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95-405: StackTV functions similarly to a virtual multichannel video programming distributor ( vMVPD , or "Live TV" service), providing access to Corus-owned television channels, including both live linear feeds and on-demand programming during Corus' term of license. The service is intended for cord-cutters ; providing access to Corus' linear channels through over-the-top media services without the need for

190-766: A common carrier airing programming from those who paid. In 1992, nearly all MVPD customers had cable television service. In 1994, PrimeStar , DirecTV and USSB began offering digital satellite service. With one million subscribers in 18 months, digital direct broadcast satellite set a record for the quickest acceptance of a new technology; by comparison, it took four years before the VCR sold one million units. EchoStar and AlphaStar debuted in 1996. 2.2 million people subscribed to C-band service requiring 6-foot dishes costing as much as $ 1,500; this number remained steady, while digital satellite service with 18-inch dishes experienced phenomenal growth, reaching 4.5 million subscribers by

285-405: A multichannel video programming distributor ( MVPD ) as "a person such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service , a direct broadcast satellite service, or a television receive-only satellite program distributor, who makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming ", where a channel is defined as

380-684: A proprietary set-top box provisioned by the MVPD. In 1998, the FCC ordered that a modular security component must be made available by July 1, 2000, and that cable providers must phase out the provision of hardware with integrated conditional access or security functions by January 1, 2005. An industry consortium known as CableLabs officially introduced a standard known as CableCARD in 2003 to comply with this mandate. These cards could be inserted into slots on devices such as televisions and digital video recorders to allow access to digital cable channels without

475-405: A smart card and would support two-way services delivered directly to devices. However, tru2way had limited to no consumer adoption; despite most major providers pledging to deploy it by mid-2009, Panasonic only sold compatible televisions in three Comcast test markets before discontinuing them in 2010 in favor of a set-back box . The integration ban was repealed in 2015 as a condition of

570-417: A "charge" and "not merely a recurring gift to a charitable cause", and also singled out that the company had derived revenue double its operating expenses, and had stated that it planned to use its donations to cover expansion (which is not covered by the exemption in copyright law). Many cable channels charge providers fees in order to carry their content. The fee that the cable service provider must pay to

665-482: A "signaling path provided by a cable television system." While multichannel television initially served as a means to provide local television stations to customers who could not receive them over-the-air , the deployments of communications satellites made it financially feasible for broadcasters to distribute channels of national interest to cable, and later satellite television providers, such as superstations and premium television services. By 1980, 15 million of

760-438: A cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service , a direct broadcast satellite service, or a television receive-only satellite program distributor, who makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming ", where a channel is defined as a "signaling path provided by a cable television system." Certain cable provider-owned regional sports networks worked around

855-408: A cable television channel can vary depending on whether it is a basic or premium channel and the perceived popularity of that channel. As providers are not required to carry all channels, they may negotiate the fee they will pay for carriage of particular services. Typically, more popular channels command higher fees; for example, ESPN typically charges $ 10 per month for its suite of networks ($ 7 for

950-426: A cable television system. In the early days of home satellite dishes, the two types of service were low-power C-band service with large dishes 8 to 12 feet wide, and high-power Ku-band . In 1979, COMSAT announced a plan to allow viewers to receive programming directly from broadcast satellites, a concept called direct-broadcast satellite (DBS). This system would cost "hundreds of millions of dollars" and, at

1045-580: A cheaper rate, cable was too expensive to offer in rural areas. Also, cable was not yet available in larger cities such as Philadelphia and Chicago . USCI president Nathaniel Kwit stated that 30 million people would never be served by cable companies, and DBS would have 5 million subscribers by 1990. One prediction for USCI was for 2.4 million customers by 1986. With little success in Indiana, USCI began looking to Washington, D.C. , Baltimore and Philadelphia. Early in 1984, USCI expanded into 15 markets in

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1140-459: A closed-circuit system as an analog signal. Broadcast or studio cameras use a single or dual coaxial cable system using serial digital interface (SDI). See List of video connectors for information about physical connectors and related signal standards. Video may be transported over networks and other shared digital communications links using, for instance, MPEG transport stream , SMPTE 2022 and SMPTE 2110 . Digital television broadcasts use

1235-470: A lack of demand for the CableCARDs (a factor induced by the cost of devices which supported them), as well as its limitations on two-way services—especially due to the growing video on-demand market, and switched video —a technique that enabled an increase in capacity for high-definition channels. In 2008, the industry attempted to adopt a middleware standard known as tru2way , which did not require

1330-444: A mixture of sources, such as terrestrial television and internet streaming services, as an alternative. The multichannel television industry began to employ efforts to entice potential cord cutters, such as " TV Everywhere "—a concept which allows subscribers to participating television channels to access their on-demand and live programming through websites and mobile apps tied to a user account. In 2015, Dish Network announced

1425-433: A natively progressive broadcast or recorded signal, the result is the optimum spatial resolution of both the stationary and moving parts of the image. Interlacing was invented as a way to reduce flicker in early mechanical and CRT video displays without increasing the number of complete frames per second . Interlacing retains detail while requiring lower bandwidth compared to progressive scanning. In interlaced video,

1520-442: A number is available. Analog video is a video signal represented by one or more analog signals . Analog color video signals include luminance (Y) and chrominance (C). When combined into one channel, as is the case among others with NTSC , PAL , and SECAM , it is called composite video . Analog video may be carried in separate channels, as in two-channel S-Video (YC) and multi-channel component video formats. Analog video

1615-438: A particular refresh rate, display resolution , and color space . Many analog and digital recording formats are in use, and digital video clips can also be stored on a computer file system as files, which have their own formats. In addition to the physical format used by the data storage device or transmission medium, the stream of ones and zeros that is sent must be in a particular digital video coding format , for which

1710-494: A rate 50% higher than the Consumer Price Index . By 2012, satellite dishes accounted for 30% of the pay television market. In 2005, Verizon Communications launched FiOS , a new suite of television, internet, and phone services delivered over a fiber-optic infrastructure. In 2006, AT&T followed suit with the introduction of U-verse . The subscription television market in the U.S. began to erode in

1805-512: A ratio between width and height. The ratio of width to height for a traditional television screen is 4:3, or about 1.33:1. High-definition televisions use an aspect ratio of 16:9, or about 1.78:1. The aspect ratio of a full 35 mm film frame with soundtrack (also known as the Academy ratio ) is 1.375:1. Pixels on computer monitors are usually square, but pixels used in digital video often have non-square aspect ratios, such as those used in

1900-399: A satellite provider, was faced with multiple carriage disputes over the changes. In 2009, C-SPAN was pulled only 2 days after it was added, with the network citing contractual issues which prevented Sky Angel from streaming the channel. Sky Angel filed antitrust lawsuits against C-SPAN in 2012 and 2013, claiming that its ownership group (which is composed of competing television providers)

1995-404: A sequence of miniature photographic images visible to the eye when the film is physically examined. Video, by contrast, encodes images electronically, turning the images into analog or digital electronic signals for transmission or recording. Video technology was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) television systems. Video

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2090-530: A service known as Sling TV , a streaming , multichannel video service (virtual MVPD or vMVPD) offering a focused selection of popular cable networks, delivered via apps for mobile devices and other digital media players over the internet. By 2018, the service had reached 2 million subscribers, and prompted the launch of competitors from AT&T ( DirecTV Now , which had reached 1 million), Hulu , Sony ( PlayStation Vue ) and YouTube TV . By 2019 Q3, analysts estimated vMVPDs have nearly 9 million subscribers in

2185-444: A set-top box. CableCARDs were cheaper to rent than a cable box, but the first version of the standard did not support two-way communications for interactive services such as video on-demand or pay-per-view facilities, thus giving the system a disadvantage over cable boxes. The integration ban was delayed until (and officially took effect on) July 1, 2007. The cable industry lobbied for the ban to be delayed, citing factors such as

2280-419: A significantly higher amount of money and began looking at possible mergers. The company could not afford to expand and it had been unable to strike deals with other companies, so its service ended without warning on April 1, 1985. USCI filed for bankruptcy, and one company offered to convert USCI dishes to C-band. People were allowed to keep their dishes; half had bought them and half had leased them, however it

2375-539: A traditional TV service subscription (unlike the Global TV app, which requires an authenticated subscription through a cable service provider ). In contrast to the defunct subscription streaming service Shomi (which was operated as a joint venture between Rogers Sports & Media and Corus' sister company, Shaw Communications ), StackTV initially offered no exclusive programming beyond that seen on Corus's linear networks and their own on-demand content. StackTV

2470-591: A variety of media, including radio broadcasts , magnetic tape , optical discs , computer files , and network streaming . The word video comes from the Latin video (I see). Video developed from facsimile systems developed in the mid-19th century. Early mechanical video scanners, such as the Nipkow disk , were patented as early as 1884, however, it took several decades before practical video systems could be developed, many decades after film . Film records using

2565-410: Is becoming too fragmented, and giving consumers "fatigue" over the sheer number of options. A 2019 Leichtman Research Group study involving 6,715 households showed that 43 percent of vMVPD subscribers changed from a traditional MVPD. 17 percent dropped their previous vMVPD for another one, 25 percent also had a linear service, and 15 percent had never used a traditional MVPD. 71 percent of vMVPD users,

2660-456: Is in rough chronological order. All formats listed were sold to and used by broadcasters, video producers, or consumers; or were important historically. Digital video tape recorders offered improved quality compared to analog recorders. Optical storage mediums offered an alternative, especially in consumer applications, to bulky tape formats. A video codec is software or hardware that compresses and decompresses digital video . In

2755-455: Is less sensitive to details in color than brightness, the luminance data for all pixels is maintained, while the chrominance data is averaged for a number of pixels in a block, and the same value is used for all of them. For example, this results in a 50% reduction in chrominance data using 2-pixel blocks (4:2:2) or 75% using 4-pixel blocks (4:2:0). This process does not reduce the number of possible color values that can be displayed, but it reduces

2850-517: Is often described as 576i50 , where 576 indicates the total number of horizontal scan lines, i indicates interlacing, and 50 indicates 50 fields (half-frames) per second. When displaying a natively interlaced signal on a progressive scan device, the overall spatial resolution is degraded by simple line doubling —artifacts, such as flickering or "comb" effects in moving parts of the image that appear unless special signal processing eliminates them. A procedure known as deinterlacing can optimize

2945-508: Is one of two, Canadian-based, Live TV services; RiverTV would launch a year later in 2020. In December 2021, StackTV premiered Days of Our Lives: A Very Salem Christmas day-and-date with Peacock in the United States , prior to its linear premiere on W Network the following month. In January 2022, Corus announced plans to offer StackTV through Rogers Cable 's IPTV -based Ignite TV and SmartStream services. In February 2022,

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3040-527: Is reduced by registering differences between parts of a single frame; this task is known as intraframe compression and is closely related to image compression . Likewise, temporal redundancy can be reduced by registering differences between frames; this task is known as interframe compression , including motion compensation and other techniques. The most common modern compression standards are MPEG-2 , used for DVD , Blu-ray, and satellite television , and MPEG-4 , used for AVCHD , mobile phones (3GP), and

3135-422: Is shot at a slower frame rate of 24 frames per second, which slightly complicates the process of transferring a cinematic motion picture to video. The minimum frame rate to achieve a comfortable illusion of a moving image is about sixteen frames per second. Video can be interlaced or progressive . In progressive scan systems, each refresh period updates all scan lines in each frame in sequence. When displaying

3230-509: Is used in NTSC television, YUV is used in PAL television, YDbDr is used by SECAM television, and YCbCr is used for digital video. The number of distinct colors a pixel can represent depends on the color depth expressed in the number of bits per pixel. A common way to reduce the amount of data required in digital video is by chroma subsampling (e.g., 4:4:4, 4:2:2, etc.). Because the human eye

3325-440: Is used in both consumer and professional television production applications. Digital video signal formats have been adopted, including serial digital interface (SDI), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and DisplayPort Interface. Video can be transmitted or transported in a variety of ways including wireless terrestrial television as an analog or digital signal, coaxial cable in

3420-503: The MPEG-2 and other video coding formats and include: Analog television broadcast standards include: An analog video format consists of more information than the visible content of the frame. Preceding and following the image are lines and pixels containing metadata and synchronization information. This surrounding margin is known as a blanking interval or blanking region ; the horizontal and vertical front porch and back porch are

3515-518: The Northeast and Midwest . At first, USCI leased its equipment because people might be reluctant to buy an unproven technology, but the company later sold its dishes. COMSAT planned to compete with USCI, offering lower prices, but lost its backing from CBS in June 1984. Of the eight original companies planning DBS service, none had a working system by the start of 1985. The expected cost of entering

3610-479: The STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014 . In 2010, the FCC issued a notice of inquiry proposing a concept known as AllVid , which involved the introduction of "adapters" that would abstract television services from the devices which deliver them, allowing the development of devices that could converge subscription television with internet video . The FCC stated that it was "not convinced that

3705-556: The consumer market . Digital video is capable of higher quality and, eventually, a much lower cost than earlier analog technology. After the commercial introduction of the DVD in 1997 and later the Blu-ray Disc in 2006, sales of videotape and recording equipment plummeted. Advances in computer technology allow even inexpensive personal computers and smartphones to capture, store, edit, and transmit digital video, further reducing

3800-421: The "actual and reasonable costs" of providing the relay. Locast was a free service, but periodically interrupted programming to solicit for donations until one was made. In September 2021, the service shut down after U.S District Court Judge Louis Stanton denied a request by Locast for a summary judgment in a similar lawsuit brought upon by the networks. Stanton described Locast's periodic interruptions as being

3895-556: The 2010s due to multiple factors. Some have cited higher costs due to deregulation of cable television and tied selling practices (which force subscribers to pay monthly for a large bundle of unwanted channels to receive a few desired programs). Over-the-top video on demand services, such as Netflix , have also appealed to changing viewing habits, such as the growth of mobile device usage for media consumption . The market trend of cord cutters has seen viewers cutting back or dropping their television subscriptions in favor of using

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3990-603: The Cable Act, enacted further policies for the regulation of cable systems. The act established standards for the operational standards and development of cable systems, and gave municipalities the authority to grant and renew cable system franchises based on compliance with them and stated plans for future development. It stated that cable systems should reflect the needs of local communities in order to provide "the widest possible diversity of information sources and services". It recommended that local and state authorities encourage

4085-614: The Canadian version of Lifetime was added to the service. StackTV added the Disney -branded Corus channels ( Disney Channel , Disney Junior , and Disney XD ) in December 2022. Channels currently offered through the service as of March 2023 include: Corus announced in June 2020 that the service had achieved 200,000 subscribers, with executives saying the service had become a "meaningful part of [the company's] portfolio". By June 2021,

4180-436: The FCC in the same way as traditional television providers. A key sticking point is the established standard in case law, that a television provider must control the entire infrastructure used to distribute their channels in order to be classified as a multichannel video programming distributor (which does not take into account the public internet). Sky Angel , a Christian over-the-top IPTV service which formerly operated as

4275-551: The FCC's items on circulation. In 2020, the FCC withdrew the requirement for television providers to specifically support CableCARD, citing changes in the industry and a lack of consumer interest. The FCC still mandates that MVPDs must still offer "separable security". The increasing prominence of linear IPTV services delivered entirely over the public internet (also referred to as an "over-the-top" television service , "linear online video provider" (OVD), or "virtual MVPD" ) has led to questions over whether they can be regulated by

4370-468: The Internet. Stereoscopic video for 3D film and other applications can be displayed using several different methods: Different layers of video transmission and storage each provide their own set of formats to choose from. For transmission, there is a physical connector and signal protocol (see List of video connectors ). A given physical link can carry certain display standards that specify

4465-493: The PAL and NTSC variants of the CCIR 601 digital video standard and the corresponding anamorphic widescreen formats. The 720 by 480 pixel raster uses thin pixels on a 4:3 aspect ratio display and fat pixels on a 16:9 display. The popularity of viewing video on mobile phones has led to the growth of vertical video . Mary Meeker , a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers , highlighted

4560-555: The U.S. government passed the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act , which requires that televisions and MVPD set-top boxes be accessible to those who are blind and visually impaired, including support for audio description . In 2016, the FCC, under chairman Tom Wheeler , voted 3-2 to authorize a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing that MVPDs be required to make their programming and other related data "be available to

4655-541: The United Kingdom, USCI also maintained its own in-house channels: these included two premium channels – USCI Movietime (focusing entirely on feature films) and USCI Showcase (which offered a mix of films and specials similar to the formats of HBO and Showtime) – USCI TV Time (which featured a mix of children's and cultural programs, classic television series and movies) and Video Music (a music video channel similar to MTV ). While cable could provide more channels at

4750-488: The United States. Comcast introduced a streaming television service as a lower-cost alternative to their main service, delivered through managed networks as part of their internet services. Similarly, Time Warner Cable trialled the use of Roku devices as a set-top box in 2015. In October 2015, TWC began to trial a service under which subscribers are given a Roku 3 digital media player to access their service via

4845-443: The approximately 80 million television-owning households in the U.S. subscribed to a multichannel television service. In the 1990s, digital multichannel services, such as direct-broadcast satellite and digital cable , experienced a surge in popularity due to their increased channel capacity. As of 2017, approximately 79% of U.S. TV households had a television subscription; the market share of multichannel television began to erode in

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4940-450: The building blocks of the blanking interval. Computer display standards specify a combination of aspect ratio, display size, display resolution, color depth, and refresh rate. A list of common resolutions is available. Early television was almost exclusively a live medium, with some programs recorded to film for historical purposes using Kinescope . The analog video tape recorder was commercially introduced in 1951. The following list

5035-420: The capability to serve 52 percent of people in the United States but after a year, USCI had only 11,000 customers. USCI's inability to get channels such as CNN , along with a monthly cost of at least $ 24.95, in addition to the $ 400 to $ 700 for the receiver needed to pick up a still-weak signal, kept the numbers low. Another problem was that HBO and other channels used C-band while USCI was Ku-band. USCI needed

5130-474: The combined number of subscribers to StackTV and Corus' other Amazon-based service, Nick+ , had increased to over 600,000 subscribers, similar to those of other streaming services. VMVPD Multichannel television in the United States has been available since at least 1948. The United States is served by multichannel television through cable television systems, direct-broadcast satellite providers, and various other wireline video providers; among

5225-438: The context of video compression, codec is a portmanteau of encoder and decoder , while a device that only compresses is typically called an encoder , and one that only decompresses is a decoder . The compressed data format usually conforms to a standard video coding format . The compression is typically lossy , meaning that the compressed video lacks some information present in the original video. A consequence of this

5320-417: The cost of video production and allowing programmers and broadcasters to move to tapeless production . The advent of digital broadcasting and the subsequent digital television transition are in the process of relegating analog video to the status of a legacy technology in most parts of the world. The development of high-resolution video cameras with improved dynamic range and color gamuts , along with

5415-684: The creators of competitive solutions using any published, transparent format that conforms to specifications set by an independent, open standards body." The cable industry opposed this proposal, due to the lack of control they would have on the user experience (citing the possibility that third-party developers could inject their own advertising into the interface, even though the proposal specified that there would be regulations against this). They instead proposed an industry commitment for television providers with more than 1 million subscribers to develop apps to access their services on major connected devices, using HTML5 standards. Public Knowledge questioned

5510-509: The display of an interlaced video signal from an analog, DVD, or satellite source on a progressive scan device such as an LCD television , digital video projector , or plasma panel. Deinterlacing cannot, however, produce video quality that is equivalent to true progressive scan source material. Aspect ratio describes the proportional relationship between the width and height of video screens and video picture elements. All popular video formats are rectangular , and this can be described by

5605-572: The end of 1996, up by about two million subscribers in a year. Cable television services had 65 million subscribers, but were already starting to see customers switch to satellite. Satellite television offered more channels than cable did at the time due to limited headend capacity, although broadcast networks were not allowed if their affiliates could be received with an antenna. DirecTV and USSB had 2.5 million subscribers, while PrimeStar, with 27-inch dishes that could be rented rather than purchased, had 1.6 million subscribers. Cable companies responded to

5700-548: The establishment of Public, educational, and government access networks. The act also prevented the FCC and states from regulating the cost of cable service if they had " effective competition " from a large number of unique broadcast services (however, all existing cable systems qualified under this criterion, which allowed them to raise their prices). In 1992, Congress passed the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act that

5795-543: The establishment of blanket licenses for streaming broadcast television stations over the internet, thus the Copyright Office ruled that this was outside of its scope. In 2019, a similar service emerged known as Locast . Unlike Aereo, it was run by a non-profit advocacy group rather than a commercial entity, and asserts itself as being a non-profit broadcast relay station (which are exempted under U.S. copyright law) that collected donations from users to cover

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5890-445: The fields one at a time, rather than dividing up a complete frame after it is captured, the frame rate for motion is effectively doubled as well, resulting in smoother, more lifelike reproduction of rapidly moving parts of the image when viewed on an interlaced CRT display. NTSC, PAL, and SECAM are interlaced formats. Abbreviated video resolution specifications often include an i to indicate interlacing. For example, PAL video format

5985-775: The first DBS service, with 50 customers paying $ 39.95 a month for five channels in the Indianapolis , Indiana area, was launched by United Satellite Communications Inc. (USCI), a joint venture of Prudential Insurance , General Instrument and investors that included Francesco Galesi. USCI did not wait for more powerful satellite technology, but instead used the Canadian Anik C2 . The company also signed an agreement with ESPN and made programming arrangements with distributors rather than existing cable channels. Similar to British Sky Broadcasting (and its predecessors Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting ) in

6080-414: The first practical video tape recorders (VTR). In 1951, the first VTR captured live images from television cameras by writing the camera's electrical signal onto magnetic videotape . Video recorders were sold for $ 50,000 in 1956, and videotapes cost US$ 300 per one-hour reel. However, prices gradually dropped over the years; in 1971, Sony began selling videocassette recorder (VCR) decks and tapes into

6175-466: The growth of vertical video viewing in her 2015 Internet Trends Report – growing from 5% of video viewing in 2010 to 29% in 2015. Vertical video ads like Snapchat 's are watched in their entirety nine times more frequently than landscape video ads. The color model uses the video color representation and maps encoded color values to visible colors reproduced by the system. There are several such representations in common use: typically, YIQ

6270-432: The horizontal scan lines of each complete frame are treated as if numbered consecutively and captured as two fields : an odd field (upper field) consisting of the odd-numbered lines and an even field (lower field) consisting of the even-numbered lines. Analog display devices reproduce each frame, effectively doubling the frame rate as far as perceptible overall flicker is concerned. When the image capture device acquires

6365-754: The introduction of high-dynamic-range digital intermediate data formats with improved color depth , has caused digital video technology to converge with film technology. Since 2013, the use of digital cameras in Hollywood has surpassed the use of film cameras. Frame rate , the number of still pictures per unit of time of video, ranges from six or eight frames per second ( frame/s ) for old mechanical cameras to 120 or more frames per second for new professional cameras. PAL standards (Europe, Asia, Australia, etc.) and SECAM (France, Russia, parts of Africa, etc.) specify 25 frame/s, while NTSC standards (United States, Canada, Japan, etc.) specify 29.97 frame/s. Film

6460-423: The largest television providers in the U.S. are YouTube TV , DirecTV , Altice USA , Charter Communications (through its Spectrum division, which also includes the former Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks systems), Comcast (through its Xfinity division), Dish Network , Verizon Communications (through its FiOS division), and Cox Communications . The Telecommunications Act of 1996 defines

6555-866: The launched of prominent services intended for distribution by cable systems, such as HBO and fledgling Atlanta -based superstation WTCG . By 1980, 15 million of the 75–80 million U.S. homes with at least one television set had a cable television subscription, and one prediction was for that number to double by 1985. By 1981, eleven communications satellites were in use, and the Federal Communications Commission planned 24 to be in use by 1985. Most cable channels wanted space on Satcom I, since cable companies had receiving dishes aiming in that direction. In November 1981, Satcom III-R replaced Satcom I, which changed to voice and data distribution. Some areas were too remote for cable or even any over-the-air reception, and other areas did not have

6650-421: The main channel alone), by far the highest of any non-premium American cable channel, comparable to the premium channels, and rising rapidly. ESPN and other regional sports networks , as well as retransmission consent negotiations by broadcast television outlets, have frequently been cited as contributing to the increasing cost of television subscriptions. Video Video is an electronic medium for

6745-403: The market ranged from $ 200 to $ 500 million, with $ 100 million required to put a satellite in orbit. Only Direct Broadcast Satellite Corp., United States Satellite Broadcasting and Dominion Satellite Network still had plans to go ahead, while RCA was looking at changes in its system. Even USCI, which used a Canadian satellite that did not require FCC approval to use, was in trouble. The company had

6840-618: The marketability of their services in San Diego , by not allowing them to carry the Cox-owned 4SD —the local rightsholder of San Diego Padres baseball. Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 , the FCC was instructed to develop a means for television providers to offer a standalone conditional access module for digital cable services, in order to allow third-party devices to access the services as an alternative to

6935-407: The mid-2010s due to the increasing popularity of subscription-based online video services, the increasing costs of these services due to the carriage fees demanded by major channels, as well as consumers intentionally dropping traditional television service in favor of alternatives such as subscription video on demand (SVOD) services, and linear television services that are delivered entirely over

7030-639: The number of distinct points at which the color changes. Video quality can be measured with formal metrics like peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) or through subjective video quality assessment using expert observation. Many subjective video quality methods are described in the ITU-T recommendation BT.500 . One of the standardized methods is the Double Stimulus Impairment Scale (DSIS). In DSIS, each expert views an unimpaired reference video, followed by an impaired version of

7125-478: The program access rules and other relevant laws, but the Media Bureau did open a discussion on whether an OVD could qualify as an MVPD. Members of the cable industry supported this historic interpretation of the law, while it was also argued that classifying streaming services as MVPDs would increase regulatory burden and discourage innovation by digital services. Another prominent case was that of Aereo ;

7220-415: The program access rules by deliberately excluding satellites from their distribution path. This allowed them to restrict the carriage of these lucrative networks by competing providers, thus providing a selling point for their service. In 2010, the FCC removed this particular exception to the program access rules. The action was based on a complaint by AT&T that Cox Communications was unduly affecting

7315-499: The proposal, arguing that the provision of the apps and "whether consumers would need a broadband connection to access video programming instead of leveraging their existing pay TV connections" were unclear, and that it "does not allow for many features that consumers want, such as home recording, and it does not allow for true user interface competition." In January 2017, new Trump administration FCC commissioner Ajit Pai (who voted against it) removed Wheeler's set-top box proposal from

7410-748: The public internet, or never subscribing to such a service at all. By 2023, the number of households with a subscription was down to 47 percent, or 62 percent if streaming services were included. John Walson of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania was credited with having established the first cable television service in the U.S. in 1948. He created the service in order to improve the availability of television stations to those with poor reception due to tall mountains and buildings. The launch of communications satellites, such as Satcom I , enabled broadcasters to send out their programming nationally for hundreds of dollars per hour rather than costlier telephone lines and microwave relay systems. This development spurred

7505-470: The recording, copying , playback, broadcasting , and display of moving visual media . Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) systems, which, in turn, were replaced by flat-panel displays of several types. Video systems vary in display resolution , aspect ratio , refresh rate , color capabilities, and other qualities. Analog and digital variants exist and can be carried on

7600-460: The same boxes). The company closed in 2022, citing a lack of growth and "coordinated refusal" from the major networks to license content to the venture. In 1972, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established basic regulations for cable providers, including franchise and technical standards, and requiring them to register for a certificate of compliance before operation. The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 , otherwise known as

7695-436: The same video. The expert then rates the impaired video using a scale ranging from "impairments are imperceptible" to "impairments are very annoying." Uncompressed video delivers maximum quality, but at a very high data rate . A variety of methods are used to compress video streams, with the most effective ones using a group of pictures (GOP) to reduce spatial and temporal redundancy . Broadly speaking, spatial redundancy

7790-553: The service allowed users to rent an antenna from a centralized location, and stream feeds of local broadcast television channels received via the antenna. By doing so, Aereo argued that its service was a placeshifting solution that rented access to hardware, and thus did not require permission from broadcasters to retransmit their programming. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in American Broadcasting Cos. v. Aereo, Inc. that this violated copyright law, as

7885-502: The standard required for prohibiting rate regulation, requiring the provider to serve less than 30% of their franchise area, or two unaffiliated providers, serving at least 50% of the area, serve at least 15% of the market. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 amended Section 602 (13) of the Communications Act of 1934 to define a "Multichannel video programming distributor" (MVPD) as "a person such as, but not limited to,

7980-480: The streams still constituted an unauthorized public performance, and that despite claims to the contrary, its business model was substantially similar to that of a cable television provider (but the Court did not go as far as claiming Aereo was an MVPD). The company attempted to use this ruling in an effort to apply for a compulsory license from the U.S. Copyright Office instead. However, international treaties forbid

8075-564: The study said, were in the 18-44 group, in which 16 percent used a vMVPD. Only 6 percent of those over 45 used a vMVPD. The introduction of ATSC 3.0 broadcasting in the 2020s led to trials of vMVPDs carried via OTA signals; startup company Edge Networks began operating a multichannel service known as Evoca in markets such as Boise, Denver, and Portland, which utilized set-top boxes that aggregated internet-delivered channels with channels delivered via encrypted signals on ATSC 3.0 stations (including offers to bundle other services such as Sling TV on

8170-614: The success of satellite by adopting digital cable services that offered more channels, and required the use of digital set-top boxes. They also owned a share of PrimeStar, because offering cable in rural areas was deemed to be too expensive. In 1996, the FCC said local zoning laws could not prevent most smaller dishes. Another advancement in satellite TV came with the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 (SHVIA), which allowed local channels to be included in satellite TV packages. Previously, this

8265-400: The supplied TWC app, rather than a traditional set-top box. A TWC spokesperson emphasized that this offering would provide "the same TV and same packages delivered to the home today", but delivered over TWC-managed internet rather than a cable line. With the mass proliferation of over-the-top subscription services intending to compete with legacy players, analysts have argued that the market

8360-449: The time, was expected to be ready by the 1990s. Later, the company changed its target date to 1986. By 1983, the FCC had authorized several other companies to offer DBS service. These included CBS , RCA and Western Union , as well as Rupert Murdoch -led Skyband. Unlike the larger television receive-only dishes, DBS used higher-powered satellites with smaller, more affordable dishes that were two to three feet wide. On November 16, 1983,

8455-589: The tru2way solution will assure the development of a commercial retail market as directed by Congress." Despite support by major firms such as Sony and Google (the latter having recently launched a digital media player platform known as Google TV ), AllVid was widely-opposed by the multichannel industry, as well as the Motion Picture Association of America (who argued that copyright infringing media sources could be presented alongside legitimate options in search interfaces). Also in 2010,

8550-549: Was colluding against Sky Angel to protect their business, and pointed out that C-SPAN already streamed its programming online for free. The suits were dismissed for presenting insufficient evidence of antitrust violations. In 2010, Discovery Communications also pulled its networks from Sky Angel, prompting the provider to file a formal complaint under the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act. Sky Angel argued that Discovery

8645-588: Was designed to promote competition and consumer protection in the cable television industry. The act mandated that cable providers carry all local full-power or otherwise qualified broadcast television stations on their service. However, commercial stations have the option to opt-out of must-carry, and require financial compensation for their carriage instead. It also required cable networks operated by cable companies to offer their carriage to competing satellite providers at reasonable rates if they used satellites as part of their distribution path. The act also narrowed

8740-406: Was discriminating against its service, because it had allowed other providers to stream its programming online through other manners (such as TV Everywhere services). The FCC denied the complaint, but its Media Bureau acknowledged that OVDs did not formally fall under the definition of an MVPD because they did not control a physical transmission path. Sky Angel was thus ineligible for protections under

8835-465: Was only possible if an area had no local broadcast network affiliates. A January 8, 2001 report commissioned by the FCC stated that in the year ending June 2000, the number of satellite subscribers had increased from 10.1 million to 13 million people, an increase three times that of cable. Satellite represented 15.4 percent of those paying for television service, while the percentage of those who had cable dropped from 82% to 80%. Cable charges increased at

8930-407: Was originally exclusively live technology. Live video cameras used an electron beam, which would scan a photoconductive plate with the desired image and produce a voltage signal proportional to the brightness in each part of the image. The signal could then be sent to televisions, where another beam would receive and display the image. Charles Ginsburg led an Ampex research team to develop one of

9025-663: Was unclear who if anyone would provide the service. In October 1984, the U.S. Congress passed the Cable Communications Act of 1984 , which gave those using dishes the right to see signals for free unless they were scrambled, and required those who did scramble to make their signals available for a fee. Since cable channels could prevent reception by big dishes, other companies had an incentive to offer competition. Dominion planned inspirational programming, USSB intended to sell dishes with three channels of free programming, and Direct Broadcast Satellite Corp. would be

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