# Cable Television **Cable television** delivers channels by coaxial (later fiber) cable instead of over the air. It began in 1948 as community-antenna systems in Pennsylvania and Oregon carrying broadcast signals into mountain valleys. Satellite distribution made national cable networks possible after HBO went nationwide by satellite in 1975, followed by [[Ted Turner]]'s superstation and, in 1980, [[CNN]]. Cable's build-out was a 1980s story (about 16 million U.S. homes in 1980, about 50 million in 1990, about 60% of households in 1992). Subscriptions peaked around 2000 at about 68.5 million. By ending spectrum scarcity, cable removed the legal rationale for the [[Fairness Doctrine]], repealed in 1987. The partisan cable-news era it enabled ([[Fox News]] and [[MSNBC]], both 1996) is now in decline as viewers move to streaming. > [!note] Stub > Minimum-viable page created to support the [[Media Timeline]]. Expand with the technology's development, its owners, and its political uses. ## See also - [[Media Timeline]] - [[Television]] - [[CNN]] - [[Fox News]] - [[Media Consolidation]]