International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

The term “cable television” typically refers to a form of subscription-based multichannel program delivery that relies on cables or wires. At first, cable television existed almost exclusively to extend the reach of broadcast signals, but more recently it has also delivered an array of additional program services – primarily satellite networks such as MTV (Music Television), HBO (Home Box Office), and → CNN (Cable News Network; → Satellite Television ; Television Networks ). As a technology, wired forms of → radio and → television transmission were sometimes used by national public service broadcasters to extend or supplement their coverage areas – as was the case with the British Broadcasting Corporation (→ BBC ) starting with radio in the 1930s. The technology, known as “rediffusion” or “relay,” helped the BBC approach its goal of universal service. Also, smaller European nations such as Belgium and the Netherlands, in spite of having their own public service broadcasters, used cable-type technologies to import additional signals from nearby countries. In subsequent decades, cable-type technologies also were enlisted by some national governments, for example during certain periods in Argentina and China, as a means of maintaining central control of programming. Elsewhere, including in India and the former Soviet Union, “gray market” coaxial cable networks were used to ... log in or subscribe to read full text