Alpha Repertory Television Service
Encyclopedia
Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS) was a cable television
channel in the United States. The channel was co-owned by the Hearst Corporation
and the American Broadcasting Company
(ABC) through their Hearst/ABC Video Services joint venture.
Hearst/ABC's ARTS started broadcasting in 1981, airing highbrow
cultural fare such as opera
, ballet
, classical symphonic performances, dramatic theater productions, and select foreign films. CBS Cable
, which also began in 1981, was its most direct competitor, with similar "art house" programming and critical acclaim. (Bravo, NBC's The Entertainment Channel, and the Public Broadcasting Service
were competitors as well). Many cable operators had limited channel bandwidth, so CBS Cable struggled to find space and an audience, eventually folding in late 1982. However, while ARTS fared no better in finding viewers, it shared channel space with Nickelodeon
children's television, signing on at 9 p.m. Eastern Time for the evening hours. That shared channel arrangement was a perfect symbiotic scheduling match for the two networks given their respective audience demographics (ARTS's viewers either had no young children or had sent them to bed by the time the station signed on). ARTS had somewhat lower programming costs than CBS Cable, with less (and less costly) original programming. Prime time was normally the most valuable air time, but not for Nickelodeon — ARTS paid a very low rate to Nickelodeon for its three evening satellite transponder hours, plus a repeat at 9 p.m. Pacific Time
(according to Hearst executive Raymond Joslin, ARTS paid Nickelodeon nothing for the first year, $1,000,000 for the second, and $2,000,000 for the third). Most cable operators that carried Nickelodeon also carried ARTS simply because the single channel feed was convenient. These factors combined to keep the channel on the air more than twice as long as CBS Cable.
Nonetheless, despite having a small but affluent audience ostensibly attractive to advertisers, Hearst/ABC could not turn a profit on ARTS (ARTS carried limited advertising per hour, typically low-key ads for luxury products and services. Often advertising slots went unfilled). The National Broadcasting Company
(NBC) had a similar problem finding a sufficiently large audience for its "The Entertainment Channel," which premiered in 1982 and aired such expensive programming as BBC
cultural imports and live broadcasts from Lincoln Center. The companies merged their respective channels in 1984 to form the Arts & Entertainment channel (A&E), with ABC exiting the partnership soon after. A&E took over the former ARTS timeslot before moving to its own dedicated channel in 1985, whereupon Nickelodeon expanded its programming schedule to fill the former ARTS/A&E hours with more teen-oriented programming and on July 1 of that year, it also added "Nick at Nite
", a nighttime program block carrying reruns of older discontinued television series that continues to air on the channel this day.
A&E survives to this day as one of the most popular cable television channels, but its programming evolved to bear little or no resemblance to its progenitors'.
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
channel in the United States. The channel was co-owned by the Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
and the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(ABC) through their Hearst/ABC Video Services joint venture.
History
By the early 1980s, cable television had reached millions of viewers in the United States and was starting to draw significant audiences away from the "Big 3" broadcast television networks. All three networks saw opportunities to expand into cable television to protect and grow their audiences, and they all experimented with niche programming. In fact, all three traditional networks introduced arts-related channels within one year of each other.Hearst/ABC's ARTS started broadcasting in 1981, airing highbrow
Highbrow
Used colloquially as a noun or adjective, highbrow is synonymous with intellectual; as an adjective, it also means elite, and generally carries a connotation of high culture. The word draws its metonymy from the pseudoscience of phrenology, and was originally simply a physical descriptor...
cultural fare such as opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
, classical symphonic performances, dramatic theater productions, and select foreign films. CBS Cable
CBS Cable
CBS Cable was an early cable network operated by CBS, Inc., dedicated to the lively arts . It debuted in October 1981 and ceased operations on December 17, 1982.-As a network:...
, which also began in 1981, was its most direct competitor, with similar "art house" programming and critical acclaim. (Bravo, NBC's The Entertainment Channel, and the Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
were competitors as well). Many cable operators had limited channel bandwidth, so CBS Cable struggled to find space and an audience, eventually folding in late 1982. However, while ARTS fared no better in finding viewers, it shared channel space with Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
children's television, signing on at 9 p.m. Eastern Time for the evening hours. That shared channel arrangement was a perfect symbiotic scheduling match for the two networks given their respective audience demographics (ARTS's viewers either had no young children or had sent them to bed by the time the station signed on). ARTS had somewhat lower programming costs than CBS Cable, with less (and less costly) original programming. Prime time was normally the most valuable air time, but not for Nickelodeon — ARTS paid a very low rate to Nickelodeon for its three evening satellite transponder hours, plus a repeat at 9 p.m. Pacific Time
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
(according to Hearst executive Raymond Joslin, ARTS paid Nickelodeon nothing for the first year, $1,000,000 for the second, and $2,000,000 for the third). Most cable operators that carried Nickelodeon also carried ARTS simply because the single channel feed was convenient. These factors combined to keep the channel on the air more than twice as long as CBS Cable.
Nonetheless, despite having a small but affluent audience ostensibly attractive to advertisers, Hearst/ABC could not turn a profit on ARTS (ARTS carried limited advertising per hour, typically low-key ads for luxury products and services. Often advertising slots went unfilled). The National Broadcasting Company
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
(NBC) had a similar problem finding a sufficiently large audience for its "The Entertainment Channel," which premiered in 1982 and aired such expensive programming as BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
cultural imports and live broadcasts from Lincoln Center. The companies merged their respective channels in 1984 to form the Arts & Entertainment channel (A&E), with ABC exiting the partnership soon after. A&E took over the former ARTS timeslot before moving to its own dedicated channel in 1985, whereupon Nickelodeon expanded its programming schedule to fill the former ARTS/A&E hours with more teen-oriented programming and on July 1 of that year, it also added "Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite is the nighttime Cable network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon on Sundays from 8.p.m.-7.am., Monday through Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. . Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, A.C. Nielsen Co...
", a nighttime program block carrying reruns of older discontinued television series that continues to air on the channel this day.
A&E survives to this day as one of the most popular cable television channels, but its programming evolved to bear little or no resemblance to its progenitors'.