Digital cable

Digital cable is any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression for distribution. The technology was originally developed by General Instrument before being acquired by Motorola and subsequently acquired by ARRIS Group. Cable companies converted to digital systems during the 2000s, around the time that television signals were converted to the digital HDTV format, which was not compatible with earlier analog cable systems. In addition to providing higher resolution HD video, digital cable systems provide expanded services such as pay-per-view programming, cable internet access and cable telephone services. Most digital cable signals are encrypted, which reduced the high incidence of cable theft which occurred in analog systems.

History

In 1990, General Instrument (now owned by ARRIS Group) demonstrated that it was possible to use digital compression to deliver high quality HDTV in a standard 6-MHz television channel. Using the same technology General Instrument (GI) demonstrated the digital transmission of multiple high quality standard definition programs in a 6 MHz cable channel.