Ever since the first broadcast television signals were retransmitted via wire from well-placed master antennas to the residents of Astoria, Oregon, and Lansford, Pennsylvania, in early 1949, cable television has been tied to the history of telegraphy and telephony in the United States. The primary undisputed function of cable television from its infancy has been to deliver a viewable television picture to subscribers in areas which are geographically or economically (from the broadcaster's perspective) isolated from the reception of normal broadcast television transmissions.
As technology improves, cable television is assuming functions which have long since taken it from the realm of simply delivering a handful of relatively local TV stations to providing two-way, interactive services including access to the Internet and more. Once misunderstood simply as "pay TV," the copper wire and/or fiberoptic cable infrastructure now passes about 95 percent of all U.S. households (the remaining five percent continue to be located in the most rural, most expensive to reach areas), wireless cable systems serve many major markets, and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) services offer as many as 150 channel choices to consumers (Crandall, 1996, p. 27). Although cable penetration has yet to exceed the 70 percent mark (Mandese, 1994, p. S-2), subscriber growth remains steady at 3.5-4 percent annually (Oneal, 1995, p. 75), and as the carnival barkers used to exclaim, "Folks, you ain't seen nothin' yet!"
Virtually all communication services in the U.S. have been regulated since their inception by a complex and often conflicting web of state and federal legislation and authorities. The federal Communications Act of 1934 was the original, unifying effort of the "New Deal" administration of Franklin Roosevelt to prevent any one company (AT&T) from controlling the cost and availability of telephone service or a few radio networks (dominated by N...