Cable television by region
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The distribution of cable television around the world:
Asia
Mainland China
Cable television is the most common transmission method in all urban areas of
Guangdong Province is the only area where channels from Hong Kong can be carried legally. Currently, TVB Jade and TVB Pearl are the only terrestrial channels which are carried by the Guangdong Cable Network. Phoenix Television is also available. In Shenzhen, selected foreign channels such as CNN International or HBO are also available with a fee.
Mainland China had more than 44.5 million digital cable television users in 2008.[1]
Unlike many cable television operators in other countries that support two-way modes, China's cable television systems operate in a one-way mode (download only, no upload).
Hong Kong
Cable television was introduced to
India
Japan
Cable television was introduced to
Currently, there are several national and regional cable television providers in Japan, the largest being
Japan Cable Television Engineering Association (JCTEA) is the umbrella organisation representing 600 member companies involved in research, designing, manufacturing, installation and maintenance of cable television facilities in Japan.[3]
Analog broadcasting on cable television ceased in most areas between July 24, 2011, and March 31, 2015; the transition was completed on April 30, 2015.
Malaysia
Cable television was introduced to Malaysia in 1995 when Mega TV was launched as the country's first subscription-based pay television service. Mega TV ceased operations in 2001, due to stiff competition from the Malaysian satellite television operator Astro as well as a failure to expand its range of channels. In 2013, ABNXcess was launched as Malaysia's second cable television service and marked the return of cable television to Malaysia after a 12-year absence.
Maldives
There are only two cable television providers in the
Mongolia
There are several cable television providers in
Philippines
NUVUE, the first cable television system in the Philippines, was set up in Baguio by American expatriate Russel Swartley in 1969. Cable television became popular in the 1980s after the Marcos administration. Sky Cable, the largest cable television provider in the Philippines, began operations in 1992. Cable providers have proliferated since then, including Destiny Cable, Cablelink and some regional cable providers. In 2007, Sky Cable introduced the DigiBox, a set-top box that provides a digital television (DTV) signal for higher video quality and prevents illegal cable connections. In 2008, Sky Cable also broadcast the 37th Ryder Cup in high-definition television (HDTV). In 2009, Sky Cable became the first cable television service provider in the Philippines to broadcast the UAAP Games in high definition via the new SkyHD Cable TV service.
Singapore
Cable television was introduced to
South Korea
Cable television was legalised by the South Korean government in 1993, and was formally introduced in 1995 with an initial 20 operators covering various regions of
Taiwan
Cable television is prevalent in Taiwan, as a result of cheap subscription rates (typically around
Cable television in Taiwan is claimed by the industry to have begun in 1969 in the
Despite the Taiwanese government's unsuccessful attempts in cracking down on the fourth channels, including a major raid in which 370,000 kg (820,000 lb) of coaxial cables were forcibly removed and destroyed over a four-month period in 1991, the straw that broke the camel's back only occurred when the United States began threatening trade sanctions against Taiwan in retaliation for massive copyright infringement committed by the fourth channels, in part due to the fourth channels' illegal retransmission of satellite signals from domestic and foreign sources, especially those from Hong Kong, Japan and the United States which became possible only when satellite receptions became legal as explained above.[6][7]
Faced with this problem, the Taiwanese government eventually legalized cable television in July 1993 when the Government Information Office ratified the Cable Television Act. In October 1994, 209 companies took part in a series of competitive tenders which were called as a result of the implementation of the said Cable Television Act. On May 13, 1998, Keelung Cable Television (吉隆有線電視 [zh]) became the first Taiwanese cable television operator to obtain a broadcasting license which covers the city of Keelung in northern Taiwan. By 2001, there were 66 cable television operators in Taiwan, mainly operating at a regional level. These companies compete with the Taiwanese satellite television platform DishHD as well as the IPTV platform CHT MOD operated by Chunghwa Telecom.
The Taiwanese government is pushing for a switch to digital cable television services by 2015; this will be provided through a set-top box and will increase the number of available channels.
Turkey
Cable television was introduced to Turkey in the early 1980s when several cable companies started operations such as Sky, Amunarie, ODus and Mediafield.
Europe
Denmark
Cable television was introduced to Denmark in 1963 when Jysk Telefon, a Danish telecommunications company, started cable television services on the
Finland
Finland has a
Ireland
Cable television is the most common[
In the Republic of Ireland,
Italy
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Italian state broadcaster RAI was the only one authorized to broadcast television programming in Italy, hence making RAI a monopolist. That monopoly status was broken in 1971, when Giuseppe Sacchi, a former RAI editor, launched on April 21 that year the first "free" television station in Italy, called Telebiella and based in Biella, which was only possible through a legal loophole in Italian broadcasting law which did not specifically prohibit the existence of cable television. Telebiella and later of such stations provided Italy's first cable television services free from the influence of the Italian state. However, these early cable television channels, which operated as pirate broadcasters in a sense were soon heavily stifled by the Italian government and most were forced to shut down. Later, the Italian government introduced laws to regulate and allow for cable television, albeit with heavy restrictions: only one cable system for every city and only one television channel for each system.
Only in the 1990s was a nationwide cable television system developed, first by
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, cable television is the most widely used television distribution system. As of 2012, about 5.3 million households (about 70%) had a cable television subscription.[9] This number is slowly dropping since the rise of cheaper alternatives such as IPTV. The basic subscription of all major providers costs between €15 and €20 and includes analog and digital television and radio.
The cable infrastructure is owned by the television providers. This means that depending on where you live, there is only one available provider. As of 2015, the only major provider is Ziggo. Lately, there have been efforts to 'open up' these monopolies and force the providers to allow other providers on their networks, but this has not been successful so far.
Portugal
Cable television was introduced to
, PluriCanal and Bragatel also began to offer cable television services.In 2005, NOS became the first Portuguese cable television provider to adopt digital cable. The Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM) has requested all Portuguese cable television providers to switch over to digital cable as soon as possible. Because TVTEL, PluriCanal and Bragatel decided not to renew their licenses after the said announcement, NOS has decided to acquire them and all their customers have been transitioned to the NOS cable service, making NOS the largest cable television provider in Portugal. In the 21st century, 3 cable TV provider solidified its position as the biggest and better provider. They are NOS, ZON and VODAFONE. At the same time, they are also Mobile GSM, Internet and landline phone providers. All 3 companies provide the last technology available worldwide and with similar prices, although above European average.
Serbia
First cable TV system in nowadays
Spain
In 1972, the Dirección General de Radiodifusión y Televisión (now part of RTVE) started collaborating with the Spanish telecommunications provider Telefónica in implementing cable television in Spain, first in the cities of Madrid and Barcelona and eventually in other Spanish cities. The initial cable television system implemented in Madrid and Barcelona covered a total area of 8 km2 (with future provision for extending coverage area to 32 km2), and allowed a total of nine channels to be received. The project was deemed complete by 1976, although due to the political situation in Spain at that time the first cable television networks in Spain only came into existence in the early 1980s. These early Spanish cable television networks mainly operated at a regional level, whereas each cable operator served a defined area.
As more cable operators sprung up in Spain in the intervening years and without a national policy to coordinate cable television, the Spanish government eventually ratified the Spanish General Telecommunications by Cable Act 42/95 in 1995 and established a legal framework over which all Spanish cable television providers would be regulated. In 2003, the Spanish General Telecommunications Act 32/2003 was implemented and repealed many of the provisions of the previous Cable Act 42/95, while establishing a new regulatory framework for cable television, public radio, information technology services, etc.
Currently, the largest cable television provider in Spain is
Sweden
Cable television was introduced to Sweden in 1961 when Informations-TV AB started a cable television service in the city of Malmö that same year, which mainly transmitted locally produced programming and from 1981 retransmitted satellite broadcasts beginning with the Soviet television channel Horizont. In the 1970s and 1980s a few cable television networks sprung up in different Swedish cities, sometimes operating on an experimental basis.
In 1983 the then-telecommunications monopoly
United Kingdom
When the infant BBC Television service was started in 1936, Rediffusion, which had supplied cable radio services since 1928, started providing "Pipe TV" to its customers who had difficulties tuning into the weak television broadcast signal.[10]
Suspended during World War II, the BBC service was re-established in June 1946, and had only one transmitter, at Alexandra Palace, which served the London area. From the end of 1949, new transmitters were steadily opened to serve other major conurbations, and then smaller areas of population. The areas on the fringes of the transmitter coverage provided an opportunity for Rediffusion and other commercial companies to expand cable systems to enlarge the viewing audience for the one BBC television channel which then existed. The first was in Gloucester in 1950[11] and the process gathered pace over the next few years, especially after a second television channel, ITV, was launched in 1955 to compete with BBC. By the late 1970s, 2.5 million British homes received their television service via cable.[12]
By law, these cable systems were restricted to the relay of the public broadcast channels, which meant that as the transmitter network became more comprehensive, the incentive to subscribe to cable was reduced and they began to lose customers. In 1982, a radical liberalization of the law on cable was proposed by the Information Technology Advisory Panel,[13] for the sake of promoting a new generation of broadband cable systems leading to the wired society.[14] After setting up and receiving the conclusions of the Hunt Inquiry into Cable Expansion and Broadcasting Policy, the Government decided to proceed with liberalization and two pieces of legislation: the Cable and Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act, were enacted in 1984.
The result was that cable systems were permitted to carry as many new television channels as they liked, as well as providing a telephone service and interactive services of many kinds (as since made familiar by the Internet). To maintain the momentum of the perceived commercial interest in this new investment opportunity, in 1983, the Government itself granted eleven interim franchises for new broadband systems each covering a community of up to around 100,000 homes, but the competitive franchising process was otherwise left to the new regulatory body, the Cable Authority, which took on its powers from January 1, 1985.
The franchising process proceeded steadily, but the actual construction of new systems was slow, as doubts about an adequate payback from the substantial investment persisted. By the end of 1990 almost 15 million homes had been included in franchised areas, but only 828,000 of these had been passed by broadband cable and only 149,000 were actually subscribing.[15] Thereafter, however, construction accelerated and take-up steadily improved.
The first new television channels launched for carriage on cable systems (debuting in March 1984) were
In 2005, it was announced that NTL and Telewest would merge, after a period of co-operation in the preceding few years. This merger was completed on March 3, 2006, with the company being named ntl Incorporated. For the time being, the two brand names and services were marketed separately. However, following NTL's acquisition of Virgin Mobile, the NTL and Telewest services were rebranded as Virgin Media on February 8, 2007, creating a single cable operator covering more than 95% of the UK cable market.[citation needed]
There are a small number of other surviving cable television companies in the UK other than Virgin Media including WightFibre (Isle of Wight).
Cable television faces intense competition from Sky's satellite television service. Most channels are carried on both platforms. However, cable often lacks "interactive" features (e.g. text services, and extra video-screens), especially on BSkyB-owned channels, and the satellite platform lacks services requiring high degrees of two-way communication, such as true video on demand.
However, subscription-funded
Another potential source of competition in the future will be television transmitted over broadband internet connections; this is known as Internet Protocol television (IPTV). Some IPTV services are currently available in London, while services operated in
Romania
Cable television in Romania was introduced in 1991, although some small cable networks were established before 1990, usually amateur made equipment, serving small communities, and receiving about 8-12 foreign channels, but with no translation, and usually at low quality, however, like in other East European countries before 1989, most people were having monochrome sets, therefore, low quality was not very important. After 1990, cable networks were expanding and penetrating the market, new or second-hand cable equipment were achieved by providers. Channels like
Russia
Cable television was introduced in the 2000s, and grew significantly in the early 2010s. Cable operators began upgrading their networks to DVB-C and adding new services such as video on demand, catch-up-TV and others. In 2012, cable television accounted for more than half of all pay-TV subscribers (58%).[16]
North America
Canada
In 1949, Broadcast Relay Service began negotiations for the implementation of what was to be the first large scale cable television system in North America. The development of the system relied on reaching agreement with Quebec Hydro-Electric Commission to utilise their existing network of power poles supplying power to the Greater Montreal area. Initial discussions began with a meeting with Montreal City Council on June 21, 1949. After many months of negotiation, an agreement was reached between Hydro-Québec and Rediffusion on February 28, 1950, for an initial five-year period. The Rediffusion cable system was operational in 1952 and eventually supplied 80,000 homes in Montreal, Quebec. Cable television in Canada began in 1952 with community antenna connections in Vancouver and London, Ontario; which city was the first is not clear. Initially, the systems brought American television stations to viewers in Canada who had no Canadian stations to watch; broadcast television, though begun late in 1952 in Toronto and Montreal, did not reach a majority of cities until 1954.
In time, cable television was widely established to carry available Canadian stations as well as import American stations, which constituted the vast majority of signals on systems (usually only one or two Canadian stations, while some systems had duplicate or even triplicate coverage of American networks). During the 1970s, a growing number of Canadian stations pushed American channels off the systems, forcing several to expand beyond the original 12-channel system configurations. At the same time, the advent of fiber-optic technology enabled companies to extend their systems to nearby towns and villages that by themselves were not viable cable television markets.
Dominican Republic
Cable television in the
The main service provider in the Dominican Republic is Telecable from Tricom. Aster is concentrated in Santo Domingo, but is expanding its service throughout the Dominican Republic. There are also new companies using new technologies that are expanding quickly such as Claro TV (IPTV), Wind Telecom (MMDS) and
Panama
Panamanian company REXSA (RECREACIONES Y EXHIBICIONES, S.A.) introduced cable television in
United States
Cable television in the
Cable television franchise fees stem from a community's basic right to charge for use of the property it owns. The cable television franchise fees represent part of the compensation a community receives in exchange for the cable operator's occupation and the right-of-way use of public property. A franchise fee is not a tax; it is a rental charge.
Oceania
Australia
Cable television began in the early 1990s in Australia. Several companies appeared including Foxtel, Galaxy TV, Optus TV, SelecTV and Austar offering services to homes across the major states of Australia. Services to Tasmania and the Northern Territory took longer to start, not until the mid-2000s when the digital satellite pay television service had picked up momentum and was beginning to be used for metropolitan installs and not just rural installs.
Foxtel dominates the cable television landscape and was originally rebroadcast by Austar (in rural areas) and Optus TV, until both latter companies respectively ceased operations in 2014 and 2011. Galaxy TV and SelecTV likewise no longer operate. The effective Foxtel monopoly has drawn criticism within Australia for being anti-competitive and inflating prices.
New Zealand
In September 2010, TelstraClear released their own PVR called the T-BOX. The launch followed the release by its then-parent company Telstra of a similar product. In June 2011, TelstraClear ceased all analogue cable services, converting exclusively to digital.
South America
Argentina
Cable television was first introduced to
Brazil
Cable television was first introduced in 1990 in the city of São Paulo and then has expanded, being available in most state capitals and in most neighbourhoods of medium and large cities.[20] The cable network is often used to provide internet access at speeds up to 120 Mbit/s.
It is estimated that there are about 7.5 million subscribers,
A major problem is cable television piracy, with an unknown number of users using the service illegally.[22]
Colombia
Cable television was introduced in 1992 in the city of Santa Marta.
Chile
Cable television was first demonstrated in
Paraguay
Cable television was introduced to Paraguay in 1989, in the city of Asunción, and then has expanded in the 1990s in Gran Asunción and rest of country.
Peru
Cable television was introduced to
Uruguay
Cable television was introduced to Uruguay in 1970, in the city of Santa Teresa.
References
- ^ 44,5 millions d'abonnés au câble numérique en Chine. ChinaNewsMedia. 2009-01-23. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
- ^ "A Partial Guide to Broadcastings in Japan". The Web Kanzaki. 1996. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
- ^ "Japan Cable Television Engineering Association".
- ^ "StarHub dropping analog Cable TV service". CNET Asia. 2009-02-17. Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
- ^ Chen, Ping-Hung (2002). "Who Owns Cable Television? Media Ownership Concentration in Taiwan" (PDF). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
- ^ Byrd, Sophia R. (1996). "Changing The "Fourth Channels": Taiwan Tunes In To A New Cable Television Law" (PDF). Pacific Rim Law & Policy Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
- ^ Liu, Yu-Li (1994). "The Development of Cable Television in China and Taiwan" (PDF). Malaysian Journal of Communication. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
- ^ "Commission for Communications Regulation". Comreg.ie. Archived from the original on 2012-02-20. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
- ^ Kriek, Jarco (19 April 2012). "Kabel verliest abonnees aan IPTV, satelliet en Digitenne stabiel". Totaal TV. Totaal TV. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
- ^ Graham, Russ J. "A short history of Rediffusion by Russ J Graham". Transdiffusion.org. Archived from the original on 2019-01-06. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
- ^ "The Michael Aldrich Archive - Cable Systems". Aldricharchive.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
- ISBN 0-11-630821-4
- ^ "The Michael Aldrich Archive - The Cable Story". Aldricharchive.com. Archived from the original on 2020-08-04. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
- ISBN 0-11-630821-4
- ^ Cable Authority, Final Report and Accounts 1990
- ^ Robert Briel (25 February 2013). "Pay-TV in Russia to reach 74% in 2017". Broadband TV News. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ^ "Service Electric timeline". Special Supplement. The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. December 29, 1998. p. 7. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
- ^ a b "Chart close-up from SNL Kagan Cable Subscription Data Contradicts FCC Chairman Kevin Martin". Marketingcharts.com. 2012-01-29. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
- ^ Clarin (1996). "La otra televisión". Archived from the original on 2014-12-23. Retrieved 2014-07-03. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
- ^ "O Início da TV por Assinatura no Brasil". www.tvmagazine.com.br. 12 December 2010. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
- ^ Webbox. "Dados Setor - Associação Brasileira de Televisão por Assinatura". www.abta.org.br. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
- ^ "'Gatonet' é segunda maior em TV paga no país - Observatório da Imprensa - Você nunca mais vai ler jornal do mesmo jeito". 13 August 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2018.