Cable TV

In Vanity Fair’s oral history of The Sopranos, the creator David Chase explained how the Fox broadcasting network originally bought the show but, after reading his finished script for the pilot, decided to pass on it. This was followed by the other three broadcasting networks passing on it (NBC, CBS, and ABC), which led the producers to take it to HBO. The Sopranos would go on to be one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful shows in television history. It would also prove to be the beginning of a content revolution on cable television (also known as community antenna television, CATV) and a thorn in the side of the broadcasting networks that had passed on it. In a 2001 memo to network executives, ...