Cable TV??????

rangieowner · Post by **rangieowner** » Sun 29 Jul, 2007 11:55 am

Can anyone tell me what the thick black cables are that connect most post war houses? i'm not talking modern BT lines It's the thicker cables that run house to house to house! I was once told they were the first poke at cable tv! Anyone shed any light????

Post by **chameleon** » Sun 29 Jul, 2007 1:06 pm

Do they at each house, form a little loop and go into a round black box?These were the cables run by British Relay bringing piped TV and Radio to houses when such things were not as common place as they are now.So the idea of this 'new' cable tv we were sold a while ago was not as new as many might think!some older estate do still have power supplied by external cables too - so don't be tempted to investigate too closely....

rangieowner · Post by **rangieowner** » Sun 29 Jul, 2007 2:29 pm

Thanks for that! I know my mum had the cable removed by a neighbour when he built his garage so he could get machines in the driveway didn't know some are still live!! was gonna strip it off our lasses house for the copper!!!!

wiggy · Post by **wiggy** » Mon 20 Aug, 2007 6:10 pm

i remember when nearly everyone had british relay tv and radio.a few years ago,some lads in overalls called at my mums,claiming to be form british relay,and that they had been sent to collect all the copper wire.this was certainly bo**ocks,but i am sure they made a few quid out of it......better than beating old ladies up....well done lads..........wherever youare!

rangieowner · Post by **rangieowner** » Tue 21 Aug, 2007 12:46 am

Was thinking of doing somthing like that myself!!! but not as far as saying i work for British Relay! I was just gonna offer a free removal service!

simong · Post by **simong** » Sun 09 Sep, 2007 7:26 pm

There were two or three competing systems. Rediffusion was the most widespread and in some parts of the country their channel number would be included with the AM and FM frequencies for local radio - I'm not sure if that was the case in Leeds though. British Relay managed to have a renaissance in the 70s as they cabled a lot of new flats and developments - Sheffield was heavily cabled for example, and had its own 'cablevision' channel in association with the city council.The cable owners had to pay wayleave to non-users if their cable crossed a house. My parents received it in their first house in Nottingham, it was something like 6d a year. Rediffusion was owned by DER and closed down in the late 70s. British Relay was bought by Visionhire at about the same time, which eventually was bought by Radio Rentals. I assume that the cables were removed by official removers at some point, if the copper thieves hadn't beaten them to it! The new cable companies of the late 80s pulled cable under the roads wherever they could, partially to avoid the huge amounts of paperwork that the old systems must have generated.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sun 09 Sep, 2007 9:53 pm

You may still see some of the old green British Relay junction box "gravestones" dotted around.