COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM

CABLE TELEVISION

       During the television licensing freeze of 1948–1952, the demand for television increased. Since new television licenses were not being issued, the only way the demand was met was by Community Antenna Television. Ed Parsons is known for building the first system in the U.S. that used coaxial cable, amplifiers, and a community antenna to deliver television signals to an area that otherwise would not have been able to receive broadcast television signals.In 1948 he rigged up a crafty community antenna and married it with long cables to bring television to his home in remote Astoria, Ore. Parsons simply wanted to let his wife watch the new Seattle TV station, which had gone on the air a few months earlier. At the time, no one could have imagined he was inventing a multibillion-dollar industry that would become a king of sneaky fees.

       In fact, Parson, his wife, and millions of other Americans, did not live close enough to broadcast stations to receive a signal. In the spring of 1948, Parsons learned that radio station KRSC in Seattle which 125 miles away was going to launch a television station that fall. He found that with a large antenna he could receive KRSC's signal on the roof of the Astoria Hotel and from there he ran coaxial cable across the street to his apartment.

When the station (now KING-TV) went on the air in November 1948, Parsons was the only one in town able to see television. Soon others in town wanted the same service, and Parsons helped them hook up to the system. He charged them a fee for his work and materials but never instituted a monthly service charge. In May 1968, Parsons was acknowledged as the father of community antenna television. According to MSNBC's Bob Sullivan, however, Parsons charged a $125 one-time set-up fee and a $3 a month service fee.

In 1950, Robert Tarlton developed the first commercial cable television system in the United States. Mr. Tarlton organized a group of fellow television set retailers in Lansford, Pennsylvania, to offer television signals from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania broadcast stations to homes in Lansford for a fee. The system was featured in stories in the New York Times, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. The publicity of this successful early system set off a wave of cable system construction throughout the United States.

       Tarlton used equipment manufactured by a new company, Jerrold Electronics. After seeing the success of the Tarlton system in 1950, Jerrold President Milton Shapp reorganized his company to build equipment for the now-growing cable industry. In 1952, Tarlton went to work for Jerrold, helping to construct most of the major systems built by that company in the 1950s, including the landmark system in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Tarlton was also responsible for training many of the major operators of cable systems in the 1950s. In 2003, Mr. Tarlton was inducted in the Cable Television Hall of Fame for his work building the first widely publicized cable television company in America. 

Cable Today and Tomorrow

It should come as no surprise that the rise of cable led other innovators and entrepreneurs to get on the multichannel bandwagon. Leading the way were satellite, multichannel, multipoint distribution service (MMDS) and a huge consumer favorite: the VCR.

Reflecting on the developmets, we will see that the cable industry will continue to provide standard analog programming to its subscribers while offering a wide variety of digital and other video services.