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MTV

MTV

MTV (abbreviation for Music Television) is a cable television network which was originally devoted to music videos, especially popular rock music. MTV later became an outlet for a variety of different material aimed at adolescents and young adults. The network was founded on August 1, 1981 as an operation of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, a joint venture of Warner Communications and American Express. In 1985, it was acquired by Viacom Inc., and was folded into MTV Networks, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary. MTV's combination of music videos, youthful video jockeys, irreverent commentary, promotion of special rock concerts, and news and documentaries about bands and performers established the network's popularity with youthful viewers, and it became a leading promoter of new rock music and rock musicians. MTV is often considered a driving force in pop culture.

History

MTV's roots can be traced back to 1977, when Warner-Amex Cable (a joint venture between Warner Communications and American Express) launched the first two-way interactive cable TV system, Qube, in Columbus, Ohio. The Qube system offered many specialized channels, including a children's channel called Pinwheel which would later become Nickelodeon. One of these specialized channels was Sight On Sound, a music channel that featured concert footage and music oriented TV programs; with the interactive Qube service, viewers could vote for their favorite songs and artists. The popularity of the channel prompted Warner Amex to market the channel nationally to other cable services. At midnight on August 1, 1981, the format was changed to music video (using a concept originally devised and sold to Warner Amex by Michael Nesmith, previously a member of the hit pop band The Monkees) and the name was changed to "MTV—Music Television". MTV started in New York City but was available in most of the United States by the mid-1980s with the nationwide expansion of cable. Appropriately, the first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles (with similar tongue-in-cheek humor, the first video shown on MTV Europe was "Money for Nothing," by Dire Straits, which starts (and finishes) with repetition of the line "I want my MTV," voiced by Sting; In MTV Latino, the first video shown was "We Are Southamerican Rockers" by the chilean band Los Prisioneros). The early format of the network was modeled after Top 40 radio. Fresh-faced young men and women were hired to host the show's programming, and to introduce videos that were being played. The term VJ (video jockey) was coined, a play on the term DJ (disc jockey.) Many VJs eventually became celebrities in their own right. The early music videos that made up the bulk of the network's programming in the '80s were often crude promotional or concert clips from whatever sources could be found; as the popularity of the network rose, and record companies recognized the potential of the medium as a tool to gain recognition and publicity, they began to create increasingly elaborate clips specifically for the network. Several noted film directors got their start creating music videos, including Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and David Fincher. A large number of rock stars of the 1980s and 1990s were made into household names by MTV. 1980s bands immediately identifiable with MTV include Eurythmics, Duran Duran and Bon Jovi. Michael Jackson launched the second wave of his career as an MTV staple. Madonna rose to fame on MTV in the 1980s, and to this day continues to use the network to promote her music. In 1984 the network produced its first MTV Video Music Awards show. Seen as a fit of self-indulgence by a fledgling network at the time, the "VMAs" developed into a music-industry showcase marketed as a hip antidote to the Grammy awards. In 1992, the network would add a movie award show with similar success. After MTV's programming shifted towards heavy metal and rap music, MTV Networks launched a second network, Video Hits 1 (VH1), in 1985. VH1 featured more popular music than MTV. Today, MTV Networks also owns Nickelodeon, a cable channel airing children's and family programming. Nickelodeon MTV started off showing music videos nearly full-time, but as time passed they introduced a variety of other shows, including animated cartoons such as Beavis and Butt-head and Daria; "reality" shows such as The Real World and Road Rules; prank/comedic shows such as The Tom Green Show, Jackass, and Punk'd; and soap operas such as Undressed. By the second half of the 1990s, MTV programming consisted primarily of non-music programming. In 2000, MTV's Fear became the first 'scary' reality show where contestants filmed themselves. The show ran for three seasons and spawned numerous imitations, including the currently running Fear Factor on NBC. In 2002, MTV aired the first episode of another reality show, The Osbournes, based on the everyday life of former, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, his wife Sharon, and two of their children, Jack and Kelly. The show went on to become one of the network's biggest ever success stories and kick-started a musical career for Kelly Osbourne, while Sharon Osbourne went on to host a talk show on U.S. television. In 2003, Newlyweds, another popular reality TV show that follows the lives of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, a music celebrity couple, began. It has run for three seasons. The success of Newlyweds was followed in June 2004 by The Ashlee Simpson Show, which documented the beginnings of the music career of Ashlee Simpson, Jessica Simpson's younger sister. In the fall of 2004, Ozzy Osbourne's reality show Battle for Ozzfest aired. In 2004, MTV's parent company Viacom bought Germany's largest provider for music television Viva Media AG, thereby creating the largest company for music on the European mainland. In November 2004, MTV announced it would begin airing in February 2005 MTV Base in Africa, [http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=musicNews&storyID=6814113] thereby reaching the world's last major populated area previously not served by MTV. See also: List of MTV Shows

Diversification

The advent of digital satellite and cable has also brought greater diversity including channels such as MTV2, which features the slogan "Where The Music's At." In the U.S., MTV2 focuses on playing music videos and other music-related programming; in Europe, MTV2 plays specific genres of music (mainly alternative and rock). Viacom, parent company of the MTV Networks, is also behind VH1, which is aimed at the older market segments with more focus on music from the 1970s and 1980s; and CMT, which targets the country music market. MTV recently broadcast a new Indian Pop Culture channel called MTV Desi and University-oriented channel mtvU. See also: List of MTV diversification

Criticism

In its early years, MTV was criticized as racist, since the acts it featured were nearly exclusively white. MTV executives countered by claiming that there were few—if any—promotional videos available from black and other minority acts, although artists such as Diana Ross and The Jacksons had been making music videos before MTV existed. Shortly thereafter, the network began heavily featuring videos from Michael Jackson's album Thriller, in particular "Billie Jean" and "Thriller", which became two of the all-time most popular videos on the network. Subsequently, MTV would delve heavily into black musical acts, developing several hip-hop music-themed programs such as Yo! MTV Raps, and a digital cable channel called MTV Jams. MTV is showing many more rap videos today. Because of its visibility as a promotional tool for the recording industry, MTV has been criticized as overly commercial and accused of denigrating the importance of music in the music industry (replacing it with a purely visual aesthetic); this is an ongoing problem for punk and emo bands (example; Green Day, a popular punk band, is made mainstream and the mainstream system is what punk rock rebels against; are they still punk?). As early as 1985, some musicians were criticizing MTV for these reasons, perhaps most famously Dead Kennedys with "MTV Get Off The Air." MTV UK has recently been under fire as it no longer airs any daytime music videos, outside of parts of a few shows like Total Request Live and Making The Video, and focuses primarily on MTV produced reality shows such as The Osbournes and Punk'd. Many argue, however, that as MTV runs nine music channels in the UK, it has delegated music videos to its genre channels in a bid to differentiate itself from the competition of the fourteen other music video-oriented channels. Videos are also often played between other shows and at night. The same criticism has also been made of MTV in the USA, with its dearth of music videos, and its stronger focus on reality shows such as Road Rules, The Real World, and others as well. The primary U.S. MTV channel does occasionally play music videos (albeit rarely) instead of exclusively relegating them to their genre channels. MTV UK has also been attacked for over-use of on-screen graphics, such as logos, programme promotion and countdown timers, and its electronica-themed genre channel MTV Dance is often derided for playing a lack of dance music during the day, preferring a mix of pop-dance, pop, and R&B. Ironically, the channel has also been criticized for lacking programming. Critics also claim that bands sell well because they get a lot of exposure on MTV, rather than MTV picking the best bands to promote; and that MTV has too much influence in the music industry. Although it could be argued that MTV is simply giving airtime to the most popular acts in a given country, the counter-argument could also be made that these acts get popular simply because of the exposure that MTV gives them. There have also been some critics who have said that MTV promotes bad behavior (mainly premarital sex, zoophilia, war propaganda and even recreational drug use) to the youth of America by embracing the behaviors of certain celebrities who are not good role models. It was also said by someone that 'MTV was porn for children!' (later in the evening and during the night, MTV tend to show slightly more adult-themed programming). MTV (and its sister channel, VH1, which also broadcast the event) drew heavy criticism for its coverage of Live 8, the multinational concert of musical artists which raised awareness for African debt relief. The broadcast of the music was limited, as the network cut to its on-air personalities, celebrity interviews, and commercials in the middle of live acts. The epitome of this was the widely reported decision to cut to commercial during Pink Floyd's performance in London, which was bassist Roger Waters' first performance with the rest of the band since 1981. MTV VJ's came onscreen to talk during the first guitar solo in "Comfortably Numb," then cut back for a few seconds before playing a commercial. [http://www.forbes.com/business/energy/feeds/ap/2005/07/02/ap2121757.html 1] Because of the criticism the channel received over this, both MTV and VH1 decided to show the whole 10-hour Live 8 concert again the following weekend, this time without any commercial breaks or VJ interruptions. The channel also faced criticism in the wake of the Super Bowl XXXVIII half time show - which it had produced. This infamous half time show featured the exposure of one of Janet Jackson's breasts, which was shown on live television. Afterwards the NFL indiciated that MTV would not produce any further Super Bowl halftime shows. MTV has also come under criticism for being far too politically correct and sensitive when it came to censorship. This was most prevalent in the eventual decline of the hit show Jackass. The creators of Jackass often felt that MTV's producers did not let the show run its free course due to the excessive restraints they put the Jackass team under. MTV has also heavilly edited a number of music videos, including "45" by Shinedown (It is renamed "Starring Down" & a good portion of the chorus is edited to eliminate gun references), "We Are All On Drugs" by Weezer (It is renamed "We Are All In Love" & lyrics are changed from "On Drugs" to "In Love", & "Hash Pipe" by Weezer (The word "Hash" is obscured).

Political influence

After so many shots to the network about the content of programmes, they started showing a plethora of political and economic shows. These shows include: "think MTV," which talks about current political issues such as gay marriage, the U.S. presidential election (last year they spent a large amount of time on the 2004 election), and war in other countries, among other topics. MTV aired a popular band's Sum 41 trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, documenting the conflict there. The group ended up being caught in the midst of an attack outside of the hotel and were subsequently flown out of the country. Other politically diverse programmes include "True Life," which documents people's lives and problems, and shows an epilogue of after the show was shot; MTV News Specials, which centers on very current events in both the music industry and the world; and a lot of other shows based on the current times. Last year it covered the 2004 US Presidential election, airing programs focused on the issues and opinions of young people, including a program where viewers could ask questions of Senator John Kerry on live TV.

Cartoons

MTV has a history of cartoons with mature themes, the most notable probably being Beavis and Butt-head, and its spin-off, Daria. Most of its other cartoons have lasted only for a single season, despite usually being original and creative. Some of the cartoons MTV has produced:
- Beavis and Butt-head
- Celebrity Deathmatch
- Clone High
- Daria
- Downtown
- Quads!
- Undergrads
- Cartoon Sushi
- Æon Flux
- The Maxx
- Spy Groove
- Liquid Television
- 3 South

Slogans


- "I want my MTV"
- "MTV... Proud as a Moon Man" (Weird Al Yankovic's spoof of NBC's 1979-1981 slogan Proud as a Peacock)
- "MTV Lives In Your Music"
- "Some People Just Don't Get It"
- "Watch and Learn"
- "M-m-m-m T-t-t-t V-v-v-v"
- "MTV News: You Hear it First"
- "MT-blah: Blah-blah Tele-blah"
- "I love my MTV"
- "The Number One Music Channel" (slogan used for MTV UK from 2000 to 2002 as the channel broadcasts on digital cable and digital satellite, the slogan was axed in 2003. The fact that since then MTV has played very little music may also add to why this slogan was dropped.)
- "I Like..." (MTV Asia)
- "Don't let Jerry Win. Best watch your MTV's"
- "Think"
- "Not on TV, on M-TV"
- "Best Watch Your MTVs"
- "Just See MTV"
- "MTV Enjoy"
- "Nongkrong di MTV" (Slogan in MTV Asia for MTV Indonesia before MTV Indonesia aired (1997-2001)
- "MTV Gue Banget"(MTV indonesia,2001-present)
- "MTV Ayos" (MTV Philippines)
- "Habla Tu MTV"
- "Doodle Doodle Dee. Wubba Wubba Wubba."
- "...Home of Weird-Ass Puppets and Screwed-Up Cartoons."
- "...We Give Squares Something To Bitch About."

Cultural references to MTV

The declining popularity of MTV was featured in the opening credits of an episode of Season 9 of The Simpsons, where Bart Simpson is seen writing the phrase "I no longer want my MTV" repeatedly on a chalkboard in a parody of the opening sequence of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing". The song "MTV Get off the Air!" by the Dead Kennedys was a protest against the content and style of music that dominated MTV during the 80's. The Bowling for Soup hit, "1985," contains the line, "Bring back Springsteen, Madonna, way before Nirvana there was U2 and Blondie, and music still on MTV." MTV was also mentioned in the Manowar song "Blow Your Speakers." and in the Reel Big Fish song "Don't Start A Band"

See also

External links


- [http://www.mtv.com/ MTV official site]
- [http://www.mtvasia.com MTV Networks Asia]
- [http://www.mtvne.com/ MTV Networks Europe]
- [http://www.mtv.tv MTV.tv Europe]
- [http://www.mtv.com.br/ MTV Brazil]
- [http://www.mtvla.com/ MTV Latin America]
- [http://www.mtvi.co.id MTV Indonesia]
- [http://www.mtvthailand.com/ MTV Thailand]
- [http://www.mtv.com.au MTV Australia] Category:Companies based in New York City Category:MTV Networks Category:Mexico television networks Category:TV channels with British versions Category:United States television networks Category:Viacom subsidiaries

Abbreviation

Abbreviation (from Latin brevis "short") is strictly a shorter form of a word, but more particularly, an abbreviation is a letter or group of letters, taken from a word or words, and employed to represent them for the sake of brevity. For example, the word "abbreviation" can be abbreviated as "abbr." or "abbrev."

Types of abbreviations

Apart from the common form of shortening one word, there are other types of abbreviations. These include apocopations, syllabic abbreviations, acronyms, initialisms and portmanteaux.

Syllabic abbreviations (SAs)

A syllabic abbreviation is an abbreviation formed from (usually) initial syllables of several words, such as Interpol = International + police. Syllabic abbreviations are usually written using lower case, sometimes starting with a capital letter, and are always pronounced as words rather than letter by letter. Syllabic abbreviations should be distinguished from portmanteaus.

Usage of syllabic abbreviations in different languages

Syllabic abbreviations are not widely used in English or French. On the other hand, they prevailed in Germany under the Nazis and in the Soviet Union for naming the plethora of new bureaucratic organizations. For example, Gestapo stands for Geheime Staats-Polizei, or "secret state police". Similarly, Comintern stands for the Communist International. This has caused syllabic abbreviations to have negative connotation, notwithstanding that such abbreviations were used in Germany even before the Nazis came to power, e.g., Schupo for Schutzpolizei. Syllabic abbreviations were also typical for the German language used in the German Democratic Republic, e.g. Stasi for Staatssicherheit ("state security", the secret police) or Vopo for Volkspolizist ("people's policeman"). East Asian languages whose writing uses Chinese-originated ideograms instead of an alphabet form abbreviations similarly by using key characters from a term or phrase. For example, in Japanese the term for the United Nations, kokusai rengō (国際連合) is often abbreviated to kokuren (国連). (Such abbreviations are called ryakugo (略語) in Japanese). The classic example is, of course, shogun. The syllabic abbreviation is frequently used for universities: for instance, Beida (北大, Běidà) for Peking University (Beijing) and Tōdai (東大) for the University of Tokyo.

Usage of syllabic abbreviations in organisations

Syllabic abbreviations are prefered by the US Navy as it increases readability amidst the large number of initialisms that would otherwise have to fit into the same acronyms. Hence DESRON 6 is used (in the full capital form) to mean "Destroyer Squadron 6," while COMNAVFORLANT would be "Commander, Naval Force (in the) Atlantic."

Style conventions

In modern English there are several conventions for abbreviations and the choice may be confusing. The only rule universally accepted is that one should be consistent, and to this end publishers express their preferences in a style guide. Questions which arise include the following:
- Use of upper or lower case letters. If the original word was capitalised, then the first letter of its abbreviation should retain the capital, for example Lev. for Leviticus. When abbreviating words spelt with lower case letters, there is no consistent rule.
- Use of periods (full stops) and spaces, for example when abbreviating United States, should one write "US", "U.S." or "U. S."? Spaces are generally not used between single letter abbreviations of words in the same phrase, so one almost never encounters "U. S.". In American English, the period is usually added if the abbreviation may be interpreted as a word, though some American writers do not use a period here. There is no stop/period between letters of the same word, for example St. and not S.t. for Saint. In modern British English abbreviations are written with full stops if the word has been cut at the point of abbreviation (e.g., "Street" – "St[reet]" – becomes "St."), but not otherwise (e.g., "Saint" – "S[ain]t" – becomes "St"). Thus in the United Kingdom, titles such as "Doctor", "Mister" and "Mistress" are abbreviated as "Dr", "Mr", and "Mrs" respectively, but in Canada and the U.S. as "Dr.", "Mr." and "Mrs." respectively.
- Acronyms that were originally capitalized (with or without periods) but have since "stood the test of time" by entering the vocabulary as generic words are no longer abbreviated with capital letters nor with any periods—e.g., sonar, radar, laser, and scuba.
- Whether to add an apostrophe for a plural where the plural is not formed by doubling up the last letter: should one write CDs or CD's? The apostrophe is not needed grammatically but sometimes is added to make it clear that the s is not part of the abbreviation. Because the apostrophe most often represents possession or a contraction, some style guides prefer that it not be used at all with abbreviations, but only with individual letters—"Dot all your i's and cross all your t's!" or "Mind your p's and q's!"—or numbers—"The dyslexic student mixes up his S's and 5's." Thus numbers, such as decades, that are understood to represent other concepts, are not written with apostrophes either—e.g., "The U.S. enjoyed an economic boom in the 1990s and the Roaring ’20s", referring to decades, or "I am going to the bank to exchange four 5's for two 10's", where the 5's and 10's refer to banknotes. Conventions followed by publications and newspapers:
- Publications based in the United States tend to follow the style guides of the Chicago Manual of Style and the Associated Press. The U.S. Government follows a style guide published by the U.S. Government Printing Office.
  - There is some inconsistency in abbreviation styles, however, as they are not rigorously defined by style guides. Some two-word abbreviations, like "United Nations", are abbreviated with uppercase letters and periods, and others, like "personal computer" (PC) and "compact disc" (CD), are not; rather, they are typically abbreviated without periods and in uppercase letters. A third variation is to use lowercase letters with periods; this is used by Time Magazine in abbreviating "public relations" (p.r.). Moreover, even three-word abbreviations (most U.S. publications use uppercase abbreviations without periods) are sometimes not consistently abbreviated, even within the same article.
  - The New York Times is unique in having a consistent style by always abbreviating with periods: P.C., I.B.M., P.R. This is in contrast with the trend of British publications to completely make do without periods for convenience.
- Many British publications follow some of these guidelines in abbreviation:
  - For the sake of convenience, many British publications, including the BBC and The Guardian, have completely done away with the use of full stops or periods in all abbreviations. These include:
    - Social titles, like Ms or Mr (though these would not have had full stops in any case — see above) Capt, Prof, etc.;
    - Two-letter abbreviations for countries (US, not U.S.);
    - Words are seldom abbreviated with lower case letters (PR, instead of p.r., or pr)
    - Abbreviations beyond three letters (full caps for all except initialisms);
    - Names (e.g., FW de Klerk, GB Whiteley, Park JS). A notable exception is the Economist (e.g., Mr F. W. de Klerk)
    - Scientific units.
  - Acronyms are referred to with only the first letter of the abbreviation capitalised. For instance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation can be abbreviated as Nato, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome as Sars. Initialisms (which are similar to acronyms but which are not pronounced as words) are always written in capitals, for instance the British Broadcasting Corporation is abbreviated to BBC, never Bbc.
  - When abbreviating scientific units, no space is added between the number and unit (e.g., 100mph, 100m, 10cm, 10ºC). Miscellaneous and general rules
- Plurals are often formed by doubling up the last letter of the abbreviation. Most of these deal with writing and publishing: MS=manuscript, MSS=manuscripts; l=line, ll=lines; p=page, pp=pages; s=section, ss=sections). This form, derived from Latin is used in Europe in many places: dd=didots. "The following (lines or pages)" is denoted by ff. One example that does not concern printing is hh=hands.
- A doubled letter also appears in abbreviations of some Welsh names, as in Welsh the double "l" is a separate sound: "Ll. George" for (late British prime minister) Lloyd George.
- Some titles, such as "Reverend" and "Honourable", are spelt out when preceded by "the", rather than as "Rev." or "Hon." respectively. This is true for most British publications, and some in the United States.
- It is usually advised to spell out the abbreviation where it is new or unfamiliar to the reader (e.g., UNESCO in a magazine about music, because it more frequently refers to another entity in another context, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

History

After World War II, the British greatly reduced their use of the full stop and other punctuations after abbreviations in at least semi-formal writing, while the Americans more readily kept its use until more recently, and still maintain it more than Britons. The classic example, considered by their American counterparts quite curious, was the maintenance of the internal comma in a British organization of secret agents called the "Special Operations, Executive" – "S.O.,E." – which is not found in histories written after about 1960. But before that, many Britons were more scrupulous at maintaining the French form. In French, the period only follows an abbreviation if the last letter in the abbreviation is not the last letter of its antecedent: "M." is the abbreviation for "monsieur" while "Mme" is that for "Madame" and "Mlle" for "Mademoiselle". Like many other cross-channel linguistic acquisitions, many Britons readily took this up and followed this rule themselves, while the Americans took a simpler rule and applied it rigorously. Over the years, however, the lack of convention in some style guides has made it difficult to determine which two-word abbreviations should be abbreviated with periods and which should not. The U.S. media tend to abbreviate two-word abbreviations like United States (U.S.), but surprisingly, not personal computer (PC) or television (TV), which is a source of confusion. Many British publications have gradually done away with the use of periods in abbreviations completely.

Examples


- List of classical abbreviations
- List of mediaeval abbreviations
- List of abbreviations in use in 1911
- List of acronyms and initialisms
- The abbreviations used in the 1913 edition of Webster's dictionary

Abbreviation types


- Acronym and initialism
- Apocopation
- TLA
- Syllabic abbreviation
- Portmanteau

See also


- List of syllabic abbreviations
- Neologism, word, term, or phrase which has been recently created
- Internet slang, list of computing and IT abbreviations, list of medical abbreviations, list of government and military acronyms, abbreviations used in CIA World Factbook,
- ISO language code, ISO country code.
- Ditloid

External links


- [http://www.abbreviationz.com/ AbbreviationZ] acronyms, abbreviations & Initialisms directory.
- [http://www.acronyma.com/ Acronyma]—large database of acronyms and abbreviations (over 450,000 entries)
- [http://www.acronymfinder.com/ Acronym Finder]—searchable acronyms and abbreviations site (over 400,000 entries) Category:Abbreviations ja:略語 simple:Abbreviation

Cable television

:Cable TV redirects here. For the Hong Kong-based cable television network, see Cable TV Hong Kong. Cable TV Hong Kong Cable television or Community Antenna Television (CATV) (often shortened to cable) is a system of providing television, FM radio programming and other services to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted directly to people’s televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting (via radio waves) in which a television antenna is required. It is most commonplace in Canada, the United States, Europe, and much of East Asia, though it is present in many other countries, mainly in Australasia, South America and the Middle East. In Africa, cable TV has had little success, as it is not cost-effective to lay cables in sparsely populated areas, and although so-called "wireless cable" or microwave-based systems are used, "direct-to-home" satellite television is far more popular, especially in South Africa. Technically, both cable TV and CATV involve distributing a number of television channels collected at a central location (called a headend) to subscribers within a community by means of a network of optical fibers and/or coaxial cables and broadband amplifiers. As in the case of radio broadcasting, the use of different frequencies allows many channels to be distributed through the same cable, without separate wires for each. The tuner of the TV, VCR or radio selects one channel from this mixed signal. The same program is often simultaneously broadcast by radio and distributed by cable, usually at different frequencies. Other programs may be distributed by cable only; rules restricting content (e.g. regarding nudity and pornography) are often more relaxed for cable than for over-the-air TV. Traditional cable TV systems worked strictly by way of analog signals (i.e. using standard radio waves) but many modern cable TV systems also employ the use of digital cable technology, which uses compressed digital signals, allowing them to provide many more channels than they could with analog alone. Many cable television systems were formerly known as CATV (Community Antenna Television) systems as they were originally composed simply of a shared antenna located in a high location to which multiple households could have their TVs connected to via coaxial cable. This was designed to provide access to television signals in areas where reception was traditionally poor. As cable-only networks began to appear on CATV systems, picked up via satellite rather than by antenna, the use of the term CATV has largely faded and the term cable television has taken its place.

History of U.S. cable television and its regulation

During the television licensing freeze of the late 1940s, the demand for television increased. Since new television licenses were not being issued, the only way the demand was met was by Community Antenna Television. The first commercial CATV System was developed in 1948 by John Walson. He had interest in an appliance store that began to carry televisions. A major problem in selling televisions in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania was that the stations which were available were received very poorly. Walson built an antenna on the top of a nearby mountain and strung a wire from it to his shop. A neighbor asked for the wire to be connected to his house and Walson connected it to his own house. He said he would extend the wire to anyone who would buy one of his television receivers, and in 1949 he started charging for the service. Another system in Mahanoy City was founded by Jerrold Electronics Corp. which served the other side of town. Both were originally three-channel systems and were upgraded to five. Other systems were built: some conceived the idea independently, others didn't, and others laid claim to the title of first. On August 1, 1949 T.J. Slowie, a secretary of the Federal Communications Commission, sent a letter to a CATV pioneer in Astoria, Oregon, L.E. Parsons, requesting he "furnish the Commission full information with respect to the nature of the system you may have developed and may be operating." He did. This is the first known involvement of the FCC in CATV. An FCC lawyer, E. Stratford Smith, determined the Commission could exercise common carrier jurisdiction over CATV. The FCC didn't act on this opinion and Smith later changed his mind after working in the cable industry for some time and testifying in Senate committee hearings. Senator and future Federal Communications Commissioner Kenneth A. Cox attended and participated in these hearings. He prepared a report entitled the Cox Report for the Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. This report was against CATV and supported the FCC policy of a television station in every community. In 1959 and 1961 bills were introduced in Congress that would have determined the role of the FCC in CATV policy. The 1959 bill, which actually made it to the floor of the Senate, would have limited FCC jurisdiction to CATV systems within the contours, i.e. the broadcast range, of a single station. It was defeated. The 1961 bill proposed by the FCC would have given the Commission authority over CATV as CATV, and not as a common carrier or broadcaster. The Commission could then adopt rules and regulations "in the public interest" to govern CATV in any area covered both by CATV and broadcast television. No action was ever taken on this bill. More important than Congressional action in determining Federal Communications Commission CATV policy were court cases and FCC hearings. Frontier Broadcasting Co. v. Collier was a hearing in which broadcasters tried to get the FCC to exercise common carrier authority over 288 CATV systems in 36 states. The broadcasters maintained that CATV went against the FCC's Sixth Report and Order, which advocated at least one television station in every community. In 1958, the FCC decided that CATV was not really a common carrier since the subscriber did not determine the programming. Carter Mountain Transmission Corp., a common carrier that already transmitted television signals by microwave to CATV systems in several Wyoming towns, wanted to add a second signal to two of the towns and add two signals to a previously unserved town. A television station in one town opposed this and protested to the FCC on the grounds of economic damage. A hearing examiner supported Carter Mountain but the Commission supported the television station. The case was taken to appeal, as most are, and the Federal Communications Commission won. "The fact that no broadcaster has actually gone off the air due to CATV competition at the time the government moved to expand its authority (nor have any since) did not stay the momentum for the expansion of regulatory authority. That some economic impact was merely plausible sufficed as the basis for government concern and government action." The FCC overruled a hearing examiner in favor of broadcasters again in the "San Diego Case". The CATV systems in San Diego, California wanted to import stations from Los Angeles, some of which could be seen in San Diego; the television stations in San Diego didn't want the signals imported. The television stations won, not allowing the signals on future cable lines in San Diego and its environs. The FCC's reasoning was to protect the present and future UHF stations in San Diego. In the First Report and Order by the Federal Communications Commission on CATV the FCC gave itself the power to regulate CATV. This Report and Order was designed to protect small town television stations. It did this by imposing two rules, which in slightly altered form still stand: one requires that a CATV system carry all local stations in which the CATV system is in the "A" (best reception) contour of the station. The second prohibits the importation of programs from a non-local station that duplicates programming on a local station if the duplication is shown either 15 days before or 15 days after its local airing. This 1965 report reasoning is as follows: 1) CATV should carry local stations because CATV supplements, not replaces, local stations and the non-carriage of local stations gives distant stations an advantage since people will not change from the cable to the antenna to see a local station; 2) non-carriage is "inherently contrary to the public interest"; 3) CATV duplication of local programming via distant signals is unfair since broadcasters and CATV do not compete for programs on an equal footing; the FCC recommends "a reasonable measure of exclusivity". The 1966 Second Report and Order made some minor changes in the First Report and Order and added a major regulation. This was designed to protect UHF stations in large cities. The new rule disallowed the importation of distant signals into the top 100 markets, thus making CATV profitable only in cities with poor reception. In 1968 the Supreme Court upheld the FCC's right to make rules and regulations concerning CATV. In its decision on United States v. Southwestern Cable, the "San Diego Case", it said "the Commissions authority over 'all interstate ... communications by wire or radio' permits the regulation of CATV systems."

The birth of public access television

Main article: Public-access television In 1969 the FCC issued rules requiring all CATV systems with over 3500 subscribers to have facilities for local origination of programming by April 1, 1971. The date was later suspended. In 1972, Dean Burch steered the FCC into a new area of regulation. It lifted its restrictions on CATV in large cities, but now put the burden of more local programming on CATV operators. In 1976, the FCC used its rule making power to require that new systems now had to have 20 channels, and that cable providers with systems of 3500 subscribers or more had to provide PEG (public, education, and government access) channel capacity, and facilities and equipment necessary to use this capacity.

Programming

United States

In the United States, cable television programming is often divided between basic and premium programming. Basic cable TV networks are generally transmitted without any scrambling or other special methods and thus anyone connected to the cable TV system can receive them. Basic cable networks receive at least some funding through fees paid by the cable TV systems for the right to include the network in its channel lineup. Most basic cable TV networks also include advertising to supplement the fees, due to their programming cost being greater than the fees paid by cable TV systems. Premium cable refers to networks, such as HBO and Showtime, that scramble or encrypt their signals so that only those paying additional monthly fees to their cable TV system can legally view them (via the use of cable box). Because these networks command much higher fees from cable TV systems, their programming is generally commercial free. There are several features of is cable programming that distinguish it from broadcast television. Because cable television carries more bandwidth than broadcast TV (10 to 20 times as many channels), there is room for more specialized channels catering to a particular genre or groups such as sci-fi or woman’s oriented programming. Also, because cable TV networks rely much less, or in some cases not at all, on revenue from commercials, they can feature programming (such as minority sports or ethnic programming) that draws much smaller viewer numbers than what broadcast networks would find acceptable. And finally, since cable TV signals, unlike broadcast TV, cannot be picked up by just anyone with a TV, including children, the FCC’s rules regarding acceptable content do not apply to cable TV networks, allowing greater freedom in the use of language, nudity, and violence. The lack of restrictions on content has led to cable TV programs with more adult-oriented content such as nudity and strong language, including some premium cable networks broadcasting soft-core porn programs. Premium cable networks have traditionally been the loosest with regard to content, since they require a cable box to view, making it easier to restrict children’s access to them. Thus, one can find nudity, foul language, and even soft-core pornography on these networks, though, so far, not hard-core pornography, possibly due in part to such factors as the risk of cable TV systems dropping them or legal risk. Basic cable, on the other hand, has not traditionally been as loose with regard to content. While there are no FCC rules that apply to content on basic cable networks, because most such networks rely at least partly on advertising revenue, they have buckled to pressure from advertisers to keep their content more in line with that of broadcast TV. Thus, many basic cable networks voluntarily censor their programs, particularly with regard to language and nudity. In recent years though, some basic cable networks have begun to relax their self-imposed restrictions, particularly late at night. Thus, programs like Comedy Central’s South Park often contain content deemed unsuitable for U.S. broadcast TV. Some basic cable networks have also recently aired R-rated movies, uncut, late at night. There has been a recent push to create laws that force cable providers to allow consumers to purchase individual cable TV channels "a la carte," i.e. to allow them to pick and choose which channels they would like to have available in their homes. This is not likely to occur until digital cable television becomes popular, as it is very difficult to notch out individual channels from a cable TV line. For example, many cable providers have a "basic plan" consisting of local channels and a few national cable networks; and an "economy basic" plan consisting of local channels only. Both plans are supplied on the same cable, but the cable company can filter out the expanded channels to the "economy basic" subscribers using a low-pass filter which filters out higher channels. Notch filters are available which can filter out a "notch" of channels (for example, channels 45-50 can be "notched" out yet the subscriber can receive channels below 45 and higher than 50). However, to do this individually for a single subscriber who wants many "notches," would be very difficult. These problems are alleviated with the use of digital cable, which requires a set-top converter box. This converter can be programmed remotely to allow or disallow access to channels on an individual basis.

Cable television fees and programming lineups

Cable TV systems impose a monthly fee depending on the number and perceived quality of the channels offered. Cable TV subscribers are offered various packages of channels one can subscribe to. The cost of each package depends on the type of channels offered (basic vs. premium) and the quantity. These fees cover the fees paid to individual networks for the right to carry their network as well as the cost of operating and maintaining the cable TV system so that their signals can reach subscribers homes. Additional fees and taxes are often tacked on by local, state, and federal governments. The fee the cable TV system must pay to a cable TV network will vary depending on whether it is a basic or premium channel and the perceived popularity of that channel. Because cable TV systems are not required to carry any basic cable channel they often try and negotiate the fee they will pay for carrying a channel. Thus more popular networks have been able to command much higher fees then less popular networks. The fees paid to basic cable networks has a benefit in that advertisement breaks on basic cable are either absent or their number and duration are far lower than on broadcast TV, where ads make up around 25% of programming in the U.S. Most cable systems divide their channel lineups into three or four basic channel packages. A must-carry rule requires all cable TV system carry local broadcast stations on their lineups. Cable TV systems are also required to offer a subscription package that provides these broadcast channels at a lower rate then the standard subscription rate. The basic programming package offered by cable TV systems is usually known as basic cable and provides access to a large number of basic cable TV networks, as well as broadcast channels, and local-access television channels. Some systems refer to this package as expanded basic, with their most minimal package being referred to as basic cable. In addition to the basic cable packages, all system offer premium channel add-on packages offering either just one premium network (e.g. HBO) or several premium networks for one price (e.g. HBO and Showtime together). Finally, most cable systems offer pay-per-view channels where users can watch individual movies, live programs, sports, etc. for an additional fee for single viewing at a scheduled time. Some cable systems have begun to offer on-demand programming, where customers can select programs from a list of offerings including recent releases of movies, concerts, sports, and reruns of TV shows and specials and start the program whenever they wish, as if they were watching a DVD or a VHS tape. Some of the offerings have a cost similar to renting a movie at a video store while others are free. Starting in the late 1990s, advances in digital signal compression (primarily Motorola's DigiCipher 2 technology in North America) technology have given rise to wider implementation of digital cable services. Digital cable provides many more television channels over the same available bandwidth, by converting cable TV channels to a digital signal and then compressing the signal. Currently, most system offer a hybrid analog/digital cable system. This means they offer a certain number of analog channels via basic cable service with additional channels being made available via digital cable service. Thus subscribers wishing to have access to digital cable channels must have a special cable box to receive them. Additional subscription fees is also usually required to receive these digital channels. Digital cable channels can offer a higher quality picture then their analog counterparts though digital compression has a tendency to soften the quality of the television picture, particularly of channels that are more heavily compressed. Many cable systems operate as local monopolies in the United States, as cable companies typically receive exclusive rights to serve a region as a result of a franchise agreement with a local government. In some areas that is changing as competition has been allowed to enter the market, including in some cases city run cable systems. The rise of Digital Satellite Systems, which provide the same type of programming using small satellite receivers, has also provided competition to cable TV systems.

Mexico

The first cable system started to operate in the early Sixties in Monterrey, as a CATV service (an antenna at the top of the Loma Larga, which could get TV signals from South Texas). Most of the other major cities didn't develop cable systems until the late Eighties, due to government censorship. By 1989 the industry had had a major impulse with the founding of Multivisión—a MMDS system who started to develop its own channels in Spanish—and the later development of companies such as Cablemas and Megacable. Over the past few years, many US networks have started to develop content for the Mexican market, such as CNN en Español, MTV, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, and others. The country also has a DTH service called SKY (Televisa & News Corp. owned). Recently DirecTV merged with Sky. The dominant company nowadays is Megacable.

United Kingdom

In the UK Cable Television had its origins in 1938, when the first Community Antenna TV systems were setup in towns including Bristol and Hull, for homes which couldn't recieve transmisssions over the air; however these signals were on the 405-line system. In the 1960s Ridiffusion Vision was setup to provide cable television in the newer 625-line and PAL formats. In the early 1980s Rediffusion Vision suplimented its service with other channels including The Music Box, Screensport, Sky Channel and TEN. The service was renamed to Rediffusion Cablevision. In the United Kingdom, the current generation of cable television began in the late 1980s with the issue of franchises to many local operators. These small operations proved uneconomic and there has been a continuing process of consolidation and re-financing. The two principal cable operators are now NTL and Telewest Broadband, which are themselves in the process of merging. NTL's cable service was originally known as CableTel and grew rapidly through the acquisition of, among others, ComTel (which itself had bought Telecential), Comcast, Diamond Cable and finally, in 1999, the residential and small business operations of Cable & Wireless. Telewest also steadily acquired local operators. Cable TV faces intense competition from SkyDigital's satellite television service, although most channels on that platform are also carried on cable; few channels are now exclusive to cable. However, paid for digital terrestrial television proved less of a competitive threat, as ITV Digital went into liquidation in 2002. The re-launch of DTTV as the free Freeview service has been a success in introducing people to multichannel digital TV and seems not to have adversely affected the growth of cable and satellite subscribers. Another potential source of competition in the future will be TV over broadband. This was initially launched, using ADSL, in London, where it is provided by HomeChoice, and Hull, where it where it is provided by Kingston Communications. As the speed and availability of broadband connections increase, more TV content can be delivered using protocols such as IPTV.

Republic of Ireland

Cable television first started in the Republic of Ireland in the 1970s, when state broadcaster RTÉ began a service called RTE Relays, which rebroadcast the UK's three terrestrial TV channels. Later called Cablelink, the service began offering a number of satellite channels in the 1980s. The state telephone operator Telecom Éireann (now eircom) was also a stakeholder. In rural areas, the company ran an MMDS service called Multilink, as did other companies such as Irish Mulitchannel in Cork, now called Chorus. Cablelink was later sold to NTL in 1999, and was renamed NTL Ireland. In rural areas where neither cable or MMDS are available, there have been 'deflectors', which pick up the UK terrestrial channels (either from Northern Ireland or Wales), and retransmit them on local UHF signals along with other channels. These operators faced legal action in the late 1990s from MMDS operators, as they did not pay royalties to the relevant broadcasters, and were not licensed. When the deflectors were shut down, there was such an outcry in those areas that an independent candidate in County Donegal, Tom Gildea, was elected as a TD on a platform of supporting legalisation, which occurred in 1999.

Hong Kong

i-Cable Communications Limited(branded as "CableTV") is the holding company that runs Hong Kong's one of four cable television service providers. It is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. Wharf Holdings Limited owns 67 per cent of the cable provider and the rest amongst public shareholders. Another three operators offers pay-TV via DSL, they are Now Broadband TV(PCCW), HKBN Digital TV and SuperSUN(control by TVB). Many in Hong Kong watch subscription TV using satellite systems like Star TV.

Singapore

StarHub Cable Vision is the sole cable television operator in Singapore, where private ownership of satellite dishes is banned. StarHub Cable Vision was formed as a result of a merger between StarHub and Singapore Cable Vision on 15 May 2002. The latter first began broadcasting as a terrestrial pay-television operator in 1992 as the first cable network was not completed until 1995. Around 15% ofl households and offices in Singapore are connected to the StarHub network.

Australia

In Australia, most people do not have access to cable. Satellite is a more common way of getting subscription TV services. Telstra's Foxtel-carrying cable network covers parts of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. Optus's network covers small parts of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, though its restrictive subscription rules means that many people in this area are not allowed to subscribe. A small part of Perth is covered by Bright Telecomunications. Part of Canberra is covered by TransACT. Much of Darwin is covered by Austar. Parts of Geelong, Ballarat and Mildura are reached by Neighbourhood Cable.

Other cable-based services

Coaxial cables are capable of bi-directional carriage of signals as well as the transmission of large amounts of data. Cable television signals use only a portion the bandwidth available over coaxial lines. This leaves plenty of space available for other digital services such as broadband internet and cable telephony. Unlike North America, many cable operators in Europe have already introduced telephone services, which operate just like existing fixed line operators. Broadband internet is achieved over coaxial cable by using cable modems to convert the network data into a type of digital signal that can be transferred over coaxial cable. One problem with some cable systems is the older amplifiers placed along the cable routes are unidirectional thus in order to allow for uploading of data the customer would need to use an analog modem to provide for the upstream connection. This limited the upstream speed to 56k and prevented the always-on convenience broadband internet typically provides. Many large cable systems have upgraded or are upgrading their equipment to allow for bi-directional signals, thus allowing for greater upload speed and always-on convenience, though these upgrades are expensive. Another service being added to many cable systems is cable telephone service. This service involves installing a special telephone interface at the customer's premises that coverts the analog signals from the customer's in-home wiring into a digital signal, which is then sent on the local loop (replacing the analog last mile, or POTS) to the company's switching center, where it is connected to the PSTN. The biggest obstacle to cable telephone service is the need for nearly 100% reliable service for emergency calls. One of the standards available for digital cable telephony, PacketCable, seems to be the most promising and able to work with the Quality of Service demands of traditional analog POTS service. The biggest advantage to digital cable telephone service is similar to the advantage of digital cable TV, namely that data can be compressed, resulting in much less bandwidth used than a dedicated analog circuit-switched service. Other advantages include better voice quality and integration to a VoIP network providing cheap or unlimited nationwide and international calling. Note that in most cases, digital cable telephone service is separate from cable modem service being offered by many cable companies and does not rely on IP traffic or the Internet. A chart showing the North American cable television bandplan can be found here. Cable television is facing increasing competition from satellite television. See also: List of cable companies

See also


- List of United States cable and satellite television networks

References


- [http://www.wharfcable.com Wharf Cable Home Page]
- [http://www.cabletv.com.hk Cable TV Hong Kong]
- [http://www.roventa.lt Cable TV Roventa ] ja:ケーブルテレビ zh-cn:有线电视

1981

1981 (MCMLXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January-February


- January - Sarawak chamber found
- January 1 - Greece enters the EEC
- January 1 - Palau becomes self-governing
- January 4 - Sheffield police arrests Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper
- January 13 - Donna Griffiths, a schoolgirl in Pershore, Worcestershire, UK, begins a uncontrollable series of sneezes that end September 16 1983 - after 978 days
- January 16 - Protestant gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and her husband
- January 19 - United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity
- January 20 - Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter as President of the United States of America. Minutes after Reagan becomes president, Iran releases 52 American hostages that had been held captive for 444 days - Iran hostage crisis ends.
- February 4 - Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes the Prime Minister of Norway
- February 9 - Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski
- February 10 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198
- February 14 - Australia withdraws recognition of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia
- February 23 - Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies, and stops the session, where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was going to be named president of the government. The coup d'état would fail thanks to King Juan Carlos.

March-April

Juan Carlos.]]
- March 1 - Bobby Sands, an IRA member, begins hunger strike for political status in Long Kesh prison - he dies May 5, the first of ten men.
- March 6 - After 19 years hosting the CBS Evening News Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.
- March 7 - Colombian guerillas execute US bible translator Chester Allen Bitterman for being a CIA agent
- March 11 - Chilean president Augusto Pinochet sworn in for an eight-year term as president.
- March 19 - Three workers are killed and five injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
- March 30 - President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr., whose family had connections with the vice president. Two police officers and James Brady are also wounded.
- April 11 - Riot in Brixton, South London - rioters throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops.
- April 12 - The first launch of a Space Shuttle: Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission.
- April 15 - The Australian Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock resigns from cabinet accusing the Australian Prime Minister Fraser of gross disloyalty.
- April 18 - A Minor League baseball game between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island becomes the longest professional baseball game in history: 8 hours and 25 minutes/33 innings (the 33rd inning was not played until June 23rd).

May


- May - Daniel K. Ludwig abandons the Jari project in the Amazon Basin
- May 6 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
- May 10 - In the second round of the presidential elections in France (French presidential election, 1981), François Mitterrand beats Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
- May 13 - Pope John Paul II is shot at and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he entered St. Peter's Square in Rome to address a general audience. (Two days after Christmas in 1983, Pope John Paul went to the prison to meet and forgive his would-be assassin)
- May 21 - In France, socialist François Mitterrand becomes president of the Republic.
- May 22 - Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, imprisoned for life for 13 counts of murder
- May 25 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
- May 26 - The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell P-2
- May 30 - Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman assassinated in Chittagong.

June-July

Chittagong return to Buckingham Palace following their wedding watched by over 1 billion people worldwide.]]
- June 5 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five homosexual men in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (these were the first recognized cases of AIDS).
- June 6 - Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the River Kosi, in Bihar, India - about 800 dead
- June 7 - Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor
- June 13 - At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager Marcus Sargeant fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.
- June 22 - Hamas attacks a travel agency in Greece - two dead
- June 22 - Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr deposed
- June 29 - Morris Edwin Robert armed with a machine gun holds hostages in the FBI section in Atlanta Federal Building. After three hours the hostages are rescued - Robert is shot
- July 17 - Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri collapse into a crowded atrium lobby killing 114
- July 17 - Israeli bombers destroy the PLO HQ in Beirut
- July 27 - Wheel of Fortune premiers in Australia on the Seven Network.
- July 29 - Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales.

August-October


- August 1 - MTV (Music Television) is launched.
- August 5 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
- August 7 - The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.
- August 12 - The original IBM PC released in the United States.
- August 19 - Gulf of Sidra incident (1981). Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi sends two Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept two US fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroyed the Libyan fighters.
- August 19 - US President Ronald Reagan appoints the first female US Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor.
- August 28 - South African troops invade Angola.
- August 31 - A bomb explodes at the US Army base in Ramstein, West Germany injuring 20 people.
- September 4 - An explosion at a mine in Zalizin, Czechoslovakia - 65 dead.
- September 10 - Picasso's painting "Guernica" is moved from New York to Madrid.
- September 15 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, DC.
- September 18 - France abolishes capital punishment.
- October 6 - Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a parade by army members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization, who opposed his negotiations with Israel.
- October 10 - The Ministry for Education of Japan issues the jōyō kanji.
- October 14 - Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt one week after Anwar Sadat was assassinated.
- October 21 - Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece.

November-December

Prime Minister of Greece
- November 1 - Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom
- November 13 - The first Friday the 13th event held by motorcyclists in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada
- November 23 - Iran-Contra scandal: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua
- November 25-November 26 - Group of mercenaries lead by Mike Hoare take over Mahe airport in the Seychelles in a coup attempt. Most of the mercenaries escape by a commandeered Air India passenger jet, six are later arrested
- November 30 - Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings ended inconclusively on Thursday, December 17)
- December 1 - A Yugoslavian DC-9 crashes into a mountain while approaching Ajaccio Airport in Corsica killing 178
- December 4 - South Africa grants "homeland" Ciskei independence (not recognized outside South Africa)
- December 11 - El Mozote massacre - in El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians
- December 13 - Wojciech Jaruzelski declares the state of martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity
- December 15 - A car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 61 people. This is the first modern suicide bombing. Syrian intelligence is blamed.
- December 20 - The Penlee lifeboat disaster off the coast of South-West Cornwall
- December 28 - The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born (Norfolk, Virginia)

unknown dates


- Millennium Renactment of the translation of Saint Edward the Martyr's relics from Wareham to Shaftesbury
- Mauritania abolishes the institution of slavery.
- James Tobin wins the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
- Mike Cooley, Bill Mollison and Patrick van Rensburg / Education with Production win the Right Livelihood Award
- The counter-culture wire service LNS ceases operations.
- Public funding of election Campaigns introduced in New South Wales, Australia
- The State Council of the People's Republic of China listed the four cities (Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Guilin) as where the protection of historical and cultural heritage as well as natural scenery should be treated as a prior project.
- Cuba suffers a major outbreak of Dengue hemorrhagic fever, with 344 203 cases. [http://w3.whosea.org/en/Section10/Section332/Section521_2454.htm]
- Computer and Video Games (magazine) begins publication.

Births

January-March


- January 1 - Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian race car driver
- January 3 - Eli Manning, American football player
- January 6 - Mike Jones, American rapper
- January 12 - Quentin Griffin, American football player
- January 15 - El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
- January 15 - Howie Day, American singer and songwriter
- January 17 - Scott Mechlowicz, American actor
- January 20 - Jason Richardson, American basketball player
- January 20 - Owen Hargreaves, Canadian-born footballer
- January 21 - Dany Heatley, German-born hockey player
- January 22 - Chantelle Anderson, American basketball player
- January 22 - Willa Ford, American singer, television hostess, and actress
- January 22 - Beverley Mitchell, American actress
- January 25 - Alicia Keys, American musician
- January 28 - Elijah Wood, American actor
- January 31 - Justin Timberlake, American musician
- February 3 - Alisa Reyes, American actress
- February 10 - Natasha St-Pier, Canadian singer
- February 11 - Kelly Rowland, American singer (Destiny's Child)
- February 14 - Erin Torpey, American actress
- February 15 - Jenna Morasca, American television personality
- February 17 - Paris Hilton, American actress and heiress
- February 18 - Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player
- February 22 - Jeanette Biedermann, German singer and actress
- February 24 - Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
- February 27 - Josh Groban, American singer
- March 1 -Ana Hickmann, Brazilian model
- March 2 - Bryce Howard, American actress
- March 3 - Lil' Flip, American rapper
- March 9 - Antonio Bryant, American football player
- March 11 - David Anders, American actor
- March 11 - Lee Evans, American football player
- March 11 - LeToya Luckett, American musician (Destiny's Child)
- March 16 - Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer
- March 28 - Julia Stiles, American actress

April-June


- April 1 - Hannah Spearritt, British singer (S Club 7)
- April 2 - Bethany Joy Lenz, American actress and singer
- April 10 - Michael Pitt, American actor
- April 14 - Mary Castro, American model and actress
- April 17 - Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer
- April 19 - Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor
- April 19 - Catalina Sandino Moreno, Colombian actress
- April 19 - Troy Polamalu, American football player
- April 22 - Ken Dorsey, American football player
- April 28 - Jessica Alba, American actress
- May 5 - Craig David, British singer
- May 5 - Danielle Fishel, American actress
- May 11 - Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
- May 13 - Sunny Leone, Canadian entertainer
- May 15 - Jamie-Lynn DiScala, American actress
- May 19 - Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
- May 20 - Sean Conlon, English musician (5ive)
- May 20 - Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player
- June 1 - Carlos Zambrano, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- June 7 - Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
- June 7 - Larisa Oleynik, American actress
- June 9 - Natalie Portman, Israeli-born actress
- June 13 - Christopher Robert Evans, American actor
- June 12 - Adriana Lima, Brazilian model
- June 21 - Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist (The Killers)

July-September


- July 8 - Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
- July 23 - Michelle Williams, American singer (Destiny's Child)
- July 24 - Summer Glau, American actress (Firefly)
- August 4 - Marques Houston, American singer and actor
- August 5 - Carl Crawford, baseball player
- August 5 - Kō Shibasaki, Japanese singer and actress
- August 8 - Vanessa Amorosi, Australian singer and songwriter
- August 8 - Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
- August 8 - Meagan Good, American actress
- August 16 - Taylor Rain, American actress
- August 24 - Chad Michael Murray, American actor
- August 25 - Rachel Bilson, American actress
- September 1 - Clinton Portis, American football player
- September 4 - Beyoncé Knowles, American singer (Destiny's Child) and actress
- September 8 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, American actor
- September 16 - Alexis Bledel, American actress
- September 21 - Nicole Richie, American actress
- September 22 - Rocco Baldelli, baseball player
- September 26 - Christina Milian, Afro-Cuban singer, songwriter and musician
- September 26 - Serena Williams, American tennis player
- September 30 - Dominique Moceanu, American gymnast

October-December


- October 1 - Jamelia, British singer
- October 3 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Swedish footballer
- October 11 - Beau Brady, Australian actor
- October 15 - Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player
- October 20 - Willis McGahee, American football player
- October 22 - Michael Fishman, American actor
- October 28 - Milan Baros, Czech footballer
- October 29 - Amanda Beard, American swimmer
- October 30 - Ivanka Trump, American model
- October 31 - Irina Denezhkina, Russian writer
- October 31 - Frank Iero, American guitarist (My Chemical Romance)
- November 1 - LaTavia Roberson, American musician (Destiny's Child)
- November 3 - Jackie Gayda, American professional wrestler
- November 4 - Vince Wilfork, American football player
- November 8 - Azura Skye, American actress
- November 11 - Natalie Glebova, Canadian pageant winner (2005 Miss Universe)
- November 26 - Natasha Bedingfield, British singer
- November 26 - Aurora Snow, American actress
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