I found the tape I made when ANH first aired on TV. I believe it has other non-SW stuff on there so I must have used the EP mode. Is there anything there of interest to SW fans maybe with the audio or something? Just curious.

Ah, is this the 1984 airing with Mark Hamill giving the introduction?

^ was that in the USA?

I though I'd seen it on tv before that (I'm in the UK)

Yeah, I guess so, because it comes on, at one point he says "seven years ago, a movie changed the world," or something like that, and then later he said, "now, for the first time on TV."

Oh, that brings back memories... here in Sweden we didn't have Hammil to introduce the movie but newertheless it aired in -84... I was only seven but I will never forget it... my brother taped it for me so could watch it the following day as I was to young to stay up and watch late night movies. Thats when my Star Wars adventure began.

Oops... sorry to hi-jack the thread, just became so nostalgic...

I think AWK is right, at least for the States. Don't know about Europe or anywere else if it aired earlier than that.

Some trivia about the CBS premiere. Star Wars had been pimped so much on pay per view and HBO, that by the time CBS aired it on "free tv" it actually got beat in the ratings by a trashy miniseries called "Lace".

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(But at least they kept continuity of channels by airing both ANH and thew holiday special on CBS.)

Rijir, if you ask on the preservation forum, I'm sure someone will either
a) have some use for it, or
b) already have it and be working on a DVD release.

They really are trying to preserve everything SW-related over there.

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I watched it hundreds of times on HBO in 1983, I remember back then they would show it 2-3 times a day, it was so awesome. By the time when it came to CBS in '84, it definitely wasn't an event like it was the year before on HBO.

I think it first aired on some network before 84. I remember being around 5, and that's where I saw it for the first time. My family didn't have HBO. I'm too young to have exact details tho. I missed it in the theatre obviously. Could it have aired in 82?

what does mark hamill say in the introduction?

i remember it being aired in Canada at an earlier time than '84,

i had a tv guide with the picture on the cover..

of course i can't find any proof on the internet, and i don't have

my issue with me..

i'll do some research into it..

 

later

-1

There was a subscription television service called OnTV that aired it in 1982.  I remember we had to pay extra to get it.  Here's something listed from Wikipedia about it:

"In 1982, ON-TV's executives convinced George Lucas to sell them the rights for the very first TV broadcast of Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope as a means to "help a pioneering PayTV technology fight the likes of HBO and Showtime cable networks from taking over." HBO and Showtime were not able to acquire Star Wars rights until several years after ON-TV's showing in September 1982."

Love to find a copy of this!