List of Memphis Cablevision channels (September 1986)

Parent Page: List of Retro Cable lineups in the United States

Memphis Cablevision provided customers in Memphis, Tennessee with the channels listed below in September of 1986. Memphis Cable was eventually bought out by and absorbed into Time Warner Cable (now Charter Spectrum) before being spun off separately to Comcast to be operated through Xfinity. (Source: TVTV.us)

Legend

• CALL — The call letters of an over-the-air television station in bold text
• CABLE — Cable channels in regular text
•  ##  — Over-the-air channel number for local in-market stations, according to current laws by the FCC and mapping of markets by Nielsen Media Research
•  ##  — Over-the-air channel number for distant out-of-market stations, including regional and national "superstations", according to current laws by the FCC and mapping of markets by Nielsen Media Research

Lineup

Source: Newspapers.com (Paid subscription to "Publisher Extra" may be required for some sections)

CH#	Name	Notes/Today
3	3  WREG-TV (CBS) Memphis	Still the market's CBS affiliate, owned by Nexstar Media Group
4	Program Guide	Today operates as Pop, a general entertainment channel, focusing primarily on programs pertaining to popular culture, owned by Paramount Global (The scrolling guides for which the network (later known as Prevue Guide and then Prevue Channel) was legendary for were phased out over the years, at least on the network)
5	5  WMC-TV (NBC) Memphis	Still the market's NBC affiliate, owned by Gray Television
6	AP News Plus	Fate unknown, likely a teletext and/or newswire service from the Associated Press
7	Local/Cable/Public/ Community Access	Status unknown (Split channel, exact carriage hours unknown at this time)
	Cable Value Network	Defunct, a home shopping television channel bought out by and absorbed into QVC in 1989 (Split channel, exact carriage hours unknown at this time)
8	Cinemax	A premium pay subscription channel with mainstream, independent and original shows, movies and documentaries, sister and companion network to HBO, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery
9	Memphis Public Libraries Television	Also known as The Library Channel, a government and community access channel from the Memphis Public Libraries still in operation today, now on Xfinity channels 18 and 1092, also a reading service on WYPL 89.3 FM, split channel, exact carriage hours unknown at this time
	Arts & Entertainment	Once a channel focused on arts and history, the channel has shifted significantly towards reality shows, dramas and documentaries, now known only as A&E (The flagship network of A&E Networks, a 50-50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and Disney General Entertainment Content, a division of The Walt Disney Company, split channel, exact carriage hours unknown at this time)
10	10  WKNO (PBS) Memphis	Still a PBS member station, owned by the Mid-South Public Communications Foundation
11	Video Hits One	Now only as VH1, owned by Paramount Global, it has also shifted from strictly music and music videos in its early years to a mix of music, reality shows and dramas in recent years
12	Memphis City Schools Television	Operates today as C19TV on Xfinity channel 19 (Owned by Memphis-Shelby County Schools, a merger between the old Memphis City Schools and the Shelby County School District, split channel, exact carriage hours unknown at this time)
	The Discovery Channel	Still operates today with a program mix of technology, science, nature and reality, and its name shortened to just Discovery (also occasionally known as Discovery Channel), owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (Split channel, exact carriage hours unknown at this time)
13	13  WHBQ-TV (ABC) Memphis	Would become the market's current Fox affiliate when News Corporation, which owned Fox at the time, purchased the station in 1995, then sold the station to Cox Media Group in 2014 (ABC programming would continue on WHBQ before moving to current affiliate  24  WPTY-TV (now WATN-TV) on December 1, 1995, WHBQ was since acquired by current owner Imagicomm Communications on August 1, 2022)
14	The Weather Channel	Weather forecasting and science and in recent years, weather related shows and documentaries as well (Also with local weather alerts and local forecasts every ten minutes on the 8s of every hour, owned by Entertainment Studios)
15	CBN	CBN Cable Network was spun off by the Christian Broadcasting Network and operates today as Freeform, owned by The Walt Disney Company
16	PTL Satellite Network	The network folded in 1989 and was relaunched in 2015, owned by televangelist Jim Bakker
17	17  WTBS (Ind.) Atlanta, Georgia	The direct feed of the OTA station at the time, now as WPCH-TV, owned by Gray Television (Both the station and the TBS network were separated from each other in 2007, TBS today, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery)
18	Local Origination	Status unknown, replaced by The Library Channel, owned by the Memphis Public Libraries
19	9  WGN-TV (Ind.) Chicago, Illinois	The direct OTA feed at the time, then and now, an independent, now owned by Nexstar Media Group (Its later cable counterpart, WGN America, has since been rebranded and relaunched as NewsNation)
20	Lifetime	Programming geared towards women and women in lead roles of movies and shows (Owned by A&E Networks, a 50-50 joint venture between the Hearst Communications and Disney General Entertainment Content, a division of The Walt Disney Company)
21	Color Weather Radar	A weather radar loop with data from the National Weather Service
22	Home Box Office	A premium subscription network, still operates today by its acronym HBO, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, Home Box Office is still used as the network's legal corporate name
23	The Disney Channel	Originally a premium pay subscription channel, Disney is now a general cable channel
24	24  WPTY-TV (Ind.) Memphis	Currently an ABC affiliate after News Corporation, which owned Fox at the time purchased  13  WHBQ-TV in 1995, today operates as WATN-TV and is sister to dual CW and MyNetworkTV affiliate  30  WLMT (from which the station gained the Fox affiliation) (WHBQ was required to continue carrying ABC programming, even as a Fox-owned station until its contract with WPTY expired, on November 30, 1995, both WATN and WLMT are owned by Tegna with sales of the stations and the company itself to Standard General still awaiting regulatory approval as of September 2022)
25	USA Network	Then and now, a general entertainment and sports channel, now owned by NBCUniversal
26	CNN Headline News	Once a companion network to CNN with news headlines, programming has shifted mostly to crime and law oriented shows and documentaries in recent years as HLN, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery
27	Cable News Network	CNN in Atlanta, an American multinational news channel, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery
28	The Nashville Network (TNN)	A channel once focused on country music and lifestyle, it now operates as a general entertainment channel as Paramount Network, owned by Paramount Global
29	9  WOR-TV (Ind.) Secaucus, New Jersey	Now a MyNetworkTV O&O as WWOR-TV, owned by Fox Television Stations (Part of a duopoly with Fox network flagship  5  WNYW in New York City)
30	30  WLMT (Fox) Memphis	Would become an independent once again, after  24  WPTY-TV assumed the Fox affiliation in 1990, WLMT would later become a UPN affiliate and later, the market's current CW affiliate (Owned by Tegna, part of a duopoly with ABC affiliate WATN-TV (the former WPTY-TV), sale of WATN, WLMT and the company itself to Standard General still pending as of September 2022)
31	C-SPAN	A channel entirely focused on federal government and public affairs pertaining to the United States House of Representatives, including live coverage of proceedings
32	Financial News Network	Financial, consumer and business news and stocks, sold to NBC and absorbed/integrated into CNBC in 1991, split channel, exact carriage hours unknown at this time
	Black Entertainment Television	Then and now, still carries programming heavily targeting African-American audiences, though it nowadays goes only by the acronym BET, owned by Paramount Global (Split channel, exact carriage hours unknown at this time)
33	C-SPAN2	A channel entirely focused on federal government and public affairs pertaining to the United States Senate, including live coverage of proceedings (Split channel, exact carriage hours unknown at this time)
	Educational Access	Status unknown at this time (Split channel, exact carriage hours unknown at this time)
34	Nickelodeon	Today owned by Paramount Global, schedule then and now, still consists of programming towards children and teenagers up to 18 years of age
	Nick at Nite	Programming initially consisted of 1950s and 1960s shows but shows from later decades added in the years and decades since, owned by Paramount Global
35	18  WMAV-TV (PBS) Oxford, Mississippi	WMAV-TV is a satellite station of  29  WMPN-TV out of Jackson, part of Mississippi Public Broadcasting, a network of PBS stations throughout the state of Mississippi
36	ESPN	A 24-hour channel devoted to local, regional, national and international sports (Owned as a joint venture between Hearst Communications at 80% and The Walt Disney Company at 20%)
37	Music Television	Now known only as MTV, owned by Paramount Global, like its sister VH1, it has also shifted from strictly music and music videos in its early years to a mix of music, reality shows and dramas in recent years
43	Preview	Status and program fare unknown at this time
44	The Playboy Channel	Today known as Playboy TV, though still a premium pay subscription channel focused entirely on adult erotica and pornography, owned by MindGeek after being spun-off from Playboy Enterprises, now known as PLBY Group