The Pay TV Graveyard

Can't wait to see the new Xan Cassavetes documentary "Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession," currently featured at the L.A. film festival and eventually making its way to the Independent Film Channel.

Z Channel is remembered fondly in the L.A. area as an early cable pioneer; before many had HBO or Showtime, they had Z. The cable outlet was programmed like a film festival for much of its run. The channel was sold in 1988 -- and in the meantime, eccentric programmer Jerry Harvey, credited with creating most of Z's appeal, wound up killing his wife and then himself. (At that point, the channel had added sports and become "Z plus sports," before completely evolving in 1989 into SportsChannel LA -- which itself was shut down by 1994.)

But less is remembered about Los Angeles' two "subscription TV" channels, SelecTV and ON TV. Unlike cable, these were actually scrambled over-the-air signals, which required a monthly fee and descrambler to watch.

SelecTV sent its signal over L.A.'s channel 22, after the station (then a business channel, now all-Spanish KWHY) went off the air for the evening, while ON TV broadcast its programming on indie channel 52 -- known for running old episodes of "Speed Racer" and "Little Rascals" during the daytime -- after it also signed off in the evening. (Ch. 52 is now Telemundo-owned Spanish outlet KVEA) Both rival services aired recent, first-run movies.

But their biggest selling point? These movies were "uninterrupted" and "uncut." In our age of 500 channels, it's easy to forget what a novel concept this was in the late 70s. With cable still fledgling -- and VCRs a luxury most couldn't afford (if they'd ever even heard of the new contraptions)-- people still settled for the sliced-down, commercial-heavy afternoon or late-late movie. For homes not yet wired to cable, SelecTV and ON TV was a fresh alternative.

Early in his career, former 20th Century Fox exec Bill Mechanic was a programmer at SelecTV. He described the job to Film Journal magazine in 1998: "I was able to put on movies that I liked... I put on the first classic movies ever on pay TV-Preston Sturges films. I put on David Lynch's films, which were certainly not going on television at that time. I filtered those in along with whatever the new movies were."

Unlike Z, SelecTV and ON TV were not exclusively movie channels. From what I've read, SelecTV aired Lakers games, for example, while On TV carried some Dodger games. SelecTV and ON TV were also tested in other markets, but lasted the longest in Los Angeles.

But alas, cable -- including the HBO explosion -- soon made subscription services like SelecTV and On TV obsolete. Blame the technology as well -- the over-the-air scrambled signal was ripe for the picking, and was commonly pirated.

Ultimately, SelecTV and On TV merged, before disappearing entirely in 1989. Los Angeles entered the 1990s with no trace of its three original movie channels, Z, SelecTV and ON TV.