Iconic 39-year-old cable network faces Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Back in the 1990s and 2000s, it seemed as if nearly every American had cable. That wasn't true. The cable television market peaked at just under 100 million homes in the late 2010s, while the U.S. Census showed roughly 129 million total households. Still, for most Americans, for many years, a cable television subscription was table stakes. That was very good for a business where most channels got a few cents, sometimes more, from every subscriber. That created a system where niche channels survived bec ...