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Cable television
Coaxial cable is often used to transmit cable television into the house. Cable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting (via radio waves) in which a television antenna is required. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephony and similar non television services may also be provided.
The abbreviation CATV is often used to mean "Cable TV". It originally stood for Community Antenna Television, from cable television's origins in 1948: in areas where over-the-air reception was limited by mountainous terrain, large "community antennas" were constructed, and cable was run from them to individual homes.
It is most commonplace in North America, Europe, Australia and East Asia, though it is present in many other countries, mainly in South America and the Middle East. Cable TV has had little success in Africa, as it is not cost-effective to lay cables in sparsely populated areas, and although so-called "wireless cable" or microwave-based systems are used, "direct-to-home" satellite television is far more popular, especially in South Africa.
Technology
Technically, CATV involves distributing a number of television channels collected at a central location (called a headend) to subscribers within a community by means of a branched network of optical fibers and/or coaxial cables and broadband amplifiers. Since the early 1990s, the most common architecture is the Hybrid fibre-coaxial network.
As in the case of radio broadcasting, the use of different frequencies allows many channels to be distributed through the same cable, without separate wires for each. A set-top box or the tuner of the TV, VCR or radio selects one channel from this mixed signal.
The same program is often simultaneously broadcast by radio waves and distributed by cable. Other programs may be distributed by cable only; rules restricting content (e.g., regarding nudity, profanity, and violence) are often more relaxed for cable than for over-the-air TV.
Traditional cable TV systems worked strictly by way of analog signals (i.e. using standard radio waves) but many modern cable TV systems also employ the use of digital cable technology, which uses compressed digital signals, allowing them to provide many more channels than they could with analog alone. Modern cable TV systems also offer other services such as Video on demand, telephony, and high-speed data.
Cable television service has been regarded as a natural monopoly by many, and most areas are still served by a single provider, though Australia is characterized by extensive duplication. In the United States a monopoly on cable television has historically been enforced by local governments. In order to provide service to individual homes, a cable provider must place its cable wiring along and across local streets. To do so the provider must get permission from the local government(s) that own these streets. This permission comes in the form of a document called a franchise agreement. Most of local government(s) chose to grant permission to only one company. Changes in the law in the past few years have forced local governments to grant permission to other companies to provide service.
Cable television deployments
Americas
Argentina
Cable television had its origins in the 1960s, when a CATV service started to operate in Junin.
Brazil
Cable television is distributed in Brazil by various companies.
Canada
Main article: Multichannel television in Canada
Mexico
The first cable system started to operate in the early 1960s in Monterrey, as a CATV service (an antenna at the top of the Loma Larga, which could get TV signals from South Texas). Most of the other major cities didn't develop cable systems until the late 1980s, due to government censorship. By 1989 the industry had had a major impulse with the founding of Multivision a MMDS system who started to develop its own channels in Spanish and the later development of companies such as Cablemas and Megacable.
Over the past few years, many US networks have started to develop content for the Latin American market, such as CNN en Espanol, MTV, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and others. The country also has a DTH service called SKY (Televisa & News Corp. owned). Recently DirecTV merged with Sky. The dominant company nowadays is Megacable and Grupo HEVI.[1]
United States
The majority of American television viewers get their signal from CATV.
Main article: Cable television in the United States
Asia
Hong Kong
Only one traditional cable provider operates in Hong Kong, i-Cable Communications Limited (branded as "CableTV"). Another three operators offers pay-TV via DSL and Ethernet, they are Now Broadband TV (PCCW), HKBN Digital TV and TVB PayVision.
Many in Hong Kong instead watch subscription TV using satellite systems like STAR TV.
Singapore
StarHub Cable Vision is the sole cable television operator in Singapore, where private ownership of satellite dishes is banned. StarHub Cable Vision was formed as a result of a merger between StarHub and Singapore Cable Vision on 15 May 2002. The latter first began broadcasting as a terrestrial pay-television operator in 1992 as the first cable network was not completed until 1995. Around 15% of households and offices in Singapore are connected to the StarHub network.
Sri Lanka
Lanka Broadband Networks is the only pay television broadcaster using cable networks to serve 10,000 customers.
Thailand
Truevisions[2] is only exclusive CATV in Thailand, formerly known as UBC (United Broadcasting Corporation). Truevision is a subsidiary of True[3] provides CATV only in Bangkok area while DSTV (Digital Satellite TV) outside Bangkok.