1964 Cable TV–which began as an antenna service in rural and mountainous areas–started penetrating big cities
1967 After four years on the run on ABC, ‘The Fugitive’ lured a then record 28 million homes for the last episode
1976 Big hair, big ratings. ‘Charlie’s Angels’ were heavenly in the ’70s, when network audiences hit their peak.
1980 Mission impossible, scoffed the skeptics at the networks. But it was news to Ted Turner that news couldn’t find a full-time home on cable TV. He launched CNN.
1986 Jack Welch’s GE bought NBC, Larry Tisch grabbed CBS and CapCities took ABC. Then they all turned up the profit pressure.
1986 Then there were four. Fox was Rude TV, future home of Bart Simpson. And it was a rude awakening for the Big Three, whose viewers were spreading thin.
1996 Michael Eisner dropped $19 billion to bring ABC into Mickey’s vertically integrated empire
1998 A real emergency: NBC had to cough up $13 million per ‘ER’ episode
1998 Whaddya wanna do tonight? Pop in a movie. Video rentals reached $8.1 billion.
1999 A real killer: the hit of the season, ‘The Sopranos,’ didn’t come from any on-air network, but from cable’s HBO
