Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment

Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Company (WASEC) was a joint venture owned and operated by Warner Communications (whose share was overseen by Warner executive David Horowitz) and American Express (Lou Gerstner, then American Express President, ran the Amex share) that developed and worked on interactive television systems in the late 1970s and initiated several successful cable networks that remain well-known.

The QUBE

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In 1974, Warner Communications entered the cable television industry by forming Warner Cable in Ohio and Virginia. On December 1, 1977, Warner Cable's Columbus, Ohio unit introduced the QUBE, the world's first interactive television programming system that predated Video On Demand by decades. QUBE featured 30 channels, including ten premium and pay-per-view networks and ten interactive channels operated by set-top box connected to a modem.

Among the channels introduced on the QUBE were precursors to popular channels that exists today including:

• Star Channel: Existing prior to the creation of QUBE in 1973, it served as a premium movie channel for the system. The direct precursor to The Movie Channel.

• Sight On Sound: A network that aired music programming such as concerts and music videos. It was the prototypical version of MTV.

• Pinwheel: An educational/entertainment network aimed towards preschoolers and children. Transformed into Nickelodeon in 1979 with the TV series later becoming a......
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