Cable Product FAQs: Q: How does Cable Television Work?
Most of the programming, including networks such as ESPN, MTV and CNN, come to Time Warner Cable from communications satellites. Programming originates at its network source, and is encoded and transmitted to a satellite that is designed to receive and transmit broadcast signals. The programming signal is amplified and retransmitted to our receivers, then sent to you through our cable network. “Off air” programming is the programming you can receive with an ordinary antenna: network television, like NBC and Fox, local affiliate broadcasts, and PBS. We receive these signals, amplify them, and send them to your TV through our “head-end” or distribution center. From the head-end, channel signals are transmitted to your neighborhood via cable or microwave signal, or some combination of both — depending on which is most efficient. Coaxial cable, the cable that runs into most homes, is designed to carry signals over long distances, and branches off from a main “trunk” cable into “feeder” ca
