Then cable and satellite TV came along and were required to carry those broadcast channels too.
Cable television started out over a half century ago as a way to get better reception for broadcast channels.
It includes broadcast channels as well as 38 additional channels, but not ESPN.
Big media's problem is that it was built on scarcity: one newspaper in a city, three broadcast channels, ten radio stations.
The digital economy tier includes local broadcast channels, as well as popular cable channels, such as USA, Lifetime, but no ESPN.
At present, millions of sub-scribers to Time Warner Cable, Cox, and Bright House can log in to view Pac-12 Networks broadcast channels.
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So other than a government mandated service that only has a few broadcast channels and the local city council hearings, all cable packages include ESPN.
For the first time, Verizon's FiOS search on LG Smart TVs and Blu-ray players provide search results from a choice of 75 broadcast channels and Flex View content.
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The bottom line is that local broadcast channels are available in HD to any cable subscriber with a clear QAM tuner, whether you have a set-top-box or not.
Better still, YouView promises to launch multiple new internet channels (through providers BT and TalkTalk), adding to the 70 broadcast channels available on the box at the moment.
In New York City, there are currently 28 broadcast channels available over-the-air, including major networks such as WABC, WNBC, WCBS, WNYW-FOX, WPIX-11, WNET-PBS, and PBS Kids, special interest channels such as NYC.
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Cable-television operators must continue to carry the same broadcast channels that over-the-air viewers receive once those stations make their federally mandated conversion to digital signals in February, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.
"From television, mobile, computer and tablet companies, to broadcast channels and digital content providers, the global demand for a high quality, native 3D programming pipeline has quickly become one of the most vital elements within the 3D ecosystem, " said Cosgrove.
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While most people get their broadcast channels as part of a pay-TV package that usually includes cable channels, consumers with newer TVs, or an inexpensive converter for old TVs, can receive over-the-air signals from broadcast stations free in areas with good reception.
EchoStar Communications (nasdaq: DISH - news - people ) lost another court skirmish this week when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider EchoStar's appeal of a lower court ruling that it cannot beam local broadcast channels to a nationwide audience.
The coming switch from analogue to digital would liberate industries that had been constrained by the limit on the number of cable channels that can be bunged down a pipe, or the handful of broadcast channels that can fit into the airwaves allocated to television.
Both channels broadcast a mixture of live news bulletins and pre-recorded programmes.
The debate was broadcast live by several channels and ran over time to nearly three hours.
Since 2001, Pakistan has seen a boom in local radio channels which broadcast both local and international talent.
Commissioner Bud Selig said he was troubled by the small audiences for the first round of the playoffs, which are broadcast exclusively on cable channels TBS and TNT.
"Nothing has the pace or the urgency of playoff hockey, " said Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Sports, which will show games on its broadcast network and cable channels NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) and CNBC.
As even quite rudimentary cable can carry many more channels of television than can be broadcast over the air, America has long had far more television channels than other countries.
The events are usually filmed and broadcast on the French news channels.
The network, which will be constructed by subsidiary MediaFLO USA , will ultimately broadcast between 50 and 100 channels, including 15 live streaming stations.
So these comments have been broadcast constantly on Turkish news channels.
Another, called Kyte, created an addictive tool for anyone to produce and broadcast interactive video and photo channels to and from a PC or mobile phone.
Through ad sales, product placement, merchandise sales and licensing the content for broadcast on television and other channels, the cost can be earned back in a matter of weeks, Tudou said.
The ownership of broadcast licenses that come with those channels could also be brought into question.
Now, however, movies regularly appear on cable television channels before they are broadcast.
These various compressed formats then support the growing number of distribution channels from traditional cable, satellite, broadcast and digital cinema and increasingly are finding their way into various internet and cell phone network based distribution channels.
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