200 channels and nothing to watch that
wasn't always a problem in America
because we didn't always have 200
channels everything changed when cable
was born back in the 1940s broadcast
television was transforming the country
TV signal was transmitted from local
towers to rabbit-ear antenna but
reception was a hit or miss not everyone
could get a signal so a few enterprising
Americans found to work around one of
them being John Wilson a TV salesman in
rural Pennsylvania walsim put an antenna
on a hilltop and ran a wire down to his
TV store the idea of cable was born by
1952 these community antennas serviced
14,000 cable subscribers in 70 different
places nationwide and unlike local
broadcasters antenna operators could
pick up signals from far away allowing
cable customers to access new content in
1972
Charles Dolan launched home box office
or HBO
four years later in 1976 Ted Turner
founded what would become TBS and later
created CNN the cable industry gave rise
to new Titans who took advantage of
satellite technology to reach larger
audiences by the 1990s cable took off
and there were millions of subscribers
to dozens of cable companies across the
country cable reach millions of American
households for decades and then the
internet arrived first it was just
dial-up like your old al free trial CDs
you remember those service traveled over
old copper phone lines owned by phone
companies cable providers quickly
realized that the fat wires they built
to transmit hundreds of TV channels
could also be used to provide Internet
service so they started selling high
speed internet with their cable bundles
suddenly illegally downloading that Red
Hot Chili Peppers album on Napster got a
whole lot faster but stringing every
household in America with cable wire is
expensive cable companies effectively
divided up the country rather than
compete directly against each other
content providers then created more and
more channels cable operators paid to
carry them and passed on
to consumers this.left Americans with
high bills and confusing bundle options
today millenials especially have cut
their cable subscriptions and fought to
streaming services like Hulu and Netflix
which are more affordable and you know
supply endless content to meet the
binge-watching demand the shift has had
profound effects media companies like
Disney and Viacom relied on money from
cable bundles for decades now they're
struggling to transform in the new world
for Disney that means buying a huge
chunk of 21st Century Fox a deal that
will increase its suite of TV shows and
movies meanwhile cable companies are
relying on selling Internet service and
looking to also expand into the cell
phone industry she's got no Wi-Fi so how
these companies regulators and consumers
navigate this new world of options will
determine the future of cable stay tuned