Cable TV

The image shows a decoder, an electronic device that cable subscribers use to connect the cable signal to their particular television.

The cable television or CATV (from Community Antenna Television) is a television system that is offered through radio frequency signals that are transmitted to televisions through fiber optic networks or coaxial cables.

In addition to television, such cable can also provide telephone services and Internet access. This system takes advantage of fiber optic or coaxial cable television networks to convert them into a digital or analog line.

Television cables are usually distributed throughout the cities, sharing the laying with electricity and telephone cables; as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting, over radio waves, which requires a television antenna.

Cable television arises from the need to carry television signals and sound broadcasting, of a diverse nature, to the subscribers' homes, without the need for them to have different receiving equipment, players and, above all, equipment of antennas.

Definition

CATV is the service that offers transfer of television images to subscribers' homes. Cable television networks have existed since the 1940s. The first cable network was set up in the United States by a technician in Oregon. The network had a system of antennas, amplifiers and signal mixers, and the signal was sent by cables to its neighbors, thus making it possible for everyone to watch television without the need for antennas. It is currently spread all over the world.

Architecture

Although there are various network topologies, one that includes the main elements of a CATV network is described schematically below. In order to simplify, the possibility of interactivity through the network itself, in an ascending sense, for services of the pay-per-view type or even to facilitate Internet connection is not described. The component elements of the described network are:

Header

The headend is the center of the network in charge of grouping and treating the various contents that are going to be transmitted over the network. In Figure 1, it can be seen how video signals from a wide variety of sources are applied to a switching matrix.

So we have receivers for satellite programs, others for terrestrial television or video signals from a local production center. For reasons of simplification, only nine input signals to the matrix are represented, but their number can be much higher, as many as channels provided by the network operator.

After passing through the matrix, the video signals are modulated to place each of them in a different channel and to be able to group them in the combiner to form the composite signal that will be sent to the Network Head Terminal located in the same head town. Other signals are injected into analog/digital encoders to be sent via SDH or ATM network frames to remote rebroadcast headends located in towns other than the main headend.

Also, in the headend, all the data signals coming from the cable modems located at the receiver's house are regrouped. These signals are injected into the CMTS, where data, telephony, Internet, VOD services, among others, are managed. It is mainly known as head-end.

Network Headend Terminal

The network headend terminal is in charge of receiving the electrical signal generated at the headend and transforming it into an optical signal to be sent by fiber to the various distribution centers throughout the town.

In Figure 2 you can see the elements that make up this terminal as well as those in charge of distribution and delivery, which are described below.

Distribution Center

In the distribution center, the optical signal is converted back to electrical and split to apply to the distributors. In each distributor we have an amplifier to raise the level of the signal, attenuated by the division. Next, we convert it back into optics and it is routed through fiber to the proximity of the buildings to be served, which is called fiber to the sidewalk, although this is not entirely accurate. These fibers terminate in the so-called Optical Network Terminations.

Optical Network Termination

The optical network termination is the last link in the network. Generally placed in common areas of buildings, such as garages or meter rooms, they serve as a terminal for the fibers up to the sidewalk (Fiber Deep) that carry the optical signals that are going to be converted back into electrical and applied to a distributor by means of coaxial cables, to carry the television signal to the homes of the subscribers to the service.

Historical overview

In February 1949, in the US city of Astoria, Oregon, engineer Leroy "Ed" Parsons set up a small network that can be considered a precursor to cable television. It consisted of a system of antennas, amplifiers, and signal mixers. This combined signal was distributed by cable to its neighbors, who in this way could watch various programs without having to have antennas and with a good level of quality. In May 1968, Parsons was recognized as the father of cable television, and a monument was erected in his honor at what is now called the "Astoria Column." (Astoria Column) on Coxcomb Hill. Although some communication theorists were skeptical of the limited possibilities.

The first cable operators in Spain were called historical cable operators.

Argentina

Cable television appeared in the 1960s in cities where the open television signal did not reach, being pioneers the closed circuits of Villa María (Córdoba), Río Cuarto (Córdoba) and Junín (Buenos Aires). Later, in the 1980s, it developed in large urban areas such as Buenos Aires. At this time it began its great expansion by incorporating segmented programming, thematic channels, and foreign channels via satellite, also allowing the direct arrival of capital TV to the provinces.

In the 1990s, the expansion of cable TV led the country to an unusual phenomenon in Latin America, reaching 53% of households in 1996. Argentina is the fourth country in the world in terms of the number of subscribers to cable TV, second only to Canada, the United States and Denmark.

In January 1995, the provider companies TeleRed, CVC, Mi Cable, Cableplus, TVD, Multiseñal, Antina, Multicanal, VCC, Cablevisión, CMM, Telecentro, Supercanal, VCS Cable, Nuevo Siglo Cable TV, BAC, TCC, TV Cable Intercom and Metropolis TV Cable were consolidated as the main cable television operators in the 23 provinces each.

In 2013, pay television services in Argentina reached 100% of households, confirming the trend of open television audience migration towards these platforms.

Catamarca

Santa Fe

Cable television in Santa Fe was born in the 1970s, when CATV was born in closed urban areas (Santa Fe, Rafaela and Las Rosas). In the 1980s it expanded to new cities such as San Cristóbal and Rosario. In the 1990s, San Fernando, Tostado and Reconquista were added. In the year 2000, they are followed by new owners, companies and operators of CATV nationwide.

These are the main CATV operators:

• Cable TV (1983)
• Cablecolor (1989)
• Telecanal (1991)
• Guidance (1994)
• TeleCable (1999)

Bolivia

The first cable operator in Bolivia is TV Cable Visión, owned by Grupo El Sol of Diario El Sol

Brazil

In Brazil, cable television was born in 1965 in Volta Redonda. Supercanal was born in 1986, Band Cabo TV was born in 1988, TVA was born in 1991, NET was born in 1992 and Manchete was born in 1993.

Chile

The first cable operator in Chile is TV Cable Intercom, owned by El Mercurio SAP, which was born in 1987 in a small area of the Providencia commune that later expanded especially to the eastern sector of Santiago. In 1991, Metrópolis TV por Cable was born, owned by the Argentine channel Telefe and later by Cristalerías Chile, which covered the south-east and west of Santiago. At the same time, Cablexpress and VTR Cable were created, in addition to other cable operators in other regions of the country.

In 1995 the most important events occurred, TV Cable Intercom merged with Metropolis TV por Cable and Metropolis Intercom was born, VTR Cable and Cablexpress also merged creating VTR Cablexpress (later VTR), in addition to the purchases and acquisitions of cable operators regions by both aforementioned companies. At that time, in Chile, cable television was a duopoly of both cable operators, where they tried to offer the best and new to their customers. The first glimpse of digital cable was in 2001 when Metropolis Intercom offered this service in the wealthier sectors. Another important event occurred in 2005, the two large cable operators merged taking the name of VTR, being a monopoly in that country, until Telmex TV por Cable was born in 2008 after the success of Telmex TV Satelital in 2007 due to the purchase of ZAP. in 2010 it was renamed as Claro TV.

Peru

Telecable, owned by the company Tele 2000 of the Delgado Parker family, was launched on the market in 1990 and became the first cable operator in the country in operation. Initially, it had only eight channels in its offer apart from the open television signals included in its programming. However, it increased its number of signals over time. This provider was only available in the most economically powerful districts of Lima.

In 1993, the Peruvian Telephone Company launched Cable Mágico, a cable operator that was also initially available only in districts with greater economic affluence. It also had few channels, until in 1994, when the provider's parent company was privatized and auctioned off to the Spanish transnational Telefónica. Since then, Cable Mágico has rapidly expanded to the entire metropolitan area of Lima. In addition, it began its expansion at the national level in 1996 with the start of operations in several important cities such as Arequipa, Trujillo and Cusco, where Telecable did not have a presence. By 1997, the Delgado family sold Tele 2000 to the American corporation BellSouth. In 2002, Telecable changed its name to Metropolis, but its situation failed to improve.

Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Lima (also called cones) and in the rest of the country, various cable operators with local coverage emerged, such as Cable Peru, Best Cable, Star GlobalCom and Cable Express, among others. An example is the subsidiary of the Colombian Virtecom, Megacable, which was established in the northern cone of Lima. In 2006, Metrópolis disappeared when the Delgado family sold the shares to Virtecom to expand Megacable to all of Lima and Callao. Subsequently, it is acquired in 2007 by the Mexican Telmex, which began its operations in Peru and created Telmex TV together with the acquisition of Cable Express. In 2008, Star GlobalCom (with a presence in Arequipa and Tacna) is acquired by Telefónica del Perú.

In 2010, Telmex is absorbed by América Móvil Perú (Claro Peru) and, therefore, Telmex TV changes its name to Claro TV. At the beginning of 2011, Cable Mágico changed its name to Movistar TV.

Ecuador

In 1986, "TVCable" (now known as Xtrim TVCable), the pioneering company in cable television services and technology, where it began the construction and installation of its cable and aerocable systems, reaching various sectors of the main cities of the country with its distribution networks. A year later in 1987, the commercialization of the service was made official.

Currently, in addition to offering cable television, it also offers satellite television.

Spain

In 1972, the then General Directorate of Radio and Television, of Spain, and the then National Telephone Company of Spain, reached an agreement regulating the collaboration of the telephone company in the implementation plans in the country of cable television. The agreement involved wiring first in Madrid and Barcelona, and later in other capitals where it was decided to implement the service. The networks would be made available to the General Directorate for a period of 10 years with the possibility of expansion. The initial phase covered an area of about 8 km² in Madrid and Barcelona (with expansion forecasts of up to 32 km², practically the urban area of both cities at that time), and with a capacity of up to 9 channels (4 of them for direct reception and the rest with converter). In 1976 the degree of advancement of the networks was very advanced but, due to political change, the first cable television networks in Spain would not appear until the early 1980s, especially in the modality known as community video, where in a building or group of buildings the signal of a video player was sent through the collective TV antenna system through which a "system administrator" he passed films in exchange for a television canon.

These pseudo-networks, especially due to conflicts over broadcasting rights, evolved and at the end of the 1980s the first CATV networks appeared, already broadcasting, together with the Spanish terrestrial television channels, various channels foreigners, most from satellites, and even added some of their own production, especially locally, to make them more attractive. These networks have been operating illegally, since there was no regulatory legal framework until the promulgation of Cable Telecommunications Law 42/1995 on December 22, 1995.

General Telecommunications Law 32/2003 repealed Law 42/1995 almost in its entirety, establishing in turn a new contingent regulatory framework for cable television, radioelectric public domain, information society services, etc The General Telecommunications Law 9/2014 came to succeed and update the previous one, transposing the European directives Directive 2009/136/CE and Directive 2009/140/CE. Most of the historical cable networks and the large operators offer and triple play and quadruple play.

Paraguayan

Cable television or television for subscribers of the entire Republic of Paraguay appears on April 21, 1969 in Pedro Juan Caballero, to later expand in the 1980s to both Asunción and Greater Asunción as well as to the interior of the country and to the Paraguayan Chaco. In the 1980s it incorporated segmented programming, thematic channels and foreign channels via satellite, also with the direct arrival of Capital TV to the departments. Today there are companies like Mi Cable, TCC, Nuevo Siglo TV, Asucable, PCC, Tigo Star, Movistar TV Personal TV, Claro TV, Norte Cable Visión, Cable Visión Caacupé, MiTv and San Bernardino TV Digital Cable.

Uruguay

The first air TV and paid TV in Uruguay: born on October 22, 1971 in Colonia, Uruguay is Canal 3 Colonia TV. In the 80's it incorporated segmented programming, thematic channels and foreign channels via satellite, also allowing the arrival of Capital TV to the departments. Today there are companies like Cablevisión, Multiseñal, Montecable, TCC and Nuevo Siglo, Telecable, CablePlus and Punta Cable.

Actuality and decadence

Currently, cable television is the least consumed at the beginning of the 2010s and 2020s after the COVID-19 Pandemic, cable television stopped being commercialized in some places, being replaced by other formats such as IPTV and video on demand such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Star+, HBO Max, Paramount+, among others. So it is because consumers are no longer willing to pay for a large number of channels they do not watch and the high price.

Cable adjustment

Argentina

In Argentina, cable television has been regulated since 2009 by the Audiovisual Communication Services Law (Law 26 522).

The main cable operators nationwide are Flow and Supercanal, the first owned by Grupo Clarín and the second by Grupo Uno Medios. In the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, in addition to Flow, Telecentro and TeleRed operate, the latter being 49% owned by Grupo Clarín.

In 2007, Grupo Clarín owned Multicanal and acquired Cablevisión, due to the authorization of President Néstor Kirchner to merge both firms. In turn, since 1997, these companies, together with Supercanal, had expanded by absorbing numerous local and regional cable operators.

In view of the situation and through the law, it is intended to demonopolize the cable service. Operators will be limited to a maximum of 24 licenses throughout the country; each license would be equivalent to a city, however, if the adjacent localities have a smaller amount of population, a license will not be computed for the operation in them. In addition, they can only generate their own channel that will be distributed by their network, and by other networks in the event that said channel is sold.

There is also an "adaptation period", in which cable operators and other media companies affected by the aforementioned regulation must reduce their market share, selling or dividing into smaller groups until they accommodate themselves to the number of authorized licenses.

Spain

In Spain, cable television has been regulated by Law 9 of 2014, of May 9, General Telecommunications, within Title II. This law repealed the previous General Telecommunications Law 32 of 2003 and incorporated into its text the modifications made by Law 10 of 2005 of June 14, Urgent Measures for the Promotion of Digital Terrestrial Television, Liberalization of Cable Television and the Promotion of Pluralism, which enforced the effective liberalization of the service. Without the force of law, Royal Decree 920 of 2006 defines the General Regulations for the provision of cable radio and television broadcasting services.