Channel Surfing TCI Cable Yakima November 29, 1991 (1 minute per channel)

Very slow channel surfing on TCI cable in Yakima, WA on the evening of November 29, 1991. The VCR stayed on each channel for one whole minute.
Channel Lineup:
2. KAPP 35 (ABC)
3. K53CY 53 (FOX)
4. KNDO 23 (NBC)
5. Showtime (scrambled)
6. KIMA 29 (CBS)
7. Lifetime
8. KYVE 47 (PBS)
9. YCTV (Public/Government Access)
10. Family Channel
11. KSTW (Tacoma/Seattle)
12. A&E
13. CNN
14. Encore (scrambled)
15. AMC
16. WTBS
17. Discovery Channel
18. HBO
19. Headline News
20. Univision (Spanish)
21. Cinemax (scrambled)
22. Disney Channel (scrambled)
23. Prime Sports Northwest
24. ESPN
25. USA
26. TNT
27. TNN
28. CNBC
29. C-SPAN
30. Weather Channel
31. Nickelodeon
32. TBN
33. ME/U (Educational Access)
34. Travel Channel/Yakima Skills Center (Educational Access)
35. Galavision (Spanish)
36. Program Guide
98. MTV
I do not own any of the content in this video. Each program copyrighted by it's original copyright holder. If found to be infringing, I will remove this video.

[@motrojam]

Y'all's cable company was nice. The Disney Channel was "scrambled" but still appears to have been watchable. Ours' distorted everything beyond recognition. I was lucky if I caught a glimpse of the screen bug!

[@jony3860]

Those premium channels with the lines through them employed the use of positive scramblers where a signal was inserted at the cable office to mess up the signal. They were a very primitive method of scrambling back in those days. If you were clever enough, you could build your own device to descramble it using Radio Shack parts. You can imagine why the cable companies later abandoned them in favor or more advanced scrambling techniques.

[@VNYLDEN]

Cable bullets were also easy to get in order to get Cinemax and HBO without paying $20 a month for the service.

[@billybassman21]

You could decode them with what is called a notch filter. You just needed one for the channel you wanted to watch. The cable company would put the filter on the line outside. Our cable company used those in the early 80s, but they went to the Pioneer boxes that had to descramble the premiums by the mid 80s. You could buy descramblers for to decode those, but had to adjust the gain once in awhile.

[@Anthony-qg3qo]

I remember the days trying to get a glimpse of anything on the adult channels during the scrambled years

[@JesseJames-rg7vg]

@@billybassman21 After the cable company realized people were buying those filters,the cable company started to put negative filters that looked identical onto telephone poles that did exactly the opposite:to make sure it blocked over the filter a customer might be using in their home to bring the channel in.

[@billybassman21]

That sound on the scrambled channel is actually the "beats" from the cable signal. If you went between channels on one of the old dial style cable boxed with a fine tune knob you would hear that sound. I remember our neighbor had a console TV that made that sound for a half a second when you changed the channel. The TV was likely set to decode standard cable signals when our cable company used either HRC and IRC. Basically it meant the channels were off frequency slightly to prevent interference. You would still get the channel, but it would take longer to tune in if your TV wasn't set right. Looks like they were using a Negative Filter outside to block the signal of that channel.

[@tmo2798]

Brilliant. You check out the gift ribbons on the towers at 6:29 ? What's the explanation for THAT?

[@joeshatee6308]

This is when cable TV was VHF-FM only!!

[@Mr_x_19922]

Tv was so good back in the day, nowadays is pure boring garbage, I miss those days

[@kuryakn]

This is amazing. Thank you for uploading. Subbed right away.

[@terminalvelocity4858]

Ahhhhhh, the good 'ol days, back when MTV was actually MUSIC Television...now it's RTV (Reality Television)

[@Mr_x_19922]

And also aired some amazing cartoons via mtv oddities

[@marc1178]

I've seen that kind of scrambling before. Another one that can be found online is the Zenith SSAVI. I am not sure what the Scientific Atlanta or the Tocom methods looked like. We all know that it went digital years ago. I think NTSC is done with everywhere.

[@syferdet]

24:45 So many mullets, so little time.

[@matthewcampbell7985]

No 10 family channel which is now freeform and no.27 tnn which is now Paramount Network. Where's wgn?

[@Mr_x_19922]

1:55 Outbreaks of??

[@syferdet]

Probably the flu.

[@bluestrife28]

Great vid. Wow ‘91 and they still talking about vaccines and stuff. We never have really been away from these issues have we.

[@cparkes92]

(24:50) Look at the mullets!

[@eljefecom]

Oh yes, I certainly noticed it playing these early 90's tapes into the computer, so many mullets!

[@MrAlexClarkeChannel]

eljefecom Do you have a blank vhs tape for religious recordings of Trinity Broadcasting Network?

[@asdf9890]

Glorious!

[@PMD_Delphox]

28:32 is that a scramble WeatherSTAR 3000 or was it like this ?

[@BeeKay5150]

Not even offered The Movie Channel? Weak! We had a service that only offered PASS (local pay channel for sports), TMC and Showtime. Oh do I remember the squiggly lines and beeping signal. Those were the days!

[@gli7utubeo]

Colorful Bow tie ribbons around the World Trade Center at 6:29 for the Peter, Paul and Mary Christmas special on PBS...

[@ArchiverUnknown]

What is going on with channel 5?

[@eljefecom]

Channel 5 was scrambled. TCI Cable added an extra Scrambling carrier to the channel which caused most TV and VCR tuners to have the picture and sound blocked. Subscribers to the channel would have a filter installed in their cable line which removed the Scrambling carrier and gave an almost-normal picture.

[@ArchiverUnknown]

why couldn't they use the old porn synch corruption?

[@smokedsmoked]

18.06 a young ricky martin lol ha.

[@unknownsoldier6731]

Hehe, I wasn’t born til 7 years later

[@csscott9803]

14:00 a Christmas story my favorite movie of the holiday

[@tmo2798]

At 6:29 ... The towers... This was 2001.. not 1991, right? Regardless.. way to .. illustrate..

[@tmo2798]

It would've been extremely offensive if it was illustrated afterward. It still is. It's just offensive before notice was taken. People are oblivious NPCs.

[@grios5530]

He said calvin jones.

[@user-vk5ld5uf8l]

Cool!

[@csscott9803]

23:48 Lakers vs Celtics

[@cparkes92]

(21:50) Dickie V!

[@meatyproctor9103]

GUYS! GUYS! GUYS! MY BIRTHDAY'S TODAY! MY BIRTHDAY'S TODAY! I'M 18! I'M 18! I'M LEGAL AGE! I'M LEGAL AGE!