General Electric Cable

General Electric Cable was a primary provider of Cable TV services in Hattiesburg. Started in the late 1950's as Perfect Video, it was sold to GE in the 1960's, and is currently owned by Comcast.

History
Perfect Video began in the mid-1950's as a true CATV service, importing distant TV stations from Jackson, MS, Meridian, MS and Mobile, AL, as well as WDAM, to Hattiesburg homes. Until the early 1970's, Perfect, and later, GE, had its channel lineup solely in the low-VHF band (Channels 2-6). The lineup at the time follows:

2: WJTV (CBS) Jackson (replaced by WLOX (ABC) Biloxi in 1962) 3: WLBT (NBC) Jackson (When WDAM and WLBT aired similar programming, the WDAM feed was preferred) 4: WDAM (NBC) Laurel/Hattiesburg 5: WKRG (CBS) Mobile, AL/WJTV (CBS) Jackson (after 1962) (Perfect and GE would alternate WKRG and WJTV feeds on alternating days) 6: WTOK (CBS/NBC/ABC) Meridian

In 1973, GE expanded its lineup to the entire VHF band (Channels 2-13). However, there were noticeable gaps. Though GE added a weather channel on Ch. 6, and WMAH (on the air in 1972) on Ch. 9, Cable channels 7, 8, 10, and 13 were vacant. However, GE began adding "all-night movies" on Ch. 9 (after WMAH had signed off) from WWL-TV, New Orleans.

The revised lineup:

2: WLOX (ABC) Biloxi 3: WLBT (NBC) Jackson (When WDAM and WLBT aired similar programming, the WDAM feed was preferred) 4: WDAM (NBC) Laurel/Hattiesburg 5: WKRG (CBS) Mobile, AL 6: Weather 7: Vacant 8: Reuters news (replaced with WTCG/WTBS, Atlanta in 1978) 9: WMAH (PBS) Biloxi/WWL (CBS) New Orleans 10: Reuters news 11: WTOK (CBS/ABC) Meridian 12: WJTV (CBS) Jackson 13: Vacant

In 1978, GE Cable began offering premium TV services, such as HBO. In order to access those services, a set-top box was required in order to access HBO programming.