Historical review
En febrero de 1949, en la ciudad estadounidense de Astoria "Astoria (Oregón)") (Oregón), el ingeniero Leroy "Ed" Parsons montó una pequeña red que se puede considerar precursora de la televisión por cable.[2] Estaba constituida por un sistema de antenas, amplificadores y mezcladores de señal. Esta señal combinada era distribuida mediante cable a sus vecinos, que de esta forma podían ver diversos programas sin necesidad de disponer de antenas y con un buen nivel de calidad. En mayo de 1968, Parsons fue reconocido como padre de la televisión por cable y se erigió un monumento en su honor en la hoy llamada "Columna de Astoria" (Astoria Column) en Coxcomb Hill.[2] Aunque algunos expertos teóricos en la comunicación se mostraron escépticos ante las posibilidades que veían limitadas.[3].
Los primeros operadores de cable en España se denominan operadores de cable histórico.[4].
Argentina
Cable television appeared in the 1960s in cities where the open television signal did not reach, being pioneers the closed circuits of Villa María (Córdoba), Río Cuarto "Canal 13 (Río Cuarto)") (Córdoba) and Junín (Buenos Aires) "Junín (Buenos Aires)"). Later, in the 1980s, it developed in large urban areas such as Buenos Aires. At this time, its great expansion began by incorporating segmented programming, thematic channels, and foreign channels via satellite, also allowing the direct arrival of capital TV to the provinces.
In the 1990s, the expansion of cable TV led the country to an unusual phenomenon in Latin America, reaching 53% of households in 1996.[5] Argentina is the fourth country in the world in terms of the number of cable TV subscribers, only surpassed by Canada, the United States and Denmark.[6].
In January 1995, the provider companies TeleRed, CVC&action=edit&redlink=1 "Cable Visión Comunicaciones (Argentina) (not yet drafted)"), Mi Cable&action=edit&redlink=1 "Mi Cable (Argentina) (not yet drafted)"), Cableplus"), TVD&action=edit&redlink=1 "Directed Television (Argentina) (not yet drafted)"), Multiseñal&action=edit&redlink=1 "Multiseñal (Argentina) (not yet drafted)"), Antina, Multicanal "Multicanal (Argentina)"), VCC, Cablevisión "Flow (Argentina)"), CMM&action=edit&redlink=1 "Consorcio Multipunto Multicanal (Argentina) (not yet drafted)"), Telecentro "Telecentro (Argentina)"), Supercanal, VCS Cable"), Nuevo Siglo Cable TV"), BAC"), TCC&action=edit&redlink=1 "TCC (Argentina) (not yet written)"), TV Cable Intercom and Metrópolis TV Cable") were consolidated as the main cable television operators in the 23 provinces each.
In 2013, pay television services in Argentina reached 93% of homes, affirming the trend of audience migration from open television to these platforms.[7][8].
Cable television in Santa Fe was born in the 1970s, when CATV was born in closed urban areas (Santa Fe, Rafaela and Las Rosas). In the 1980s it expanded to new cities such as San Cristóbal and Rosario. In the 1990s, San Fernando, Tostado and Reconquista joined. In the year 2000, new CATV owners, companies and operators followed nationwide.
These are the main CATV operators:
Bolivia
The first cable operator in Bolivia is TV Cable Visión "Multivisión (Bolivia)"), owned by Grupo El Sol (Diario El Sol).
Brazil
In Brazil, cable television was born in 1965 in Volta Redonda. In 1986 Supercanal&action=edit&redlink=1 "Supercanal (Brazil) (not yet written)") was born, in 1988 Band Cabo TV was born), in 1991 TVA was born), in 1992 NET&action=edit&redlink=1 "NET (cable television operator) (not yet written)") was born and in 1993 Manchete&action=edit&redlink=1 was born "Manchete (cable television operator) (not yet drafted)").
Chili
The first cable operator in Chile is TV Cable Intercom, owned by El Mercurio SAP, which was born in 1987 in a small area of the commune of Providencia "Providencia (Chile)") that later expanded especially to the eastern sector of Santiago. In 1991, Metrópolis TV por Cable was born, owned by the Argentine channel Telefe and then by Cristalerías Chile, which covered the south-east and west area of Santiago. At the same time, Cablexpress "VTR (company)") and VTR Cable "VTR (company)") were created, in addition to other cable operators in other regions of the country.
In 1995 the most important events occurred, TV Cable Intercom merged with Metrópolis TV por Cable and Metrópolis Intercom was born, VTR Cable and Cablexpress also merged creating VTR Cablexpress "VTR (company)") (later VTR), in addition to the purchases and acquisitions of cable operators in the regions by both aforementioned companies. At that time, in Chile, cable television was a duopoly of both cable operators, where they tried to offer the best and new to their customers. The first glimpse of digital cable was in 2001 when Metrópolis Intercom offered this service in the wealthiest sectors. In 2005 another important event occurred, the two large cable operators merged taking the name of VTR "VTR (company)"), being a monopoly in that country, until in 2008 Telmex TV por Cable was born after the success of Telmex TV Satelital in 2007 due to the purchase of ZAP, in 2010 it was renamed Claro TV.
Ecuador
In 1986, "TVCable" (now known as A year later in 1987, the commercialization of the service was made official.
Currently, in addition to offering cable television, it also offers satellite television.
Spain
In 1972, the then General Directorate of Radio Broadcasting and Television of Spain, and the then National Telephone Company of Spain, reached an agreement that regulated the collaboration of the telephone company in the plans to implement cable television in the country.[9] The agreement involved wiring first in Madrid and Barcelona, and later in other capitals where it was decided to implement the service. The networks would be made available to the General Directorate for a period of 10 years with possibilities of expansion. The initial phase covered an area of about 8 km² in Madrid and Barcelona (with plans to expand up to 32 km², practically the urban area of both cities at that time), and with a capacity of up to 9 channels (4 of them direct reception and the rest with converter). In 1976 the degree of advancement of the networks was very advanced but, due to political change, the first cable television networks in Spain would not appear until the early 1980s, especially in the modality known as community video, where in a building or group of buildings the signal from a video player was sent through the collective TV antenna system through which a "system administrator" showed movies in exchange for a television fee.
These pseudo-networks, especially due to conflicts over exhibition rights, evolved and at the end of the 1980s the first CATV networks emerged that already broadcast, along with the Spanish terrestrial television channels, various foreign channels, most of them from satellites, and even added some of their own production, especially of a local nature, to make them more attractive. These networks have been operating illegally, since there was no regulatory legal framework until the Law 42/1995 on Cable Telecommunications was enacted on December 22, 1995.[10].
General Telecommunications Law 32/2003 repealed Law 42/1995 almost in its entirety, establishing in turn a new contingent regulatory framework for cable television, public radio domain, information society services, etc. The General Telecommunications Law 9/2014 came to succeed and update the previous one, transposing the European directives Directive 2009/136/EC and Directive 2009/140/EC.[1] Most historical cable networks and large operators already offer triple play and quadruple play.[11].
Paraguay
Cable television or television for subscribers throughout the Republic of Paraguay appears on April 21, 1969 in Pedro Juan Caballero "Pedro Juan Caballero (Paraguay)"), and then expanded in the 1980s to both Asunción and Gran Asunción as well as the interior of the country and the Paraguayan Chaco. In the 80s it incorporated segmented programming, thematic channels and foreign satellite channels, also with the direct arrival of Capitalina TV to the departments. Today there are companies like Flow&action=edit&redlink=1 "Flow (Paraguay) (not yet written)"), Mi Cable"), CablePar"), TCC&action=edit&redlink=1 "TCC (Paraguay) (not yet written)"), Nuevo Siglo TV"), Telecable&action=edit&redlink=1 "Telecable (Paraguay) (not yet written)"), Multiseñal"), Asucable"), PCC"), Tigo Star, Movistar TV&action=edit&redlink=1 "Movistar TV (Paraguay) (not yet written)") Personal TV, Claro TV, TV Cable Paraná"), Norte Cable Visión"), Tacuatí Cable Visión"), Cable Visión Caacupé"), MiTv"), CTS Cable"), San Bernardino TV Cable Digital"), CablePlus"), SanBer Cable") and Kevin Cable").
Peru
Telecable "Telecable (Perú)"), owned by the Delgado Parker family's Tele 2000 company, was launched on the market in 1990 and became the first cable operator in the country in operation. Initially, it had only eight channels in its offer apart from the open television signals included in its programming. However, it increased its number of signs over time. This provider was only available in the most economically powerful districts of Lima.
In 1993, the Peruvian Telephone Company launched Cable Mágico, a cable operator also initially available only in more affluent districts. It also had few channels, until in 1994, the provider's parent company was privatized and auctioned to the Spanish transnational Telefónica. Since then, Cable Mágico quickly expanded throughout the metropolitan area of Lima. In addition, it began its expansion at the national level in 1996 with the start of operations in several important cities such as Arequipa, Trujillo "Trujillo (Peru)") and Cusco, where Telecable did not have a presence. By 1997, the Delgado family sold Tele 2000 to the American corporation BellSouth. In 2002, Telecable changed its name to Metrópolis, but its situation failed to improve.
Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Lima (also called cones) and in the rest of the country, several cable operators with local coverage emerged, such as Cable Perú"), Best Cable, Star GlobalCom") and Cable Express"), among others. An example is the subsidiary of the Colombian Virtecom, Megacable, which was established in the northern cone of Lima. In 2006, Metrópolis disappeared when the Delgado family sold the shares to Virtecom to expand Megacable to all of Lima and Callao. Subsequently, it was acquired in 2007 by the Mexican Telmex, which began its operations in Peru and created Telmex TV together with the acquisition of Cable Express. In 2008, Star GlobalCom (with presence in Arequipa and Tacna) was acquired by Telefónica del Perú.
In 2010, Telmex was absorbed by América Móvil Perú (Claro Perú) and, therefore, Telmex TV changed its name to Claro TV. At the beginning of 2011, Cable Mágico changed its name to Movistar TV.
Uruguay
Open TV and TV for subscribers in Uruguay: the first channel in the interior of the country was born on May 25, 1966, Canal 12 Río Uruguay TV by Fray Bentos. In the 80s it incorporated segmented programming, thematic channels and foreign satellite channels, also allowing the arrival of Capital TV to the departments. Today there are companies such as Cablevisión "Cablevisión (Uruguay")), Multiseñal"), Montecable"), TCC "TCC (Uruguay)"), Nuevo Siglo"), Telecable&action=edit&redlink=1 "Telecable (Uruguay) (not yet drafted)"), CablePlus") and Punta Cable").