>>213921266
>VHS tapes weren't cheap.
>TV didn't usually show anything that was more recent than like 10 years old.
>There was a gap to fill.
This.
The usual progression, was;
Film gets released into theaters, but usually not all at once across the country.
Sometimes a movie could stay in theatrical release for years, with copies of the film traveling around from one region to another.
Foreign films and art films were notorious for this.
Finally, sometimes after several or more years, a video release would be announced.
The film would then get released on video, for sale, sometimes at $100 or more, again, art films were usually way more expensive than popular films.
Then, finally, the films might be available as Rentals, usually with limited numbers of copies at the video rental store, do you still might have to wait months to rent the film.
Eventually, some premium cable channel might buy airing rights for the film, with those rights bring held buy the premium cable channel for a decade or two. I think HBO might have been $20 a month extra on the cable bill.
Then, that premium cable channel might allow a non-premium cable channel to show the film, maybe one owned by the premium network.
Eventually, after maybe teo decades, there might be a “special event” were that blockbuster film got shown on regular broadcast TV.
One of the non-premium cable channels used yo air Lynch’s Dune, or the Dune extended version, as a “special event” once or twice year, for over a decade or more, with the film shown multiple times in a row per day.
Eventually, releases to video from theatrical release got quicker, maybe within a year or so, I think that happened in the 1990s, and films also showed up on cable quicker.
