Cable Television - How IT Works

How It Works

In the most common system, multiple television channels (as many as 500) are distributed to subscriber residences through a coaxial cable, which comes from a trunkline supported on utility poles originating at the cable company's local distribution facility, called the headend. Multiple channels are transmitted through the cable by a technique called frequency division multiplexing. At the headend, each television channel is translated to a different frequency. By giving each channel a different frequency "slot" on the cable the separate television signals do not interfere. At the subscriber's residence, either the subscriber's television or a set-top box provided by the cable company translates the desired channel back to its original frequency (baseband), and it is displayed on the screen. Due to widespread cable theft in earlier analog systems, in modern digital cable systems the signals are encrypted, and the set-top box must be activated by an activation code sent by the cable company before it will function, which is only sent after the subscriber signs up. There are also usually "upstream" channels on the cable, to send data from the customer box to the cable headend, for advanced features such as requesting pay-per-view shows, cable internet access, and cable telephone service. The "downstream" channels occupy a band of frequencies from approximately 50 MHz to 1 GHz, while the "upstream" channels occupy frequencies of 5 to 42 MHz. Subscribers pay with a monthly fee. Subscribers can choose from several levels of service, with "premium" packages including more channels but costing more.

At the local headend, the feed signals from the individual television channels are received by dish antennas from communication satellites. Additional local channels, such as local broadcast television stations, educational channels from local colleges, and community access channels devoted to local governments (PEG channels) are usually included on the cable. Commercial advertisements for local business are also inserted in the programming at the headend (the individual channels, which are distributed nationally, also have their own nationally oriented commercials).