Early 1970s, the FCC en- Cable companies began a major up- By 1952, 70 cable sys- acted regulations that limited grade investing $65 billion between tems served 14,000 sub- the ability of cable to offer 1996-2002 to build higher capacity scribers nationwide. movies, sporting events, and networks of fiber optic and coaxial syndicated programming. cable. These “broadband” networks In the late 1950s, cable provide multichannel video, two-way operators began to take The freeze lasted until 1972, voice, high-speed Internet access, advantage of their ability to when gradual cable deregu- high definition and advanced digital pick up broadcast signals lation led to modified restric- video services on a single wire into the from hundreds of miles tions on distant signals. home. away. Access to these signals began to change The upgrade to broadband networks The clamp on growth had the focus of cable’s role enabled cable companies to introduce financial effects, especially from one of transmitting high-speed Internet access to custom- on capital. Money for ex- local broadcast signals to ers in the mid-90s, and competitive pansion all but dried up. one of providing new pro- local telephone and digital cable ser- gramming choices. vices later in the decade. The 1940s The 1960s The 1980s 2000 and Beyond

Cable television The 1950s By 1962, there The 1970s The 1984 Cable Act The 1990s As the new millennium got under originated in the were 800 cable established a frame- way, cable companies began pilot United States in Arkan- systems serving 850,000 work for the industry, stimulating testing video services that could sas, Oregon and Penn- subscribers investment in cable plant and change the way people watch televi- sylvania in 1948 to en- programming sion. Among these: video on de- hance poor reception in mand, subscription video on de- The growth of cable remote areas. mand, and interactive TV. through the importation of This deregulation had a positive

distant signals was effect on the rapid growth of ca- “Community antennas” Subscribership to high-speed Inter- viewed as competition by ble services. From 1984-1992, were erected on moun- net access service via cable mo- local television stations. the industry spent more than $15 tain tops or high points, dems had grown to more than 10 These concerns led to the billion on the wiring of America, and homes were con- million by the end of the third quar- FCC expanding its juris- and was the largest private con- nected to the antenna ter of 2002. diction and placing restric- struction project since World War towers to receive the tions on the ability of ca- II. broadcast signals. Cable’s capital expenditures ble systems to import reached $100 billion. Cable’s high- these signals. By the end of the decade, nearly speed Internet service ended the 53 million households subscribed Third Quarter in 2005 with 24.3 to cable, and cable program net- million subscribers, and the number works had increased from 28 in of digital cable customers had 1980 to 79 by 1989. grown to 27.6 million