Subscription television

In the United States, a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) is a service provider that delivers video programming services over more than one channel, usually for a subscription fee. These operators include direct-broadcast satellite providers, cable television systems, and various other wireline video providers (including Verizon FiOS as well as AT&T U-verse), and competitive local exchange carriers using . The corresponding term used by Canadian regulators is broadcast distribution undertaking (BDU).

Section 602 (13) of The Communications Act of 1934 (as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996) defines an MVPD as

a person such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service, a direct broadcast satellite service, or a television receive-only satellite program distributor, who makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming.

Prior to 1975, cable television served one purpose: to provide television signals to rural areas that were too far away from broadcast stations for a signal to be received. RCA then launched Satcom I, the first of several satellites allowing new services such as HBO and fledgling Atlanta-based superstation WTCG to send out their programming for hundreds of dollars per hour rather than the $3,000 per hour required to use telephone lines to transmit the services. Satellites were also cheaper than microwave relay systems.

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