ON TV was an American subscription television (STV) service that operated from 1977 to 1985, mostly owned by Oak Industries. ON TV represented the equipment manufacturer's foray into the communications industry. Subscribers paid money to rent a decoder box and receive monthly service, which was broadcast in scrambled form over eight UHF television stations and featured movies (including softcore pornography for an extra charge), sports, concerts, and special events. While ON TV operated the most successful STV service in the United States, in Los Angeles, the business dwindled after 1982 due to the rise of cable television, signal piracy, and a poor economy, as well as several content disputes with individual stations over airtime and adult programming. The last ON TV operation, in Chicago, closed in 1985; the eight stations each reverted to commercial programming, three of them becoming Spanish-language stations.
