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By master and distribution copy I mean the film equivalent of the stamping plate for an LP record and one of the copies of that record made from the stamp.
I'm far from an expert on film era television given betamax was dead and the cold war was ending as I came into the world...
But from what I've read in the beginning there was no network in place to link the video circuits of TV stations, or videotape. Stations here in the US were completely film and live local video. The coax/microwave network link system grew slower and narrower than the stations did. This created many straggler stations that couldn't get programs from the network they were affiliated with any other way than via films. Some stations (often the stragglers) also we're years behind in adopting VTRs so tape distribution was not the most practical method. Many programs that weren't shot on one stage as a variety show format were also filmed and edited and distributed on film rather than video. Many of the popular shows were also rerun and doing that with film proved more convenient...often there were several copies of each show at a variety of stations in simultaneous reruns. The copies would be quality checked regularly, scrapped when damaged, and replaced with new prints off the master.
This is how I understand it...I may be wrong on some points.
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