cable-television
UK[ˈkeɪbəl ˈtɛlɪvɪʒən]US[ˈkeɪbəl ˈtɛləvɪʒən]
n
A system of broadcasting television programs to subscribers by means of coaxial or fiber-optic cables.
Morpheme Breakdown
cable
tele
vision
cable
cord
tele
far
vision
sight
Etymology
The term is a modern compound, precisely describing the technology's core components. 'Cable' specifies the wired infrastructure, contrasting with wireless broadcast television. The element 'television' itself is an earlier 20th-century compound from Greek tēle- (far) and Latin visio (sight), literally meaning 'seeing at a distance'. Therefore, 'cable-television' logically extends to mean 'distant-seeing delivered via cable', evolving from the separate concepts of mechanical rope, Greek adverbs of distance, and the Latin act of seeing to define a specific method of content distribution.
Analysis
Structure: cable (cord) + tele (far) + vision (sight)
- cable: From Late Latin capulum (lasso, rope), via Old North French. In this compound, it denotes the physical medium of transmission.
- tele: From Greek tēle- (far off, at a distance). A combining form indicating operation over a long distance.
- vision: From Latin visio (act of seeing, thing seen), from the verb vidēre (to see). In this compound, it refers to the broadcast of visual images.
Examples
The rise of cable-television in the 1980s dramatically increased the number of channels available to viewers.
Many sports events are now exclusively broadcast on cable-television networks.
Streaming services are increasingly competing with traditional cable-television subscriptions.