CABLE TELEVISION GLOSSARY

Access Channels - Channels set aside by a cable operator for use by third parties, including the public, educational institutions, local governments, and commercial interests unaffiliated with the operator.

Basic Cable - Primary level or levels of cable service offered for subscription.  Basic cable offerings may include retransmitted broadcast signals as well as local and access programming.  In addition, regional and national cable network programming may be provided.  Basic service offerings at the system level may be offered as more than one tier.

Box - Electronic equipment used to process television signals in a consumer's home, usually housed in a "box" that sits atop a TV set or VCR.

Cable Modem - A communication device connected to a personal computer which offers customers access to the Internet over a cable system at speeds 50-100 times faster than a telephone connection.

Cable Ready - Label for consumer electronic devices, such as television sets and VCR's, that are designed to allow direct connection to a cable television network.

Cable System - A localized communications network that distributes television, Internet, and telephone services by means of coaxial cables and/or fiber optics.

Channel Capacity - Maximum number of television channels that a cable system can carry simultaneously.

Converter - Device which increases the number of channels that a TV set can receive by converting the large number of signals carried on a cable or satellite system to a single channel tuned by the TV set, e.g., channel 3 or 4.

Descrambler - Electronic circuit that restores a scrambled video signal  to its original form.  Television signals, especially those transmitted by satellite, are often scrambled to protect against theft and other unauthorized use.

Digital - An intelligence-carrying signal consisting of a stream of bits of zeros and ones for sound, video, computer data or other information.

Digital Cable - Cable services, programming, and equipment that use digital, not analog, formats.

Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) - A TV broadcast service from a small satellite dish antenna that offers similar services, like that of cable TV, and which transmits highly compressed digital signals.

Dish - A parabolic antenna used to receive satellite transmissions at home.  The older "C band" dishes measure 7-12 feet in diameter, while the newer "Ku band" dishes used to receive high-powered DBS services can be as small as 18 inches in diameter.

Drop Cable - The final stretch of coaxial cable that connects a customer's home to the cable system.

Digital TV - Television signals transmitted and received in digital format.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - Established by the Communications Act of 1934, the FCC is the federal agency in charge of overseeing interstate telecommunications, as well as all the communications services originating and terminating in the United States.

Feeder Line - Intermediate distribution line (fiber or coaxial cable) that connects a trunk from the headend to the drop cables serving individual homes.

High Definition Television (HDTV) - Digital television which offers twice the resolution, wider screens, better sound, and better color than the standard format.

Multiple System Operator - A major cable TV organization that has franchises in multiple locations.

Must Carry - A policy, developed by the FCC in the 1960's and codified by Congress in 1992, requiring cable systems to carry the analog signal of a local television station if that broadcaster so chooses.

Pay-Per-View - Pay service that enables a subscriber to order and view events or movies on an individual basis.

Scrambling - An electronic security technique used to render a TV signal unviewable unless it is processed and restored by an authorized decoder or descrambler.