Cable's role in the development of HDTV systems

High definition television (HDTV) will be available within the USA by the early 1990's. At the same time, penetration of CATV has passed the 50% mark with no end in sight. All broadcast media including terrestrial broadcasters, cable operators, DBS and telco are formulating plans on how to best accommodate HDTV in their environments. Within the cable industry, the NCTA has focused on support of the FCC and ATSC in providing cable system testing. At American Television and Communications (ATC) and Home Box Office (HBO) efforts are being made to encourage the development of HDTV systems that are optimized for CATV carriage. A cable aware HDTV system must take into account existing practices within the cable industry including satellite delivery, interconnect systems, scrambling and security concepts, in addition to the basic coax system and its inherent signal transmission characteristics.>