John Walson was one of the inventors of cable television.
During the late 1940's, there were only a few television stations, located
mostly in larger cities like Philadelphia. People who didn't live in a
city, or in a location where signals could be received easily, were unable
to see television. John Walson, an appliance store owner in Mahanoy City,
had difficulty selling television sets to local residents because reception
in the area was so poor. The problem seemed to be the location of the town
in a valley and nearly 90 air miles from the Philadelphia television transmitters.
Naturally, the signals could not pass through the mountain, and clear reception
was virtually impossible, except on the ridges outside of town.
To solve his problem, Mr. Walson put an antenna on top
of a large utility pole and installed it on the top of a nearby mountain.
Television signals were received, and transported over a wire to his store.
Once people saw these early results, television sales soared. It became
his responsibility to improve the picture quality by using coaxial cable
and self-manufactured "boosters" (amplifiers) to bring CATV to the homes
of customers who bought television sets. And so, cable television was born
in June 1948.
Further developments by Milton Shapp (later a governor
of Pennsylvania) and Bob Tarlton improved cable television. Finally, in
November 1972, Pay TV was born when HBO was first broadcast over the CATV
system in Wilkes-Barre. This set the stage for cable television as we know
it today.
This text paraphrased from History
of Cable TV