In 1977 , Taylor Howard, a professor at Stanford University, who worked with satellite technology, may have been the first to build a satellite dish to receive HBO programming at his home. This maeked the beginning of TVRO satellites. The technology has limitations, though. First, it used the low-power C-band(3.7 GHz to 4.2 GHz)frequencies, Which meant the dishes were large and unattractive. Some communities even banned the dishes because of their appearance. to operate. Finally,programming networks began to scramble their signals so TVRO users had to purchase decoding boxes and pay to unscramble the signals (Museum of Broadcast Communication, n.d.).
The Growth Years
Deregulation continued into the 1980s, allowing cable systems to accelerate their growth. The Cable Communications Act of 1984 amended the Communications Act of 1934 with regulations specific to cable. The most important change made by this act was that it removed the rights of a local franchising authority to regulate cable TV rates unless the area was serverd by fewer than three broadcast signals. when a cable company operates in a community, it has to have a franchising agreement with the community. This agreement covers issues such as public access requirements, subscriber service and renewal standards, and a franchise fee; it is negotiated between the franchising agency and the cable company.With the passage of the 1984 Act, cable companies were allowed to increase rates without government approval, and rates grew and graw. At the same time, deregulation and rising rates allowed cable companies to raise capital to expand their services and upgrade their technology. However, cable customers found their cablerates rising sinificantly, with the average rate more than doubling form 1984 to 1992 as service standards dropped.