front cover of Blue Skies
Blue Skies
A History of Cable Television
Patrick R. Parsons
Temple University Press, 2008
Cable television is arguably the dominant mass media technology in the U.S. today.  Blue Skies traces its history in detail, depicting the important events and people that shaped its development, from the precursors of cable TV in the 1920s and '30s to the first community antenna systems in the 1950s, and from the creation of the national satellite-distributed cable networks in the 1970s to the current incarnation of "info-structure" that dominates our lives.  Author Patrick Parsons also considers the ways that economics, public perception, public policy, entrepreneurial personalities, the social construction of the possibilities of cable, and simple chance all influenced the development of cable TV.

Since the 1960s, one of the pervasive visions of "cable" has been of a ubiquitous, flexible, interactive communications system capable of providing news, information, entertainment, diverse local programming, and even social services.  That set of utopian hopes became known as the "Blue Sky" vision of cable television, from which the book takes its title.

Thoroughly documented and carefully researched, yet lively, occasionally humorous, and consistently insightful, Blue Skies is the genealogy of our media society.
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front cover of Broadband Applications and the Digital Home
Broadband Applications and the Digital Home
John Turnbull
The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2003
This book explores some of the technological challenges in the application of digital communications technology in the home, including provision of fast, 'always on' internet connections. It looks at the ways consumers will use broadband access and what the key applications will be for provider and consumer. More broadly it aims to describe how communication to and within the home is evolving, and how people's lives are changing as they take advantage of the new technology and its applications.
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front cover of Broadband Communications and Home Networking
Broadband Communications and Home Networking
Scott R. Bullock
The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2001
This book provides the engineer and manager with a very good understanding of the processes needed to effectively perform the system design for broadband communication systems and home networking approaches. It is ideal for all engineers that design and analyze wireless, spread spectrum and basic broadband communication systems and are involved with the design of basic networking systems. It provides a good intuitive approach starting from basic telephony to satellite communications.
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