<P> Encrypting was introduced to prevent people from receiving pay content for free, and nearly every pay channel was encrypted by the mid-to - late 1980s (this did not happen without protest, such as an incident in which a Florida satellite dealer intercepted the signal of HBO during a film telecast in 1986 to transmit a text - based message over color bars objecting to the network's decision to encrypt its feed). Satellite television also began a digital transition, well before over-the - air broadcasting did the same, to increase satellite capacity and / or reduce the size of the receiving antennas; this also made it more difficult for individuals to intercept these signals . Eventually, the industry began to cater to individuals who wanted to continue to receive satellite television (and were willing to pay for it) in two ways: by authorizing the descrambling of the original satellite feeds to the cable television operators, and with new direct broadcast satellite television services using their own satellites . These latter services, which began operating in the mid-1990s, offer programming similar to cable television . </P> <P> DirecTV and Dish Network are the major DBS providers in the country, with 20 and 14 million customers respectively as of February 2014 . Meanwhile, the major cable television providers are Comcast with 22 million customers, Time Warner Cable with 11 million, and Cox Communications, Charter Communications, AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS with five to six million each . </P> <P> Although most networks make viewers pay a fee to receive their programming, some networks broadcast using unencrypted feeds . After broadcast television switched to a digital infrastructure, new channels became available on unencrypted satellites to bring more free television to Americans; some of these are available as a digital subchannel to local broadcasters, this reason may be for the expensive costs of the DVB - S equipment . NASA TV, Pentagon Channel, Antenna TV, This TV, TheCoolTV and the Retro Television Network (through its affiliates) are examples, international news channels like NHK World, France 24, i24news and Al Jazeera English until the launch of Al Jazeera America are commonly watched this way as a result to the lack of availability on cable, DBS and IPTV . </P> <P> Some cable providers use interactive features built into set - top boxes leased to their subscribers to distribute video on demand services within their internal networks . Many providers of subscription television services--both networks and system operators--also have TV Everywhere services, which usually mix the video on demand model with live streaming capabilities (allowing viewers to watch broadcasts from over-the - air networks and stations, and cable channels in near real - time), but require password and username authentication through participating pay television providers . </P>

Where did much of television's early programming in the late 1940s come from