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Cable Comes of Age
Even Generation Xers remember the days when
households with cable service were few and far between. In the 1940s and 1950s, cable
television was offered primarily as a service to households in remote areas where
reception of over-the-air  television signals was poor. Antennas were erected on mountain tops or other high
points, and homes were connected to these towers to receive the broadcast signals.Technology,
developed in part through efforts to serve this limited market, gave cable companies the
ability to pick up broadcast signals from hundreds of miles away. With distance no longer
a barrier, the focus of cable’s role changed from improving local broadcast reception
to providing new programming choices. |
| By 1962, almost 800 cable systems serving 850,000
subscribers were in business, but the growth of cable through the importation of distant
signals drew the attention of local television stations. The broadcast industry obtained
FCC restrictions on cable systems that had the effect of freezing the development of cable
systems in major markets. By the end of the 1970s, nearly 15 million households were
connected to cabl e, and deregulation paved the way for rapid growth in the following decade. From
1984 through 1992, the industry spent more than $15 billion on the wiring of America, and
billions more on program development. This was the largest private construction project
since World War II.
As the 1980s came to a close, nearly 53 million households subscribed to cable, and
cable program networks had increased from 28 in 1980 to 74 by 1989. HBO and Ted
Turner’s "superstation" WTBS among others were now commonly available.
Since then, satellite delivery, combined with the federal government’s relaxation
of cable’s restrictive regulatory structure, has allowed the cable industry to become
a major force in providing high-quality video entertainment and information to consumers.
By the late 1990s, the number of national cable video networks grew to 171. Seven out
of 10 television households have chosen to subscribe to cable. And with the rollout of new
services, such as high-speed Internet access and local telephone service, the cable
industry is infusing other service markets with its competitive spirit, creating a
wonderful new marketplace for technology-hungry consumers.
(Advertising)
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