Cable television

Cable television is a system of distributing television programs to subscribers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables or light pulses through fiber-optic cables. This contrasts with traditional broadcast television (terrestrial television) in which the television signal is transmitted over the air by radio waves and received by a television antenna attached to the television. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone service, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables.

HISTORY
Many people believe that the first system was started in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania by John Walson to provide television signals to people who bought sets from his appliance store in Mahanoy City, charging $100 per hookup and $2 per month. Mahanoy City was ideally suited for CATV services, since broadcast television signals easily could be received via mountaintop antennas and retransmitted by "twin-lead" or "ladder-lead" cable to the valley community below (where broadcast reception was very poor). Walson's "first" claim is highly disputed, however, since his claimed starting date cannot be verified.[8] It should be noted, however, that the US Congress and the National Cable Television Association have recognized Walson as having invented cable television in the spring of 1948.

Early history Although the rise of free broadcast television during the 1950s greatly damaged Hollywood, many in the entertainment industry saw the great potential profitability of offering television for a fee. After 25 million American televisions tuned to a musical version of Cinderella in 1957, for example, executives calculated that had Hollywood received $0.25 for each TV, it would have earned more than $6 million in one day without distribution costs. Due to many legal, regulatory, and technological obstacles, however, cable television in the United States in its first twenty-four years was used almost exclusively to relay over-the-aircommercial broadcasting television channels to remote and inaccessible areas. It also became popular in other areas which were not remote, but whose mountainous terrain caused poor reception over the air. Original television programming came in 1972 with government deregulation of the industry

 While entrepreneurship played a key role in the early

development of CATV, it was not alone. Pioneering technical development was also part of what made that development possible, particularly the work of the Jerrold Electronics laboratory under the direction of Keneth Alden Simons. (One instrument that came out of that period, the Jerrold 704B Field strength meter, was widely used in the cable TV industry for 20 years.) The founder and owner of Jerrold, Milton Jerrold Shapp was highly influential in the emerging cable industry. He would later serve as governor of Pennsylvania (1971-79). During the television licensing freeze of 19481952, the demand for television increased. Since new television licenses were not being issued, the only way the demand was met, even in communities with one or more operating broadcast stations, was by Community Antenna Television (CATV), as early cable was known (so named because of the literal sharing of a very large receiving antenna by an entire community).

 Robert Tarlton

In 1950, Robert Tarlton developed the first commercial cable television system in the United States. Mr. Tarlton organized a group of fellow television set retailers in Lansford, Pennsylvania, a town in the same region as Mahanoy City, to offer television signals from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania broadcast stations to homes in Lansford for a fee. The system was featured in stories in the New York Times, Newsweek andThe Wall Street Journal. The publicity of this successful early system set off a wave of cable system construction throughout the United States, and Tarlton himself became a highly sought-after consultant.

 Ed Parsons

Leroy E. "Ed" Parsons is known for building the first system in the U.S. that used coaxial cable, amplifiers, and a community antenna to deliver television signals to an area that otherwise would not have been able to receive broadcast television signals

How it works In the most common system, multiple television channels (as many as 500) are distributed to subscriber residences through a coaxial cable, which comes from a trunkline supported on utility poles originating at the cable company's local distribution facility, called the headend. Multiple channels are transmitted through the cable by a technique called frequency division multiplexing. At the headend, each television channel is translated to a different frequency. By giving each channel a different frequency "slot" on the cable the separate television signals do not interfere.

 At the subscriber's residence, either the subscriber's

television or a set-top box provided by the cable company translates the desired channel back to its original frequency (baseband), and it is displayed on the screen. Due to widespread cable theft in earlier analog systems, in modern digital cable systems the signals are encrypted, and the set-top box must be activated by an activation code sent by the cable company before it will function, which is only sent after the subscriber signs up.

 There are also usually "upstream" channels on the

cable, to send data from the customer box to the cable headend, for advanced features such as requesting pay-per-view shows, cable internet access, and cable telephone service. The "downstream" channels occupy a band of frequencies from approximately 50 MHz to 1 GHz, while the "upstream" channels occupy frequencies of 5 to 42 MHz. Subscribers pay with a monthly fee. Subscribers can choose from several levels of service, with "premium" packages including more channels but costing more

 Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, one

of the biggest media conglomerates, home Internet service provider, and third largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, telephone service and in some areas home security(including burglar alarms, surveillance cameras, fire alarm systems and home automation) to both residential and commercial customers in 40 states and theDistrict of Columbia.

 Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) (formerly Warner

Cable Communications and sometimes colloquially referred to as simply Time Warner) is an American cable telecommunications company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions. Its corporate headquarters are located in the Time Warner Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with other corporate offices in Stamford, Connecticut; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Herndon, Virginia.

 Sky Cable is a cable television service of Sky Cable

Corporation, the Philippines' largest cable television provider. Its franchise area covers Metropolitan Manila and its suburb, and it has 700,000 subscribers controlling 45% of the cable TV market.

 Destiny Cable is a direct-to-home cable

TV subscription service. Destiny Cable is the 2nd largest cable TV company in the Philippines. It is owned by Sky Cable Corporation