Whatever Happened to WHT?

[Kristen Mirenda]

Does anyone remember WHT (Wenecta Home Theater, or something), the cable
movie channel? My family had it in the late '70s, before multi-channel
cable was available in our area. It was just one movie channel, not even
24 hours a day, and required some huge box. It was pretty bad but seemed
to be something of a cable pioneer. Did it just fold, or was it bought out
by HBO or something? I don't know why but I'm curious about this. *k*

--
-----------------
Kristen Mirenda
mir...@panix.com
"Only connect..."

[Aaron L Dickey]

mir...@panix.com (Kristen Mirenda) writes:

>Does anyone remember WHT (Wenecta Home Theater, or something), the cable
>movie channel?

That's WOMETCO Home Theater...it was sooooo cool. Uncle Floyed ruled the
universe!

>My family had it in the late '70s, before multi-channel
>cable was available in our area. It was just one movie channel, not even
>24 hours a day, and required some huge box. It was pretty bad but seemed
>to be something of a cable pioneer. Did it just fold, or was it bought out
>by HBO or something? I don't know why but I'm curious about this. *k*

I'm not sure whether it died or was bought out, but for a while it because
U-68, a 24-hour music channel that (as usual) put MTV to shame.
Unfortunately, a few years later the Home Shopping Network bought it, and
it's now just plain Channel 68, which runs the Home Shopping Club 24/7.

--Aaron

[Ken Staggers]

Kristen Mirenda (mir...@panix.com) wrote:
: Does anyone remember WHT (Wenecta Home Theater, or something), the cable

: movie channel? My family had it in the late '70s, before multi-channel
: cable was available in our area. It was just one movie channel, not even
: 24 hours a day, and required some huge box. It was pretty bad but seemed
: to be something of a cable pioneer. Did it just fold, or was it bought out
: by HBO or something? I don't know why but I'm curious about this. *k*

It folded. Yep, channel 60 and 68. Mighty Hercules and Speed Racer and
Uncle Floyd. They tried it for a while. Didnt work. Sold it to the
Home Shopping Network. I am assuming that HSN is still on those
stations.

Interesting that they could not sell the little microwave dish and
decoder box in Manhattan. Seems as though the 2 cable stations had
a clause preventing competition in any form.

--Ken

[Aaron L Dickey]

stag...@cup.hp.com (Ken Staggers) writes:

>It folded. Yep, channel 60 and 68. Mighty Hercules and Speed Racer and
>Uncle Floyd. They tried it for a while. Didnt work. Sold it to the
>Home Shopping Network. I am assuming that HSN is still on those
>stations.

Don't forget the music-video era betwen WHT and HSN (which IS still on
those stations).

--Aaron

[mannix...@gmail.com]

Hi, Kristen,
Don't know when u posted this but, sure, I not only remember it but I also worked there. Four yrs, 1980-83. Can't tell u much about how WHT ended because I was out of there by that time, but I can tell u about the yrs I was there... I worked for Operations, Contractor Services, then in marketing for the MATV division. They were good days.. it was a very close-knit group; we had husbands & wives and some whole families working there.. The company was located on Eldridge Rd off New Dutch Lane in Fairfield, NJ across from the Fairfield Airport. The technology was primitive by today's standards but innovative for its time. I remember hanging out - spending my lunch - with the VP of Engineering, talking about new developments in the industry.. Alex took me into the R&D rm (research & development) & showed me the NEW secret thing they were working on; a TWO-channel addressable decoder! lol! Anyway, anything you want to know about Wometco/WHT the Movie Network... I'm beginning to think I'm one of the only ones left who remembers..? Best, Lauren P. My email is: sp1...@yahoo.com

[A Friend]

In article <461d54a4-22b1-4251...@googlegroups.com>,

Wometco Home Theater was a great idea. Four of the five NYC boroughs
did not have any cable at the time (and even much of Manhattan wasn't
wired), thanks to an especially crooked bidding system that delayed
cable in most of NYC by decades. The city kept WHT out because it was
demanding a stiff franchise fee, even though no city infrastructure was
used to transmit WHT. (It was microwaved in from across the river in
New Jersey.) I think keeping WHT out of the city was what really hurt
it.

WHT stopped providing its own programming in 1984, instead picking
stuff up from a similar service located in California. WHT went out of
business two years later.

WABC Channel 7 tried carrying a scrambled pay service during the
overnight hours around that time (stations were still not broadcasting
24/7), but that effort failed quickly. I think the biggest thing they
had was a Frank Sinatra special; maybe he had money in it.

[BGalla...@yahoo.com]

Lauren P:

Thanks for your your memories. My father got WHT because he was (still is) a huge hockey fan, and they had all the Islander playoff games on WHT. And since this was back in the day where the Islanders were winning the Stanley Cup every year, it was pretty much a way for us to watch the entire NHL playoffs. I don't think we watched many movies on there, and they had it child proofed so I couldn't sneak down and watch Nightcap, but we sure saw a ton of hockey games. Great stuff. Thanks again.

[yassha...@gmail.com]

Yes!....I do!

[Rhino]

You realize that you've just responded to a 24 YEAR old post, right? You
don't really expect her to still be here waiting for that reply do you?

--
Rhino

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

[Robin Miller]

Rhino wrote:
> On 2017-03-30 11:40 AM, yassha...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Friday, October 1, 1993 at 11:36:58 PM UTC-4, Kristen Mirenda wrote:
>>> Does anyone remember WHT (Wenecta Home Theater, or something), the cable
>>> movie channel? My family had it in the late '70s, before multi-channel
>>> cable was available in our area. It was just one movie channel, not even
>>> 24 hours a day, and required some huge box. It was pretty bad but seemed
>>> to be something of a cable pioneer. Did it just fold, or was it
>>> bought out
>>> by HBO or something? I don't know why but I'm curious about this. *k*
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> -----------------
>>> Kristen Mirenda
>>> mir...@panix.com
>>> "Only connect..."
>>
>> Yes!....I do!
>>
> You realize that you've just responded to a 24 YEAR old post, right? You
> don't really expect her to still be here waiting for that reply do you?
>

FWIW, it was Wometco Home Theater:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wometco_Home_Theater

It's interesting to know that there were early local pay-TV systems.

--Robin

[Michael Black]

It sounds like something they'd have parodied on SCTV.

Michael

[Ubiquitous]

et...@ncf.ca wrote:
>On Thu, 30 Mar 2017, Robin Miller wrote:
>> Rhino wrote:
>>> On 2017-03-30 11:40 AM, yassha...@gmail.com wrote:
>>>> On Friday, October 1, 1993 at 11:36:58 PM UTC-4, Kristen Mirenda wrote:

>>>>> Does anyone remember WHT (Wenecta Home Theater, or something), the cable
>>>>> movie channel? My family had it in the late '70s, before multi-channel
>>>>> cable was available in our area. It was just one movie channel, not even
>>>>> 24 hours a day, and required some huge box. It was pretty bad but seemed
>>>>> to be something of a cable pioneer. Did it just fold, or was it
>>>>> bought out
>>>>> by HBO or something? I don't know why but I'm curious about this. *k*
>>>>

>>>> Yes!....I do!
>>>>
>>> You realize that you've just responded to a 24 YEAR old post, right? You
>>> don't really expect her to still be here waiting for that reply do you?
>>
>> FWIW, it was Wometco Home Theater:
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wometco_Home_Theater
>>
>> It's interesting to know that there were early local pay-TV systems.
>
>It sounds like something they'd have parodied on SCTV.

Isn't that how they explained the show moving to Cinemax?

I remember also, some scheme of Cabraro shopping for Ubivision network.

--
Dems & the media want Trump to be more like Obama, but then he'd
have to audit liberals & wire tap reporters' phones.

[his...@cfaith.com]

I also worked there, first in sales and then in computer operations. Met some wonderful,people,Bruce Kalter, Cheryl, Kevin Kostick, and it was like working at second city, with much less pay. Have a lot of funny stories from working there. When I worked there, Harold Brownstein was the president and I remember a guy named Ron also who was in management. It was fun but doomed from the start.
Scott

[psmi...@gmail.com]

Yes, I do remember WHT. When the cable guy came to set it up, he talked my ears off about how it worked. I got a big box and was so excited because I knew it showed great movies. But I nvr could get the sound to come through, so I got rid of it...

[muf...@gmail.com]

Lol

[dewd...@gmail.com]

I also remember WHT. I was living in Brooklyn at the time and my neighbor had it. I remember watching Wargames for the first time on WHT. And Dressed to Kill. It was the bomb for it's time. If you didn't have the box to descramble your picture there would be a long thick line that would jog around on the screen. Sometimes you were able to watch a few minutes of programming before the line would pop up. LOL.

On Friday, October 1, 1993 at 11:36:58 PM UTC-4, Kristen Mirenda wrote:

[sle...@gmail.com]

Strangely WHT carried NY islanders games as it’s only sports content

[C/Ku-band satellite]

Wometco Home Theater (WHT), was broadcast over UHF via a top box and a linear horizontal polarity antenna very similar to an FM antenna. The top-box was the decoder as well as the audio speaker, since the audio did not came out of the television. WHT last model top-box gave a secondary FTA A/V channel by the name of Financial News Network, that later became Bloomberg Television, as well as two talk show radio stations. In the mid 1980's a company in California was selling an illegal clone box that was sold in many stores through Canal St., in NYC for about $150 to $250 this was a pirate box. They also sold a very small box and a circular microwave antenna that allow you to received HBO channel legally from the empire state building. Those customers that subscribe legally to WHT received a monthly very nice small magazine guide with highlights photos of the movies being shown for the current month. This technology is still available in many isolated communities in Labrador, Canada and remote areas in up-state NY and Maine where customers don't want to pay premium monthly fees via small satellite antenna dish.

[Phil Thayer]