SelecTV USA

Infobox Network
network_name = SelecTV
network_
headquarters =
network_type = Pay television network
available = United States, national
owner =
launch_date = 1976
key_people =
past_names =
website =

SelecTV was a subscription (Pay TV) television service beginning operation in 1976 and ending in 1991. The service focused entirely on televising movies.

SelecTV was transmitted via scrambled signal from a local UHF television station. A decoder box was required to unscramble the signal and permit normal viewing. SelecTV was available in at least three markets: in Milwaukee on WCGV, channel 24 (now MyNetworkTV), KWHY channel 22 in Los Angeles (now a Spanish-language independent), and WWSG channel 57 in Philadelphia (now CW affiliate WPSG). On WWSG, the service utilized the gated-pulse scrambling technique for the video and moved the audio to a different subcarrier, freeing the standard audio channel for use as a "barker" (sales promotion) channel.

In 1983, the service went national via satellite and was later purchased by Starion Entertainment, which eventually dropped the SelecTV branding in the late 1980s and renamed it Starion Premiere Cinema. The service ceased operations in 1991.

Unlike rival service OnTV, SelecTV specialized in airing movies and did not air sports events. In the early '80s, the Los Angeles affiliate simulcast some shows from Z Channel. By 1984, OnTV and SelecTV merged, and some sports were broadcast on the combined service. Most of those events were simulcast from Prime Ticket, which was then a new regional sports network.

ee also

* SuperTV A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV USA located in Washington, D.C..
* Prism (TV channel) A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV USA located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
* Z Channel A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV USA located in Los Angeles, California.
* Wometco Home Theater A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV USA located in Sacramento, California.
* ON-TV A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV USA.
* Spectrum A Chicago pay-tv service and direct competitor to ON-TV.
* Phonevision the first pay-tv station, an experimental station from Chicago in the 1950s.
* Preview (TV channel)A pay-tv service similar to SelecTv owned by Warner Communications.
* VEU A pay-tv service similar to SelecTV owned by Golden West Networks.