Watch Cable TV Online
Cable TV was introduced in the US in the 1950’s. And has since been a permanent fixture in American homes. Figures estimate that at least 70% of US homes have a cable subscription. This allows these households access to local channels, pay per view movies and events and of course cable channels.
In its early years cable was a far cry from the current system that’s in place today. It was a series of strategically placed antennas with extended cables going all the way to subscribers’ homes. Since the signal became weaker as it traveled through the cable, amplifiers had to be inserted at specific points in the transmission line to prevent signal degradation. So the basic cable framework then would consist of the broadcasting antenna, cable, amplifier and finally the television set. This was in the 1950’s.
This system has evolved so much that it has now taken over a new platform. Cable has now migrated to the Internet, thereby giving us Online Cable TV.
It is a composite of standard Cable TV and the World Wide Web, but this time the medium of broadcast is a broadband enabled phone line instead of the coaxial cable. It has also done away with the cable amplifiers of the 1950’s, since the broadband signal traveling through the phone cable carrying the date does not require much amplification.
There are numerous entertainment options available on the Internet for Online cable TV that choosing one over the other becomes a very daunting task. All you have to do is ‘Google’ the words cable Internet TV, to see what I mean. With the abundance of options available, it’s very easy to get lost in the mix.
For Cable Internet TV, a dedicated website receives the cable transmission from the broadcasting center and then uploads the data to a web server. Anyone who accesses the website will be able to watch any cable video content coming from the broadcast center going to the web server.
With advances in computing and Internet technology, watching your favorite TV shows, or movies anywhere in the world where there is an available PC with an Internet connection is now a reality.
Aside from watching cable TV online via a cable broadcasting website, there are other methods by which you can view cable on your PC.
Cable TV is streamed to a PC in 3 ways:
Online Cable broadcast
This is Cable Internet TV in its standard form. As mentioned earlier, the cable content is sent to a web server and is made available online. This method requires no additional hardware to be purchased, although this will requires a mid to fast broadband Internet connection due to the size of the video being streamed.
Using a TV Tuner
One is by attaching a coaxial cable to the PC’s TV tuner card and use the monitor to view your favorite cable programs via your PC. This method does not require an Internet connection since the broadcast is sent directly through the coaxial cable. This method is no different than setting up your home TV for cable.
‘Slingbox’
And the last alternative, which is fairly recent invention, is by using a separate device called a ‘Slingbox’. This device is able to broadcast the signal to any video output device, like your PC for instance, once the ‘Slingbox’ is attached to your home TV with the cable connection.
Your home TV will be able to send the signal via the ‘Slingbox’ to your PC. Which will make any show or program that is accessible to your home TV, available to any device that you want the ‘Slingbox’ to connect with.
It is even possible to send the signal to a notebook PC or mobile phone through the World Wide Web, provided that these devices can handle the transmission load and the video being sent.
And depending on the video software installed on your PC, it may also be possible to view multiple channels on your monitor, but again, this requires a more than sufficient broadband connection to handle such a tremendously high load.
Although there maybe some free Cable programs online, if you want premium content then there are available sites that charge a fee to allow access to a selected lists of movies and TV programs.