SelecTV USA

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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

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