History of Cable Television
The Early Days
Just over a half-century ago, a single technology was developed and introduced in Pennsylvania that has provided entertainment, education and information for tens of millions of Americans. What began as a local Community Antenna Television service to improve reception of over-the-air broadcast signals has transformed into 24/7 pipeline of video, data and voice services that eight out of ten Pennsylvania households enjoy.
Cable television, formally known as Community Antenna Television or CATV, was born in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the late 1940s. At the time, there were only a few television stations, located mostly in larger cities. People who didn't live in a city, or in a location where signals could be received easily, were unable to watch television.
John Walson, an appliance store owner in the small town of Mahanoy City (Schuylkill County), had difficulty selling television sets to local residents because reception in the area was so poor. The problem was the location of the town in a valley almost 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 outside of town.
To solve his reception problem, Mr. Walson -- In June 1948 -- put an antenna on top of a nearby mountain. Television signals were received and transported over twin-lead antenna wires directly to his store. Once local residents saw these early results, television sales soared. Walson worked 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. In Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, cable television was born.
In the early 1950s, television was still fairly new. Though it had not yet become popular, city department stores displayed many different TVs 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 was elected governor of Pennsylvania during the 1970s, developed a master antenna television (MATV) system to eliminate the forest of antennas for city department stores and apartment buildings.
Shapp's system used coaxial cable and signal boosters, 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 Develops
Shapp and his engineers at Jerrod Electronics contacted Bob Tarlton to investigate what he was doing with all the Jerrod equipment he purchased. They worked with Tarlton to develop a stable distribution system for use in communities and Shapp actively sold his technology to cable system start-ups around the country.
Thanks to Shapp's innovations, cable television spread quickly throughout the country in 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, but it didn't stay that way for long.
Mr. Walson in the early 1950s and later other system owners like Joseph Gans of Hazleton and Claude Reinhard of Palmerton 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 in New York and Philadelphia. Because of the variety it offered viewers, cable became more attractive and eventually moved into cities as people recognized it provided clearer reception (free of shadows and ghosts caused by signals reflecting off downtown buildings) and wanted more viewing choice.
Perhaps the biggest event since cable began, and what many say is responsible for the cable's greatest growth spurt, was the development of Pay TV. Pay television was launched in November 1972 when John Walson's company, Service Electric, offered Home Box Office (HBO) over its cable system in Wilkes-Barre.
HBO was originally distributed by a terrestrial microwave system. It improved its reach as it was the first programming service to use a communications satellite to distribute its programming.
Battles Along the Way
Cable's development wasn't automatic. There were movie theater owners and broadcasters who thought cable endangered their livelihood and they fought its development every step of the way. Also there were municipal officials and utility pole owners who were reluctant to share right-of-way space with a developing industry, both with strong political ties and lobbying clout.
To advance the interests of this emerging industry, cable operators like George and Yolanda Barco (two lawyers from Meadville with cable interests), Joe and Irene Gans, George Gardner, Claude Reinhard, John Rigas, Bob Tarlton, and others worked to form two trade associations, first a national association and later a state association.
Tarlton was named president of the Pennsylvania Cable Television Association in 1957. With legal help from the Barcos and grassroots lobbying help from many cable operators, the association fostered some of the landmark court decisions and crafted some of the early legislation that allowed the industry to evolve to be the leader in telecommunication it is today. Changing its name to the Pennsylvania Cable & Telecommunications Association in 1995, the association formally adopted its current “broadband” identity as BCAP in 2004.
© 2008 Broadband Cable Association of Pennsylvania