Channel surfing is the practice of quickly scanning through different television channels or radio frequencies in order to find something interesting to watch or listen to. Modern viewers, who may have cable or satellite services beaming down dozens if not hundreds of channels, are frequently caught channel surfing. It is common for people to scan channels when commercial broadcasters switch from a show over to running advertisements. The term television channel generally refers to either a television station or its cable/satellite counterpart (both outlined below). ... Coaxial cable is often used to transmit cable television into the house. ... Artists impression of a Boeing 601 satellite, as configured for digital television transmission by SES Astra Satellite television is television delivered by way of communications satellites, as compared to conventional terrestrial television and cable television. ... Commercial broadcasting - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Generally speaking, advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. ...

The term is most commonly associated with television, where the practice became common with the wide availability of the remote control. As of 2002, the Oxford English Dictionary dates the first published use of the term to a November 1986 article in the Wall Street Journal. A television remote control A DVD player remote control A remote control is an electronic device used for the remote operation of a machine. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is generally regarded as the most comprehensive and scholarly dictionary of the English language. ... See also: 1985 in television, other events of 1986, 1987 in television and the list of years in television For the American network television schedule, please see 1986-87 American network television schedule. ... The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ...

The term has some connotations relating to laziness, inattentiveness, and hyperactivity. Channel surfing has been parodied on TV shows and in film, such as in the movie Toy Story 2, and several times on The Simpsons. It has also been noted that men tend to channel surf more than women, although that is not to say that women don't channel surf.^{[citation needed]} For the more specialised meaning of Connotation in semiotics, see connotation (semiotics). ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Laziness Look up Laziness in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Attention in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Hyperactivity can be described as a state in which a person is abnormally easily excitable and exuberant. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Toy Story 2 is a CGI animation film and the sequel to Toy Story, and the third Disney/Pixar feature film, which featured the adventures of a group of toys that come to life when humans are not around to see them. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... This article concerns how a man differs from women. ... Image of a woman on the Pioneer plaque sent to outer space. ...

Viewers' propensity to channel surf was apparently a factor leading toward the current ATSC standard for terrestrial digital television in North America. An ATSC signal can be locked onto and start being decoded within about one second, while it can take several seconds to begin decoding a DVB signal. The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) is the group that helped to develop the new digital television standard for the United States, also adopted by Canada, Mexico, and South Korea and being considered by other countries. ... Digital television (DTV) is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound by means of digital signals, in contrast to analogue signals in analogue (traditional) T.V. It uses digital modulation data, which is digitally compressed and requires decoding by a specially designed television set or a... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... Official DVB logo, found on compliant devices DVB, short for Digital Video Broadcasting, is a suite of internationally accepted, open standards for digital television maintained by the DVB Project, an industry consortium with more than 270 members, and published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of European Telecommunications Standards Institute...

See also

• Scanner (radio)
• Web surfing