25 Years of Cable News

Apparently the U.S. Census Bureau has been pretty busy because they're reminding us that on June 1, 1980, Cable News Network (CNN) started its service (source).

Many critics at the time wondered if the public would really be interested in a 24-hour, nothing-but-news channel. Now we have a number of specialty channels, ranging from golf and automobiles to cooking and religion.

Twenty percent of American households had cable back in 1980; now 75 percent do.