It started with the Dodgers and the Giants, and I don’t mean baseball
Push was on for ‘subscription TV’
Good morning, all and happy Sunday!
Upset with the high cost of your cable-TV bill just to watch your favorite sports team? Fearful because the NFL is streaming more games? Well the battle has been ongoing for more than 60 years. When the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers picked up and moved west, Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley, whose games from Ebbets Field were telecast for free on WOR-Ch. 9, was not about to make the same mistake in California.
Emerging technology enabled the infrastructure for what was referred to as “pay-TV” or “subscription-TV.” By 1964 the pieces were in place for the Dodgers and Giants to start charging for their telecasts. The only problem was the movie industry was trying to thwart them. That, however, did not stop either baseball franchise from proceeding.
If there was ever a more prescient column about what all this would lead to, this was it. New York Daily News sports columnist Dick Young wrote this piece in the June 14, 1964 edition:
His words resonate as much today, as they did more than six decades ago.
Enjoy your Sunday and thank you for subscribing.
DAN