[1] Highly publicized as a revolutionary advancement,[2] the Qube experiment introduced viewers to several concepts that became central to the future development of TV technology: pay-per-view programs, special-interest cable television networks, and interactive services.

Ross surrounded Hauser with entertainment industry executives, including Jac Holzman, who had sold his Elektra Records to Ross in 1967; Mike Dann, the CBS programming wizard responsible for The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres; former CBS general counsel Spencer Harrison, an executive involved in the launch of My Fair Lady on Broadway; and super-agent Ted Ashley, whose talent agency was Ross's first show-biz acquisition.

Pioneer Electronics was hired to "build the box" that would transform the cable TV service in a few hundred thousand households into a device that was intended to change the entire entertainment landscape.

[5] Hauser dispatched young New York City executive Nyhl Henson to oversee and direct the Columbus interactive channel plan.

The Kesler family watched the broadcasts that were intended for a larger audience, and caused the eventual push in programming that would affect how cable formatted shows would be put together based on their viewing habits.

"[citation needed] To 30,000 homes scattered around the city and its suburbs, the goal of Qube was rather simple: "To create a faster method for groups to communicate and interact, across distance.

Warner Qube was "awarded" cable franchises in cities such as Houston, Milwaukee, Dallas, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.

Many of the fundamental aspects of Qube became important parts of television: pay-per-view and on-demand programs, MTV and Nickelodeon.

For example, a program could ask viewers to identify their favorite political candidates as part of a national survey, but this information could potentially be traced directly back to the respondents.

Although Warner-Amex assured subscribers that their personal information would be kept private, such data was valuable to merchandisers, political groups and other organizations.

Even if subscribers trusted Warner-Amex's commitment to privacy, there were still concerns regarding the ability for computer hackers to potentially steal information collected via Qube.

Though the service launched with thirty channels, the remote actually supported up to sixty (twenty in each category) and this capability was eventually used in some markets with externally-owned popular national networks and superstations available over satellite.

[17] Although Qube had a short lifespan of seven years and multiple shortcomings, it occupies a unique place in media history since it was a venture that led to other innovations in the television industry.

Some examples of people who worked on Qube, moving on to other technological and media innovations, are: John Carey of Columbia Institute for Tele-Information summarized the legacy of Qube by saying that it, ... demonstrated that pay-per-view programming was potentially viable—if the cost of promoting and processing pay-per-view orders could be reduced.

And, Qube introduced a number of interactive formats that have since evolved and been adopted as components in cable and broadcast programming.