ty in trying to wire one community with two competing cable systems. Most franchising authorities--usually some local city authority--give exclusive contracts to just one system, thus effectively preventing competition in the first place. Existing cable systems also often buy out the competition or wage court battles to retain exclusive franchises (Mills, 1992, 798).
MTV came into being on August 1, 1981 as something completely new--a television channel showing nothing but music videos. The first song played was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," a song the channel clearly meant to be prophetic. The Buggles disappeared without a trace after this first video, but MTV continued and grew. The intent was to achieve for rock music what ESPN had achieved for sports--a channel devoted entirely to the genre, along with having an attitude as irreverent and unconventional as possible. The president of MTV at that time was 27-year-old Robert Pittman, and he lobbied record companies for free promotional rock videos for the channel. The initial repertoire consisted of only 250 musical clips played over and over, 24 hours a day, with one of 5 unknown VJs offering commentary ranging from the sharp to the inane. However, the formula was effective. The service was originally available only to 2.5 million subscribers. It cost about $30 million to launch. By 1983, MTV was the highest-rated c
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