cable tv 102: a brief preview

Here is a brief history of cable TV. Many of the important dates in the history of cable can be found here.

Highlights:
>Cable TV began in Mahanoy City, PA in 1948
>It was invented by John Walson
>It was difficult to receive signals from the 3 local Philadelphia stations because of the mountainous terrain
>Walson put an antenna on a mountaintop nearby and connected it to his appliance store by cable enabling clear broadcasts
>Walson then linked the homes of customers to the main cable, creating the first cable TV system

Rapid growth:
1948 - invention, only a few customers
1950 - 14,000 customers
1962 - 850,000 customers nationwide
1980 - 15 million customers
1989 - 53 million customers

This site explains how cable tv works.