ISTV

Cable television originated in the 1940s as a service to households in mountainous or geographically remote areas in the states where reception of over-the-air television signals was poor. Common antennas were erected on mountaintops or other high points, and homes were wired and connected to these towers to receive the broadcast signals. Such a system having common antenna was name as community antenna television commonly known as CATV. In the late 1950s when cable operators in the states began to take advantage of their ability to pick up broadcast signals from hundreds of miles away, access to these distant signals changed the focus of cable’s role from one of transmitting local broadcast signals to one of providing new programming choices. In 1972, Charles Dolan and Gerald Levin of Sterling Manhattan Cable of US launched First Pay-TV Network, Home Box Office (HBO). This venture led to the creation of Satellite distribution system. Satellites changed the business dramatically, paving the way for the explosive growth of programme networks. The 1990s and beyond based on the alternative idea of targeting programming to a specific “Niche Audience” the number of cable programme networks exploded. In the US alone there were 139 cable programme services available nationwide, in adoption to many regional programming networks. As such spread worldwide India too caught up with the idea of blooming industry. 1989 was the beginning of cable programming network in India. In April 1991 Murdoch’s satellite television Asian region (STAR TV) had changed dramatically the cable Industry in India the way, what Manhattan Cable’s HBO did in the US. It was estimated that the connectivity in India at the end of 2007 crossed over 70 million, through total private capital investment only. A smaller state like Manipur in NE India considered as having a very poor infrastructure of communication and technology was not lagging behind in catching up this blooming technology. By the beginning of the 1990s, many small cable operators established their own networks in each and every leikais providing about 5 to 10 FTA (Free to Air) channels including a video channel slowly.