Cable TV History

1
Cable TV History

• Hobbyists to Multinationals

2
Cable was like a hobby

• Cable was like a hobby. We were fooling around
  with radio stations and signals and looked around
  to find that you could string a cable and pick up
  TV and radio station signals. When Martin
  Malarkey, who owned a music store at the time and
  was selling TV sets, found a great TV picture in
  his New York hotel room, he thought he could do
  that in Pottsville, Pa.

3
Cable 1950s

• single-channel "strip-amp" amplifier

4
Cable 1950s

• 1953-54,
  C-COR Electronics
• cable-powered and
  messenger-mounted
  
  amplifiers

5
Cable 1950s

• 1956-1957 Solid state electronics
• Challenges
• No satellites
• No microwaves
• Co-channel problems

6
Cable 1960s

• Solid state technology reaches full potential
• Mandell Converter

7
Cable 1960s

• Mandell converter
• Originally, 12 channels
• Eliminate off-air interference
• Amplitude Modulated Link (AML)
• Microwaves
• Multiple signals
• Transistor Main Line (TML)

8
Cable 1970s

• Starline One, first modern transistor amplifier
• Satellites are born
• FCC interest

9
Cable 1970s

• 1973 35-channel (50-300 MHz) solid-state
  amplifiers
• HBO
• Channel Expansion

10
Cable 1980s

• Direct Broadcast Satellite
• Fiber optics
• Compression
• Coaxial

11
Cable 1990s

• Digital video (HDTV)
• Piracy
• Personal Communication Services (PCS)
• strategic alliance and convergence
• International
• Cable modems
• 1996 deregulation