WHEREAS, Walson worked to improve the picture quality by
using coaxial cable and self-manufactured boosters to bring CATV
to the homes of customers who bought television sets; and
WHEREAS, Milton Jerrold Shapp, who later was elected Governor
of Pennsylvania during the 1970s, developed a master antenna
television system to eliminate the forest of antennas for city
department stores and apartment buildings; and
WHEREAS, Shapp's system used coaxial cable and signal
boosters, capable of carrying multiple signals at once; and
WHEREAS, At about the same time in the nearby town of
Lansford, another appliance salesman named Robert Tarlton
developed the first commercial cable television system in the
United States; and
WHEREAS, Rural parts of Pennsylvania, which had only three
channels, one for each network, soon had more than double the
original number of channels as operators began to import
programs from independent stations in New York and Philadelphia;
and
WHEREAS, The wider variety of channels and clearer reception
the service offered soon attracted viewers from urban areas, and
by 1962, nearly 800 cable systems were operational, serving
850,000 subscribers; and
WHEREAS, Since 1996, Pennsylvania's cable industry has led
the development of broadband Internet service throughout this
Commonwealth, currently providing service to approximately 3
million customers; and
WHEREAS, Nationally, that investment of private capital by
cable companies exceeds $245 billion; and
WHEREAS, Throughout Pennsylvania, the cable industry
significantly contributes to charities, educational institutions
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