FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION2 三网融合 外文文献.doc

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION FACT SHEET June 2000 CABLE TELEVISION INFORMATION BULLETIN EVOLUTION OF CABLE TELEVISION Cable television (also called CATV or community antenna television) was developed in the late 1940s for communities unable to receive TV signals because of terrain or distance from TV stations. Cable television system operators located antennas in areas with good reception, picked up broadcast station signals and then distributed them by coaxial cable to subscribers for a fee. In 1950, cable systems operated in only 70 communities in the United States. These systems served 14,000 homes. By October 1998 there were more than 10,700 systems serving more than 65 million subscribers in more than 32,000 communities. Cable systems are operating in every state of the United States and in many other countries, including Austria, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Most cable systems are technically capable of offering between 36 and 60 channels. Channel capacity in the industry has increased dramatically in recent years; some systems now offer in excess of 100 channels. Most cable subscribers receive service from a system offering more than 54 channels. The channel capacity of a cable system makes it possible for a cable television system operator to provide many services. In addition to over-the-air television broadcast signals, most systems also offer diverse program services, including, for example, news, weather, business information, movies, sports, special entertainment features, and programming designed for specific audiences such as children, women, and ethnic and racial groups. Within the past few years, some cable systems have begun offering a full-range of telecommunications services, including high-speed Internet access and local telephone service. High-speed Internet access allows subscribers to connect to the Internet more than 100 times faster than the fastest standard anal