Cable Goes Back to the Future

5:40 PM -- This 60 Minutes report by Mike Wallace from 1970 called "If Cable TV Comes to Your House" has been getting passed around in cable circles over the last week, so I can't help but share it.

It offers a surprisingly prescient view of the cable industry, including its future potential as a rich conduit for messaging, videophones, and other two-way communications apps. And Irving Kahn, the chairman and president of what was then the nation's largest MSO, TelePrompTer Cable, even offers a demo of an addressable set-top that is indeed bigger than a breadbox. And that spurred Wallace to ask if the presence and capabilities of such a box represented "a giant step toward Big Brotherism"? OK, some things never change. Enjoy the video:



— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable