisco, Cleveland, and Houston. In Philadelphia, NST had reached a deal with Radio Broadcasting Corporation, which in 1977 was awarded a construction permit for a channel 57 TV station there. The next year, the company announced it would license its equipment and technology in cities where it did not intend to operate itself. The first of
13689-471: Was the first major legislative reform since the 1934 act and took several steps to de-regulate the telephone market and promote competition in both the local and long-distance marketplace. The important relationship of the FCC and the American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) Company evolved over the decades. For many years, the FCC and state officials agreed to regulate the telephone system as
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