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'Cable radio' or 'cable FM' is a complementary concept to that of cable television, bringing radio transmissions into homes and businesses via coaxial cable. It is generally used as cable TV was in its early days when it was "community antenna television", to enhance the quality of signals that are difficult to receive in an area. However, cable-only radio outlets also exist.
The use of cable radio varies from area to area — some cable TV systems don't include it at all, and others only have something approaching it on digital cable systems. Additionally, some stations may just transmit audio in the background while a cable access channel is operating in between periods of video programming. In the late 1970's to the mid to late 1980's, before the advent of MTS Stereo television broadcasts, cable TV subscribers would tune in specific cable FM frequencies that simulcast the television broadcasts in stereo.
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission previously required most cable companies to provide cable FM service; those that did were required to convert all local AM broadcast radio stations to cable FM signals. The commission now requires only that campus, community, native radio stations, and one CBC Radio station in each official language, be provided by local cable companies, either via cable FM or via digital means (i.e. set-top boxes).^[1][2] Rogers Communications, notably, has entirely abandoned traditional cable FM distribution, instead providing a number of terrestrial radio services as part of its digital cable audio package.
A related secondary meaning of the term is any automated music stream - the usual format of cable only "stations".

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See also

Footnotes

External links

See also

★ satellite radio

★ Music Choice

★ DMX Music

★ Galaxie

★ Max Trax

Footnotes

1. Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2006-119, 8 September 2006
2. Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2006-51, 19 April 2006; see para. 26 for discussion of analog/digital carriage issue

External links

★ Shaw Communications (Winnipeg) FM Channel Listings