CATV also termed as Cable TV is one of the most popular service in Europe, Australia, America and Asia. CATV means spreading TV channels, FM radio, Data Services and telephony over a single wire which was not possible other wise.
In case of CATV, channels are divided into different frequencies and modulated over a single cable thus enabling the cable operator to propagate and distribute many channels on a fiber optic or coaxial cable direct to home.
With CATV, many channel frequencies and multiplexed and modulated on a single cable medium with higher bandwidth and distributed with the help of broadband broadcasters or amplifiers for user convenience.
With the help of CATV, it is now possible to extend the services of TV channels beyond that of air propagation through regular TV services. The frequency and bandwidth of Through Air channels does not correspond to that of cable channels.
CATV offers a clearer and cheaper alternative to Satellite TV channels which need coding and encoding and other regular air propagated TV channels. With the help of CATV, it is now possible to embed and integrate different services into one single channel and distributed over a large population.
Cable TV allows data services on the same medium as well. Due to high medium bandwidth, certain frequencies can be allotted to internet and data services.
This allows for high speed internet to be provided on the same cable, allowing users a great level of flexibility and comfort. With CATV, it is also now possible to provide telephony services on the same medium. In most areas, cable operators have a monopoly.
This is due to the high installation and maintenances cost of cables in the streets and on the roads. In most of the cases, CATV is a mixture of Fiber Optical cable and co axial cable.
Coaxial cable is provided in the local loop while till the Main Street, fiber optic cable is used which increases the reliability and stability of this medium by many bounds.
It is also worth noting that CATV is only popular in densely populated areas and not in sparsely habituated areas because of the high costs of cable being installed over long distances. In those area Direct to home DISH TV or Satellite Channel Service is popular.
In CATV, there are two categories, one is analogue v and the other is digital CATV with digital service having more features like IP Telephony, On Demand movie and other such features.