John McMurria

The history of cable television in America is far older than MTV, ESPN, and HBO. Tracing the origins of cable back to the late 1940s, media scholar John McMurria also locates the roots of many current debates about premium television, taste hierarchies, minority programming, content restriction, and corporate ownership. Drawing from rare archives, Republic on the Wire reconstructs the pivotal moments when elite policymakers and disenfranchised viewers clashed over the future of cable television and the meaning of American democracy.