Television

An electronic system for transmitting still or moving images and sound to receivers that project a view of the images on a picture tube or screen and re-create the sound. The effect of a television system is to extend the senses of vision and hearing beyond their natural limits. Television systems are designed, therefore, to embrace the essential capabilities of these senses, with appropriate compromises between the quality of the reproduction and the costs involved. The aspects of natural vision that must be considered in a television system include the ability of the human eye to distinguish the brightness, colours, details, sizes, shapes, and positions of the objects in the scene before it. The aspects of hearing include the ability of the ear to distinguish the pitch, loudness, and distribution of sounds. The television system must also be designed to override, within reasonable limits, the effects of interference and to minimize visual and aural distortions in the transmission and reproduction processes. The particular compromises adopted for public television service are embodied in the television standards adopted and enforced in each country by the government agency responsible for broadcasting. Television technology deals with the fact that human vision employs many hundreds of thousands of separate electrical circuits, in the optic nerve from the retina to the brain, to convey simultaneously in two dimensions the whole content of the scene on which the eye is focussed, whereas in electrical communications it is feasible to employ only one such circuit (i.e., the broadcast channel) to connect the transmitter and the receiver. This fundamental disparity is overcome in television by a process of image analysis and synthesis, whereby the scene to be televised is first translated into an electrical image, and the latter is then broken up into an orderly sequence of electrical impulses that are sent over the channel one after the other. At the receiver the impulses are translated back into a corresponding sequence of lights and shadows, and these are reassembled in their correct positions on the viewing screen. This sequential reproduction of visual images is feasible only because the visual sense displays persistence; that is, the brain retains the impression of illumination for about 0.1 second after the source of light is removed from the eye. If, therefore, the process of image synthesis occurs within less than 0.1 second, the eye is unaware that the picture is being reassembled piecemeal, and it appears as if the whole surface of the viewing screen were continuously illuminated. By the same token, it is then possible to re-create more than ten complete pictures per second and to simulate thereby the motion of the scene so that it appears to be continuous. In practice, to depict rapid motion smoothly, it is customary to transmit from 25 to 30 complete pictures per second. To provide detail sufficient to accommodate a wide range of subject matter, each picture is analyzed into 300,000 or more elementary details. This analysis implies that the rate at which these details are transmitted over the television system exceeds 4,000,000 per second. To provide a system suitable for public use and also capable of such speed has required the full resources of modern electronic technology.

CATV History (briefly)

Cable television, formerly known as Community Antenna Television or CATV, was born in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the late 1940's. During this time, there were only a few television stations, located mostly in larger cities like Philadelphia. People who didn't live in a city, or in a location where signals could be received easily, were unable to see television. John Walson, an appliance store owner in the small town of Mahanoy City, had difficulty selling television sets to local residents because reception in the area was so poor. The problem seemed to be the location of the town in a valley and nearly 90 air miles from the Philadelphia television transmitters. Naturally, the signals could not pass through the mountain, and clear reception was virtually impossible, except on the ridges ourside of town. To solve his problem, Mr. Walson put an antenna on top of a large utility pole and installed it on the top of a nearby mountain. Television signals were received, and transported over twin lead antenna wire down to his store. Once people saw these early results, television sales soared. It became his responsibility to improve the picture quality by using coaxial cable and self-manufactured "boosters" (amplifiers) to bring CATV to the homes of customers who bought television sets. And so, cable television was born in June 1948. In the early 1950's television was still fairly new. Though it had not yet become popular, city department stores displayed many different models for sale. And, like an apartment house where every resident had his or her own television, the roofs of the stores were beginning to resemble forests of TV antennas. Milton Jerrold Shapp, who later became governor of Pennsylvania, developed a system to consolidate the forest of antennas for city department stores and apartment buildings. Under this new system, one master antenna (MATV) could be used for all televisions in the building. His secret: the coaxial cable and signal boosters (amplifiers), capable of carrying multiple signals at once. At about the same time in the nearby town of Lansford, another appliance salesman named Robert (Bob) Tarlton, experienced the same problem as Mr. Walson. He read about Mr. Shapp's new system and thought if it worked for apartment houses and department stores, it could work for his own town as well. Cable television in a form similar to today was born when he wired Lansford using coaxial cable and commercially manufactured boosters. With the help of Milton Shapp's innovation, cable television spread quickly throughout the country to remote and rural areas far from broadcast origination in cities. For many years, cable was simply a way to improve reception so people could see network broadcasts. It served as a community's antenna. It didn't stay that way for long. Mr. Walson in the early 1950's and later other system owners soon began to experiment with microwave to bring the signals from distant cities. Pennsylvania systems that only had three channels-one for each network-soon had six, seven or more channels as operators imported programs from independent stations from New York and Philadelphia. Because of the variety it offered toviewers, cable became more and more attractive and eventually moved into cities as people wanted more viewing choice. Perhaps the biggest event since cable began, and what many say is responsible for the rapid growth in the cable industry during the last decade, was the development of Pay TV.Pay television was launched in November, 1972 when Service Electric offered Home Box Office or HBO, over its cable system in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. This represented the first successful pay cable service in the nation. Despite the fact that HBO was only viewed by a few hundred people that first night, but it has gone on to become the world's largest pay cable service with over 11,500,000 viewers. This is due in part because HBO's owner, Time, Inc. the same people who own the magazine, decided to later deliver its signals by satellite. HBO was the first programming service to use a satellite to distribute its programming. The way it works is a signal is beamed from earth to a satellite in a stationary orbit some 22,300 miles over the equator and bounced back to receivers on earth. By distributing by satellite, HBO's signal is available to cable operators throughout North America. Because it is so widely available, it had an advantage over earth-bound, microwave distributed services such as WOR-TV the independent station in New York City. Although cable television reaches only 58.5 percent of all American households, chances are that cable is available in your area. At almost fifty years old, cable television is still a very young industry. Nearly 60 million households currently subscribe to cable, with technological advancements allowing cable to reach hundreds of new subscribers every day. Thanks to the work of cable industry pioneers like Mr. Walson, Mr. Tarlton and Mr. Shapp, and the foresight of HBO to deliver their signal by satellite, cable television today provides American viewers with the greatest variety in programming available. Because programming services available to cable are delivered via satellite, millions of Americans have access to: 24-hour music channels (Music Television, VH-1 and the Nashville Network) 24-hour sports channel (ESPN) Several 24-hour movie channels (HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax) 24-hour news channels (Cable News Network, Fox News Channel and the Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network, C-SPAN) Distant stations from New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and other far-off cities Children's programming (Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel) Specialized programming like Thw Weather Channel, several religious networks, a Spanish-language channel and more... Of course, not all local cable systems have these services available. Although some systems have a very limited number of channels, many can carry up to 80 different channels and allow for two-way communication between subscribers and the cable company. This two-way communication is made possible through the use of fiber optics. Of all the programming services, what is available on a particular cable system is up to the system's owner. Naturally, if the owner isn't responsive to what his or her subscribers want to see, he or she won't stay in business very long. You may wonder, who owns cable television? Well, lots of people. There are people who own only the system in their home town an independent operator; some, like Mr. Walson and Mr. Tarlton, own several systems; and there are some corporations, like Time, Inc. AT&T, and Westinghouse, who own a large number of cable systems throughout America. Such large operators are known as Multi-System operators or MSOs.

CATV History (extended)

Intro

In the 10 years following WWII, the can-do, entrepreneurial American spirit, coupled with the country's new-found enthusiasm for communications and entertainment, led to the popularity of a new communication medium called television. Instead of going to the movies to be entertained or listening to the radio for the latest news and shows, Americans were flocking to electronics stores to buy TVs so they could watch the day's most popular programs. But some Americans were missing out on the communications revolution. Those who lived on the edge of the city received poor reception, while others weren't getting any reception at all. Seizing the opportunity, a diverse group of technicians and entrepreneurs erected towers to receive those broadcasts, then used a cable to transport those signals to nearby homes. People were so thrilled to receive the signals that they were actually paying large installation fees to be hooked up. In 1948, a patchwork of small communities in rural Arkansas, Oregon and Pennsylvania, where the hilly landscape and prohibitive distances prevented broadcast signals from reaching peoples' homes, Community Antenna Television, or CATV, was born. CATV, which initially used open wire (ladderline) coaxial cable, amplifiers and other electronic equipment coupled with hilltop or tower-mounted antennas, allowed rural customers to see this fascinating new product called television. And an industry was hatched. Archer Taylor, one of the early cable pioneers reflected on the industry's humble beginnings: "There was a low degree of engineering sophistication. It was truly seat-of-the-pants. It's amazing that this industry got started." Early pioneers such as Bob Brooks, considered the first professional engineer to join the cable industry, Ed Parsons, John Walson , and Milton Shapp, who founded Jerrold Electronics, were early driving forces in the cable industry. Shapp's initial interest in amplifier boosters in 1947 was a key moment for the fledgling industry, Taylor says. "Milt had $500 to invest in an antenna booster. Then Ike Blonder got involved in 1950, along with Paul Merrill and Earl Hickman. Ike was a good engineer and came up with a $100 amplifier. It looked cheap and dirty, but it worked well." "I had inventions that nobody wanted. So I started in the basement of a building in New York City that had been a bookmaker's joint before I moved in. Police raided us our first day there." - Ike Blonder, early equipment manufacturer.

-The 1950s-

"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. After that, he built a cable system in Pottsville, which may have been the first cable system." -Archer Taylor, cable pioneer. In 1950, the use of a single-channel "strip-amp" amplifier permitted the extension of cable systems to homes located even farther from the receiving antenna. The year also produced CATV's first patents, issued to Hank Diambra for pressure "tap-off" devices that connect the feeder cable to the house drops. As the 1950s unfolded, cable TV began to make news, albeit minor. In 1952, Archer Taylor read a story about a Martin Malarkey-owned cable system in Pottsville, Pa. and Archer decided he too would get into the act. A few months later he launched his first cable system in Missoula, Mont. A short time later, in early 1953, Bill Daniels teamed with a young engineer named Gene Schneider to build a cable system in Casper, Wyo. The CATV system was one of the first to use microwave relay systems to bring distant television signals (from Denver TV stations) to a cable system. Later that same year, Taylor launched Montana's first cable system, in Kalispell, while in Bozeman, Mont., a young entrepreneur named Bob Magness (who later founded Tele-Communications Inc.) was building a cable system after building his first system in Memphis, Tenn. Taylor, as well as others, were skeptical of this new business of cable. "We thought this was a short-lived business. But when Magness began building in a broadcast market, and succeeding, we thought this could actually work," he said. Technology had now firmly taken the lead role in the cable TV business. In 1953-54, C-COR Electronics introduced cable-powered and messenger-mounted amplifiers, and the low cost expansion of channel carriage capacity beyond three channels made possible the development of "split-band" amplifiers by Blonder Tongue. The progress of technology in the industry then led to the introduction of Spencer Kennedy Laboratories' (SKL) Model 212-C broadband chain amplifier in about 1954. The device overcame the limits of the single-channel amplifiers installed in the early cable systems. The amp was based on the 1937 patent of Dr. W.S. Percival, a British engineer. During 1956 and early 1957, solid-state electronics made its first appearance and Dr. Henry Abajian began his work developing solid-state amplifiers at Westbury Electronics. In that same year, 1957, Jerrold Electronics Corp. began marketing an All-Channel Broadband (tube type) amplifier for channels 2-13 (Jerrold 2300) and the ABC (All-Band-Cascader) covering channels 1-13 plus FM. Despite these early technological advancements, however, engineering challenges were abound. "The primary challenges and issues in the '40s and '50s were everywhere. There were no satellites, no microwaves and we relied on off-air reception. So, our concerns were antennas, and signal-to-noise ratios. So we're out there trying to figure out co-channel problems, and with limited resources," said Bill Karnes, one of the first engineers at Jerrold, and the Society of Cable Television Engineers' (SCTE) first full-time president. As the 1950s came to a close, cable television technology had already left its footprint, which would grow both larger and deeper in the coming decade. The pieces of the cable puzzle were now slowly coming together. "After I became an employee at GI in 1957, I wanted to design a better trap. In about 10 seconds, I designed the directional coupler tap and patented it in 1960. I think we did lots of good work in the 1950s, and one reason was because there weren't restrictions back then." - Ken Simons, early Jerrold engineer and designer of the first field strength meter, which was built using roofing copper.

-The 1960s-

"In the '60s, everyone loved cable. We were heroes in cities where you could get 12 stations instead of two. We could sell cable as fast as we could put it up for $4.95 a month." - Ted Hartson, cable pioneer. The technology which had inspired the early cable engineers to migrate to cable television began to mature, and new services were developed to leverage those inventions. In 1961, TelePrompTer's Irving Kahn and Hub Schlafley touched a chord with customers by demonstrating Key TV, an early pay TV concept, by showing the second Floyd Patterson/Ingemar Johansson heavyweight fight, essentially giving birth to pay-per-view. Later that year, Jerrold introduced the Channel Commander headend signal processor and early in 1962, the technical quality of individual cable channels was enhanced through the use of aluminum shielded distribution cable with foam dialectric. This pioneering method was first used at Meadville Master Antenna Inc. in Pennsylvania, and was the first cable system built entirely using this technology. Another cable first took place that same year, 1961, at Meadville, according to Jim Duratz, an engineer who began his 35-year cable career at the Meadville system in 1953. "In 1961, we had already re-built the Meadville system to 12 channels using flat-braided, half-inch aluminum cable. But I had heard about 3/4 inch aluminum cable for feeder line from a guy in Vancouver. I liked it, and we bought the first aluminum cable from him, and today it looks just like it did then." Solid-state electronics had been around for awhile, but in 1965 it became the darling of technology, and its use in amplifiers and headend equipment quickly spread throughout the cable industry. During this year, Ronald Mandell and George Brownstein filed a patent for dual heterodyne, set-top converters. Their patent would be granted two years later. The original Mandell Converter consisted of 12 channels and was designed to eliminate off-air interference. It solved interference problems caused by direct pickup of off-air broadcast signals being received at the TV set one second before the same channel arrived via coaxial cable. The converter would eventually break the 12-channel barrier for ordinary home television sets. TelePrompTer, which left its footprint in many technological segments of the early cable industry, made news once again in 1966 by conducting propagation tests for Amplitude Modulated Link (AML) microwave in Manhattan. The tests proved that cable operators could increase their channel counts by importing additional distant broadcast signals to the cable system headend. With cable enjoying widespread popularity, system operators began to put more channels on their systems. Soon, however, 12-channel TV receivers became the "bottleneck" because of their limited tuning capability. Various schemes were developed to circumvent this problem (including the stand-alone set-top). Another idea was to simply add a second cable. In 1967, at Gill Cable in San Jose, Calif., what is believed to have been the first dual-cable system was constructed and consumers began using A/B switches to select from the growing list of services available via cable TV. Later that same year, Jerrold introduced its Transistor Main Line (TML) transistor amplifier line. This helped the equipment run cooler, more efficiently and with more reliability. As the 1960s came to an end, the cable industry was truly beginning to grow. There were nearly 2,500 systems, most of which served small towns that had little or no access to broadcast TV by traditional means. This burgeoning growth meant that the industry's engineers had discovered a need to develop and share their expertise. The result was the creation of the Society of Cable Television Engineers, or SCTE, in 1969. "There were about 10 or 15 of us Jerrold engineers who would go out and help operators. We were called 'Circuit Riders' and were really just messengers from the Jerrold engineers. Throughout my 40 years in the industry, I've never felt I had to work for a living, even being up at 4 a.m. to figure out why a sweep system didn't work. It was always a pleasure to get with the guys who solved the problems." - Bill Karnes, first full-time SCTE president.

-The 1970s-

"Satellite TV was the defining moment in my career. To see that picture coming in from 22,000 miles was unimaginable. But, everything we did was big back then. In the very early days, it was wire and rope that tied it all together." - Jim Duratz, cable pioneer. As the industry entered the 1970s, Jerrold introduced its Starline One, the first "modern" transistor amplifier in 1970 and the reach of larger cable systems was extended by the introduction of the Harmonically Related Carriers (HRC) by Israel "Sruki" Switzer and Arie Zimmerman. Although never universally accepted, HRC was used in several earlier systems. With success came closer scrutiny, too. As the industry became more powerful, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) became more interested in the cable business, resulting in the formation of the Cable Technical Advisory Committee in 1971. Its mission was to provide guidance on technical regulations for inclusion in the Cable Television Rules. The FCC's interest in the growing cable industry was a glimpse of things to come on the regulatory front, and brought to light a number of regulatory issues the cable industry had been challenged with during its first 20 years. ( See profile of Jack Cole). Despite the ominous regulations facing the industry, the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) held its convention in Anaheim in 1972, and the first demonstration of computer-controlled, interactive cable television was held by SRS after two years of experimentation. A key moment in cable TV history occurred in 1973 when TelePrompTer Corp., Home Box Office (HBO) and Scientific-Atlanta joined in the first demonstration of satellite-delivered programs in the U.S. The demonstration linked the NCTA Convention in Anaheim Calif., through the Canadian Anik II satellite to U.S. House of Representative Speaker Carl Albert, who spoke to industry executives live from Washington, D.C. "In the late '60s and early '70s, cable was stagnant in the major cities, but in 1975, HBO's boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier showed that you could deliver programs to the headend. It opened up the big cities, and by 1980 the franchising rush began," said Archer Taylor of Malarkey-Taylor Associates. During 1973, 35-channel (50-300 MHz) solid-state amplifiers and converters became the industry standard, and, using the vital experience gained from the earlier satellite demonstration, HBO began satellite distribution of programming to United Artists systems in Vero Beach and Ft. Pierce, Fla., along with American Television and Communication Corp. (ATC) in Jackson, Miss. Scientific-Atlanta's TVRO receiver in Jackson was 33 feet in diameter and costs more than $100,000. One of the first documented uses of fiber optics in the cable industry occurred in the "super-trunk" distribution of cable signals. The first successful trial was in TelePrompTer's northern Manhattan system. The technology used FM transmission, which required a complete set of modulators at each node. The cost: $2,500 per channel. However, fewer amplifiers were needed, and picture quality improved with less interference. With Washington scrutinizing the cable industry ever more closely in 1977, Delmer Ports, National Cable Television Association vice president for research and science, blocked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in its effort to force cable TV out of all frequencies not allocated for TV. The FAA, which shared some frequencies with the cable industry, was concerned about cable signals leaking into the air and interrupting communications. Satellite communications was already beginning to mature, and immediately following the move, TelePrompTer installed the first licensed 4.5 meter TVRO in Kalispell, Mont. The previous earth stations were 10 meters in size. Despite the efforts of Washington to contain the cable industry, technology marched on in 1978 when James Tanner received a patent for a television security system, which jammed premium channels with an RF carrier. The new device, called a "positive trap" installed in cable service drops, was a change from the old technology "negative trap." Some older, smaller cable systems use positive traps to this day. Channel expansion became a major priority in 1979, and TRW developed the first 400 MHz hybrid technology which offered cable systems an opportunity to expand its channel capacities to 52-55 channels. And at ATC, the company installed working data transmission projects in four cable systems, providing companies like IBM with direct cable links between its facilities. "I remember being in Vero Beach for the first direct satellite broadcast of HBO's "Thrilla in Manila" fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. We were all surprised it actually came on. That's when the broadcast industry went to sleep. They never realized until it was too late what an advancement that was for cable. It crossed cable over the demarcation line from a distant signal service to a programming service. That was the most significant event in cable's history." - Jack Cole, one of the cable industry's first full-time attorneys

-The 1980s-

"Nobody likes us but Wall Street and Main Street." - Bill Daniels The first use of addressable converters took place in 1980 and allowed cable operators to control certain channels into subscribers' homes. Addressability provided security against unauthorized viewing of channels and catapulted premium services like HBO and others into the next level of revenues. With the cable franchising frenzy well underway in 1980, the cable industry began promising new technologies and services which were still in the research and development stage. Two-way addressable services such as Warner Cable's QUBE were just in the demonstration stages. The QUBE project, spearheaded by Warner's Gus Hauser, has been described as a failure by some. Yet, it exists today in another form. "I think Gus Hauser's QUBE project was the beginning of a new era in cable television," said Marlowe Froke, president of the National Cable Television Center and Museum. "Its people scattered throughout the cable and computer industries to launch the interactive era that is now emerging." Another emerging business was Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS). A key moment in the DBS industry occurred in 1980 when galium arsenide Low Noise Block (LNBs) down-converters (originally called Low Noise Amplifiers or LNAs), which pick up high frequency signals from microwave transmitters and satellites, became less expensive and more reliable, resulting in a growth spurt in backyard dish owners and smaller dishes. Fiber optics once again became the news in 1982-83 when Times Fiber introduced the fiber optic Mini-Hub for Multiple Dwelling Units (MDUs) in 1982. United Cable deployed the fiber technology in its Alameda, Calif. cable system. The introduction of fiber optics, and the near-incredible progress of cable technology, led to the appearance of several new channels in 1984-85, including The Disney Channel, Lifetime, Playboy, Financial News Network, The Weather Channel, Discovery Channel, Home Shopping Network, Nashville Network, Arts & Entertainment, American Movie Classics, regional sports channels and pay-per-view. By 1985, 6,600 cable systems were now serving nearly 42 million homes, and nearly 50 percent of homes passed. With the explosion of new channels now underway, compression was becoming a major issue. With the customer's thirst for more and more channels, how could a cable operator expand the number of channels and add revenue streams? In 1984, General Electric introduced the first video compression system, Comband, which featured a 2:1 compression. The technology was expensive, however, and was only deployed on a limited basis, sending compression to the back burner, albeit temporarily. Customer-friendly hardware began to take center stage in the cable industry in 1985. Alternatives to bulky and awkward converter boxes were being developed, and addressable frequency-hopping interdiction was being tested as a consumer-friendly option to in-home or off-premise converters. These boxes proved to be simply a Band-Aid, however, to the growing problem of consumer-friendly converters. Meanwhile, addressable trap technology was introduced during the early 1980s, but never gained the acceptance expected because of the limited number of channels available. In 1986, HBO became the first programming service to scramble its signals full-time. Not only did this decision to scramble signals separate HBO as a premium service provider, it meant the dawn of a new era of security, which would prohibit backyard dish owners from watching the service if they hadn't paid HBO for the programming. From a business standpoint, this was a defining moment for the protection of content, and revenues. General Instrument's VideoCipher is the leading edge scrambling technology, but it, too, soon became a victim of piracy. The critical need for added channel capacity became the prevailing theme for the cable industry in 1987. With the advent of the 550 MHz bandwidth system becoming routine for system rebuilds, channel capacity expanded to 80 channels. Chiddix's launch of the fiber system was a breakthrough for fiber technology and has since led to better reliability and higher capacity. This technology has become the nucleus of the universally adopted hybrid fiber/coaxial (HFC) network architecture of today. One year previous to Chiddix' leading edge fiber technology, Jack Koscinski, head of Irving Kahn's General Optronics, had delivered a paper to the 1987 NCTA Convention on the feasibility of multi-channel, VSB/AM transmission on optical fiber. With technology now swirling throughout the cable industry, in 1988 a consortium of cable operators and others established a research and development laboratory called Cable Television Laboratories, to monitor and explore technological innovations within the cable industry. Today, the culmination of CableLabs' efforts has brought together converging industries through the OpenCable initiative to develop standards for crucial technologies and hardware, such as digital set-top boxes. In this same year, stereo audio on select television channels was deployed on a wide scale. With compression being top of mind for many operators in 1989, General Instrument broke through the digital barrier and compressed digital video into 6 MHz of spectrum. This breakthrough raised the industry's hopes of one day seeing digital pictures, while increasing channel capacity to hundreds of channels. At the same time, Jones Intercable introduced the Cable Area Network (CAN) in Augusta, Ga., which allowed for fiber/coax redundancy. However, as cable engineering pioneer Dave Willis recalled, there were other fiber issues as well. "There were other redundancy schemes such as the fiber 'ring.' Redundancy was pretty much abandoned when experience taught us that fiber was far more reliable that coax." As the 1980s drew to a close, the cable industry had enjoyed its finest decade. Dozens of new channels had been launched, revenues for cable operators were dizzying, and the 1990s looked even more promising. "The results of hybrid fiber coax let us offer very high bandwidth to individual subscribers. When I realized that, I felt cable would change the world. It's now all coming together, but we must be patient." - Jim Chiddix, Time Warner cable engineer.

-The 1990s-

"We must look at the business perspective of OpenCable, and technology in general, and turn it around to the business/ revenue side. The set of businesses (computer, consumer electronics and cable) need each other badly." - Dick Green of CableLabs. Digital Video was becoming the buzz in the cable industry in 1990, and the interest in digital was heightened by General Instrument when it unveiled its DigiCipher system at the June 8 High Definition Television (HDTV) proceedings at the FCC. The digital technology presented at the proceedings was so stunning, that it literally changed the direction being taken by the broadcasting industry in regards to standards, and pulled the cable industry even with Japan following its analog proposals. Predictions were optimistic, and bordered on frenzied, but the system has yet to live up to its potential. With many cable systems now reaching the ripe old age of 20 and older, the threat to the aeronautical industry of interference in the common frequency spectrum was becoming a major issue in 1990. To ensure safety in the skies, Cumulative Leakage Index (CLI) rules went into effect which required cable operators to tighten maintenance standards. CLI was a reality check to many cable operators that their systems required a high level of maintenance on a regular basis. With many plants now aging, cable operators were forced to keep detailed records of leakage and other maintenance issues related to their systems. Piracy of programming reared its head again in 1990, as pirates built clones and used duplicate addresses to unscramble signals, and the satellite scrambling system came under attack. With the help of AM fiber optic technology, multiple system operators (MSOs) TCI, Time Warner and Viacom began building cable systems with fiber-to-the-node design in 1992. Each node was built to serve 500 to 600 homes, and the technology became known as hybrid fiber/coax, or HFC, and continues to be used extensively today. At about the same time, Cox Communications integrated Personal Communications Service (PCS) technology with a coaxial cable system and demonstrated the first PCS telephone call, opening the door for cable operators to seriously consider entering the telephone business, and later, providing interactive and high-speed data services. More cable operators also began looking at the use of return band (5-30 MHz) for telephony, data and impulse pay-per-view. In 1993, use of the terms "strategic alliance" and "convergence" became commonplace among cable operators, telephone companies and computer hardware and software companies, with each realizing the value of partners in building a viable network of cable, telephony and computer services. With this mentality, the procession of companies to the strategic alliance altar began. Time Warner and Silicon Graphics, Inc. in 1993 worked together to develop an on-screen navigational system for Full Service Network based in Orlando, Fla. In the meantime, General Instrument struck a partnership with Intel, the computer chip manufacturer, and Microsoft, the leading software designer in the country, agreed to design TCI's digital compression equipment, which it would roll-out to millions of its customers four years later. During this time, Scientific-Atlanta also developed a multimedia alliance with SGI. Convergence was the hottest strategy in 1994. Highly successful companies in the computer, cable and telephone businesses, along with equipment vendors in each industry, were convinced that one company cannot manage all three disciplines - computer, cable and telephony. So, strategic alliances among a core group of industry leaders became the industry standard, at least for a time. Siemens, Sun Microsystems and Scientific-Atlanta formed IMMXpress. Phillips Consumer Electronics, Zenith Electronics Corp. and Compression Labs, Inc. create a platform and AT&T uses functionality from BroadBand Technologies for fiber-to-the-curb development. Cox Communications, one of the leading cable MSOs, and a company which would eventually enter the Internet access business, announced its "ring-in-ring" topography which encloses households in double, self-healing rings. The design greatly increased the reliability of fiber technology and met telephone industry outage standards. During 1994, more cable companies were looking overseas for additional business. Fewer regulations and fertile markets drew them to countries around the globe. To compete on a level playing field, a standard was needed. As a result, the international body of manufacturers, computer and telecommunications companies agreed on the MPEG 2 algorithm as the preferred method of compressing and sending digital TV signals. On the domestic front, the debate as to whether the functionality of program guides and other interactive services should be located in the TV or in the set-top box continued to rage on in 1994. On one side are the consumer electronics manufacturers, and on the other, the cable industry. Each group was adamant about having its own technology included in the equipment. At the same time, manufacturers began developing telephony over cable hardware and faced issues such as powering, redundancy and operational support as they moved towards an expanded business into telephony, internet access and high-speed data. As 1994 drew to a close, operators began to consider developing regional networks using SONET and ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) technology. The strategic alliances which were being nurtured in the early 1990s began to take shape in 1994 when the cable industry expanded into telecommunications. Through its ownership in Teleport Communications Group, the nation's largest cable operators - TCI, Time Warner, Continental, Comcast and Cox - entered the alternative access business as partners. TCG provided access for large business customers to their long distance companies, and several large operators began bidding on Personal Communications Services (PCS) licenses. At the same time, cable operators began testing cable modems, which translate computer tones electronically so they can be carried over coaxial cable and provide access to on-line or Internet services. The result was the dawning of a new age for the business of technology, and cable operators saw a new and unique opportunity to expand their cable operations using the technology inherent in their cable plant. With the cable industry now on the threshold of entering the telephony business as a result of regulatory changes, Time Warner in 1995 began testing telephony in select cable systems, and high-speed data over cable emerged as one of the industry's top priorities. The incredible speed of cable modems captured the imagination, and realization, of the cable industry. The industry was now convinced that it could provide significantly faster speeds for the transmission of data and Internet access. The difference in speeds between copper wire phone lines at 14.4 kps, ISDN phone lines at 128 kps and coaxial cable at 4,000 kps was approaching 1,000 times faster, and was about to open the door to a new and vital revenue stream for cable operators. Conversely, the telephone company US West began its analog and digital/analog video dial tone (VDT) in Omaha, Neb. showing its intention to enter the cable TV business. Following US West's announced test of VDT in Omaha, Bell Atlantic followed with its launch of the first commercial video dial tone network in Dover Township. The network promised to deliver voice, data and video elements, which entailed each neighborhood node sending signals to an optical network unit (ONU). Once the signal arrived at the ONU, voice service is split off and sent to a twisted pair wire and video is converted to an electrical signal and carried into the home via coaxial cable. The launch sent a signal to the cable industry that telcos such as Bell Atlantic were serious about entering the voice, data and video businesses. The high-speed data and digital video businesses exploded into the forefront in 1996 and became the buzz throughout the cable, telephony and computer industries. Cable now entered the high-speed on-line data business, marked by TCI's roll-out of its @Home service in San Francisco, and Time Warner Cable's launch of Road Runner in Akron and Canton, Ohio. By the end of 1996, six of the top 10 MSOs had launched commercial cable modem services and two more had announced plans for high speed service. More than 100,000 modems were deployed by cable systems in 1996, including dial-up modems. On the digital front, TCI again took the lead and launched its Headend in the Sky (HITS) digital video programming service and placed digital boxes in its Hartford, Conn. system. Although TCI's was the most aggressive and widespread roll-out of digital, other MSOs such as Cox, Comcast, Time Warner and Canada's Shaw Cable Communications moved ahead with their plans to enter the digital business, with each using different approaches. At the same time, in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore market, Sprint Spectrum began its digital wireless PCS technology service, adding yet another telephony player to the burgeoning digital business. The blistering pace being set by emerging technologies in 1997 challenged even the most forward-thinking cable operator. With interactive services being marketed to cable subscribers in increasing numbers, the issue of two-way interactive service, using a "return path" to a customer's home became a major issue in 1997. Return path allows for better quality, more realistic pictures, and a compelling interactive experience, which cable operators are convinced will lead to additional revenues. The OpenCable initiative is introduced, and receives a warm welcome. It allows CableLabs a leadership role to develop a business model for the computer, software and cable industries. Its mission is to foster interoperability among advanced digital set-top terminals that will be built by multiple vendors for use in two-way cable networks. A key element in the OpenCable initiative is a format for high-speed connections to the Internet, called DOCSIS, or Data-Over-Cable Service Interface Specification and MCNS, or Multimedia Cable Network System. DOCSIS defines interface requirements for cable modems involved in high-speed data distribution over a cable television network. With MCNS-compliant technology becoming a gateway to higher technologies, and for a growing number of cable operators the opportunity for additional revenues, chip-maker Broadcom Corp. delivered the first MCNS-compliant cable modem prototype to CableLabs for evaluation. It allowed CableLabs to accelerate the process of evaluating interoperability and performance of DOCSIS. At the 1997 SCTE show in Orlando, cable modems dominated the news, with Hayes Microcomputer Products announcing it had sold 10,000 of its cable modems since they had become available in May 1997. The promise of increased revenues via cable modems ignited an explosion of new cable modem manufacturers such as Terayon, 3Com and others. The telco Southern New England Telephone (SNET), which began a video trial in 1996, aggressively moved forward with its test, but eventually was required to remove its HFC plant from the poles in its Stamford, Conn. video trial, which affected 2,000 customers, and was forced to redesign its powering system. SNET's failed attempt to change national electrical safety codes cost the company more than $250,000 to remove the violating cable and delayed its trial several months. SNET launched its cable service in Unionville, Conn. as well. As 1997 closed out, General Instrument Corp. announced that it had entered into a long-term agreement to supply at least 15 million advanced digital set-top devices to nine leading MSOs over a 3 to 5 year period under the industry's OpenCable specification. The agreement was valued at $4.5 billion. With that announcement, it was clearly digital and to a lesser extent cable modems, that were dominating the news and ushering in the new year, which promised to be one of the cable industry's most interesting and challenging. "The future is spelled D-I-G-I-T-A-L." - Dean Petersen, long-time cable operator. As the cable industry moved closer to the new millennium, cable modems, the Internet and digital TV dominated the headlines, and began attracting an impressive array of allies such as Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and other major players in the computer and software industries. Their interest was in cable's ability to bring into each home a significantly larger "pipe" to house their high-speed data transmissions and Internet access. "Who knew the Internet was coming or even PCs for that matter?" asked Jim Chiddix, chief technical officer for Time Warner Cable. "Now the next really big step for cable is to tie together computers with the industry's really big pipes. The software and computer companies are encouraging us to complete our upgrades quickly." In early 1998, WebTV took a giant stride when it dropped its price to $99 and heated up the Internet-over-TV market, and WorldGate, an Internet-for-the-PC-less which requires only a standard cable set-top terminal, TV and remote control, announced it had signed up a total of 64 programming networks to take its service. At the industry's NCTA show in Atlanta, Microsoft's Bill Gates deepened his company's courtship of the cable industry. With this gesture, the converging of the cable and computer industries took a new turn. A turn which most pioneers who had seen the cable industry rise from its humble beginnings certainly must have found interesting. "One does not sleep well when your competition is Microsoft." - Hal Krisbergh, chairman and CEO of WorldGate. In its 50 years of existence, the cable industry has taken many turns and developed a history of its own: A history of great engineering feats, stunning technological advances and a bright future which is the product of a storied and humble past. "We may be called pioneers, but I think the only pioneers are those who crossed the Rockies in prairie schooners, and the men who walked on the moon." - Jim Duratz, cable pioneer.