In Oct 2002, a federal rule of the United States’ 1992 Cable Act kicked in. The rule says that cable operators can no longer require you to buy multi-tier packages of programming to get pay-per-view programming or premium channels.
The FCC can’t require cable operators to tell their customers about this, and they’re not likely to tell you about it, so tell your friends that they no longer need “Expanded Service” packages to watch the Sopranos.