Cable television, formerly known as Community Antenna Television (CATV), was born in Pennsylvania’s mountains in 1948 by John and Margaret Walson, near Mahony City, PA.
The Walson’s had an appliance store and began selling television sets in 1947. Local residents had problems receiving network stations with standard antennas, so the Walson’s connected a mountain antenna to their appliance store via a cable and modified signal boosters enabling them to demonstrate televisions.
In June of 1948, Walson connected the mountain antenna to several of his customers’ homes, located along the cable path, starting the nation’s first CATV system.
The rest is cable television history.
