Cable TV has been around since the 1950s in a lot of areas before internet services came into existence. However, some cable systems later thought of modifying their system for providing internet and TV for added profit, in the situations where the internet was readily being used by inhabitants. These two systems are employing identical distribution networks, still at contrasting frequencies, to avoid any interruption between both.
For use in the cable system, the signal is digital or digitized just when the services reach the head-end. A tiny number of cable operators are up till now employing an analog signal. The signal can be transferred digitally when it is within the head-end. Xfinity One STB or Mediacom STB famous for mediacom cable packages older guide or ODN STB’s will continue to get an RF (radio frequency) signal conveyed by the head-end. Nevertheless, at a certain moment, 99% of American Cable TV signals have been on the internet or collected on the internet in order to get it recovered afterward.
Another common example, we see standalone services offered by all the telecommunication providers, so that shows the fact that both services are not dependent on one another. But maybe it has something to do with some technicalities at the backend. Let’s find out whether cable TV services depend on the internet connection or services to work properly or not, let’s find out and comprehend how things work in the further read:
Are cable services transferred through airwaves?
By no means, the CATV signals aren’t transferred by airwaves, but a coaxial cable is put to use for doing the job. For having access to adequate local reception in areas where TV signals weren’t satisfactory, Cable TV systems were introduced. Till the later 1970s and start of the 1980s, the majority of cable-only channels did not begin their broadcast. A major part of cable was analog similar to over-air broadcasting till the time TV signals shifted to being digital. The coax cable being used by industry carries adequate bandwidth to transmit video and data signals both, dodging the interference of signals with each other.
But this is possible only to the extent of receiving the digital signal to the head-end receiver. The signals progress through RF (radio frequency) for fewer subscribers with each passing year. If you observe, you will come to know that the cable company isn’t getting your local cable service or premium channels anymore, using only analog sources or OTA (Over the Air).
How are the services being transferred and from where?
A large number of cable services are taking the services of Denver, CO, or nearby (Boulder/Cheyenne, WY/Englewood Parker). It is being transmitted via direct fiber feed satellite, internet, Over the Air signal. Given that a source stops working, a cable company normally puts a huge number of sources for their backups. You won’t actually be having any idea that the company is doing the right thing or not, and you just could get a satellite signal through a fiber feed and then an internet feed.
The larger part of cable companies receive their cable TV services by a fiber feed coming from the provider and several utilize a cloud storage solution (VOD and recorded content) that is subject to the internet service for getting to the head-end. The smaller cable companies opt to rent the source and the other added services from the bigger cable companies, hence this applies to all three-basic, smaller and larger established cable TV companies.
Final Thoughts
In the aforementioned discussion, we have highlighted how cable and internetwork to help you understand whether cable services are dependent on the internet for working or not. In simple words, when we talk about the airwaves satellite, the services are received through a network in the air, whether you are getting phone services, TV, or internet. However, when it comes to cable services that deliver internet and TV services and digital phone the cable system is built and transferred through an underground network of wires connecting the users to the server. In both scenarios, which are commonly used modes of getting internet and TV services, the answer to the question in the title is: No!
