VDC Corporation was a distributor of multichannel video programming that delivered live cable television through

broadband In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide-bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Inter ...

connected computers in the United States. They developed and were involved in the distribution and delivery of live cable

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

programming channels.

History

VDC Corporation was founded in 2002 by Scott Wolf. VDC was a pioneer in the delivery of live cable programming to mobile devices. The company transitioned its mobile product to the delivery of live cable television to desktop computers with their Virtual Digital Cable service launched in April 2006. In October 2006, VDC became one of the first providers to utilize the

Microsoft Silverlight Microsoft Silverlight is a discontinued application framework designed for writing and running rich internet applications, similar to Adobe Inc., Adobe's Run time environment, runtime, Adobe Flash. While early versions of Silverlight focused on ...

technology to provide secure, live distribution of streaming television. In January 2007, VDC made public its decision to file a program-access complaint with the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

to commence a proceeding to obtain enforcement of the program access rules under the 1992 Cable TV Consumer Protection Act, to ensure

vertically integrated In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration, also referred to as vertical consolidation, is an arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each ...

programming providers sell their programming to VDC. Such providers include

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

(CNN, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, HBO),

Liberty Media Liberty Media Corporation (commonly referred to as Liberty Media or just Liberty) is an American mass media company founded by John C. Malone in 1991. The company has three divisions, reflecting its ownership stakes in the Formula One Group, S ...

, (Discovery Channel),

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

(Rainbow) and

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

(E!, Golf Channel). In late January 2010, the company had posted a notice on their website stating that they had ceased offering subscriptions pending the FCC's decision on their program-access complaint. This remained in place at least until July 2011; the website has since been replaced by a generic

domain parking Domain parking is the registration of an Internet domain name without that domain being associated with any services such as e-mail or a website. This may have been done with a view to reserving the domain name for future development, and to pr ...

page.

Controversies

Congress attempted to encourage growth and competition in the vertically integrated cable marketplace with the 1992 Cable TV Consumer Protection Act. Using the internet, VDC claims to have brought diversity and increased competition to the marketplace:

The term 'multichannel video programming distributor' means an entity engaged in the business of making available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming. Such entities include, but are not limited to, a cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service, a direct broadcast satellite service, a television receive-only satellite program distributor, and a satellite master antenna television system operator, as well as buying groups or agents of all such entities.47 CFR 76.1000(e) - Code of Federal Regulations
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VDC's complaint with the

was filed against

Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its asse ...

Streamer Seeks Program Access - 1/22/2007 - Multichannel News
to force Turner into compliance with the 1992 Cable Act and to recognize VDC as an MVPD. This would grant VDC mandatory access to broadcast Turner's programming on VDC's MVPD system. The FCC debate also raises regulatory and broadcast issues involving

net neutrality Net neutrality, sometimes referred to as network neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering User (computing), users and online content providers consistent tra ...

References

External links

* * {{CATV USA Cable television companies of the United States Streaming television in the United States