I Want My MTV by Craig Marks

cable wasn’t set up like it is now. I mean, you would go to your hardware store and sign up for cable.
    Â 
    JUDY McGRATH: I was writing for Glamour magazine when I took a job writing on-air promotions at MTV. My boss said, “You’re out of your mind. This cable thing will never last.” Saying you were going to work in cable television was like saying you were going to work for your uncle’s carpet business.
    Â 
    TOM FRESTON: We thought MTV was irresistible. We thought we were so fucking smart. But our optimism was chipped away by this cascade of rejection from cable operators. Back then, the cable operator was a monopolist: there was no direct home satellite, there was no Internet, so they controlled the geographic area.
    Â 
    JOHN LACK: The biggest cable operator was TCI in Denver. I can’t even get their CEO, John Malone, on the telephone. I finally go to his boss, Bob Magness, who was the founder and chairman. Magness is a nice guy and he deigns to see me. I fly to Denver. I said, “Bob, will you please convince John to let me talk to him?” He goes, “Come on, he’s in the next office.” We go in to see Malone, who is kind of pissed I went over his head. Malone says, “I told you we’re not interested.” Bob says, “Will you just listen to his presentation?”
    I show him the clips, I tell him what’s in it for TCI. He says, “This is sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. We’re in little markets all over America. We can’t put this stuff on the air.” I tell him, “Look, you’re gonna get new cable subscribers. These kids are gonna demand it. This is gonna be a sea change for you in basic cable. HBO is the only place you’re making money.” He literally leads me to the door and throws me out.
    Â 
    JACK SCHNEIDER: John Malone would only consider carrying MTV when I went to see him. I had to humble myself, which was really difficult for me. I’d had a much more influential career in broadcasting than he could ever dream of, so it was very annoying to me to have to go and explain to various cable operators what we were doing. The goddamn pole-climbers didn’t get it. They didn’t understand that I was offering them a demographic that was going to sell cable connections for them. But we all did what we had to do to get this off the ground. Not just MTV, but the whole segment of advertiser-supported cable. Because without distribution there was no business.
    Â 
    JORDAN ROST: The guy who ran Manhattan Cable, said, “Who the hell cares about you? Who’s gonna watch?” He had the most important cable TV system in the country. John and Bob McGroarty and Jack Schneider had been involved in sales at CBS, and they were tough negotiators. But it was a different environment with cable operators. The last thing other networks wanted to do was alienate a cable operator they were pitching. But Warner Amex was getting a little arrogant with them.
    Â 
    BOB PITTMAN: We needed to find a way to get the cable operators to carry us. They were reluctant, because MTV was sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. Ad sales wasn’t working, affiliate sales wasn’t working. In the first year, we sold only $500,000 of advertising. Coca-Cola didn’t think it was a “family environment.” The only thing we had going was the consumer liked the product, when they could see it.
    I hired Dale Pon, who had worked as the promotion director with me at WNBC radio. Dale had formed an ad agency with George Lois.
    Â 
    FRED SEIBERT: Dale had a reputation as an out-of-control maniac. He was a hothead. And George was also known as a raving lunatic, but he was a famous raving lunatic.
    Â 
    DALE PON, advertising executive: I wanted the MTV account. I thought the idea was huge.
    TOM FRESTON: Fred Seibert is a genius. Dale Pon was a genius, too, but he was difficult. He had no interpersonal skills. If you disagreed with him,