BIRDS IN HAND: RCA and a Communications Revolution In the 1970s, the cable television industry was transformed - not by cables, but by communications satellites flying more than 23,000 miles above the earth. These satellites enabled a programming revolution that made household names out of HBO, CNN, ESPN, Ted Turner and Pat Robertson. The common thread in the emergence of these global brands was a fleet of satellites built and operated by RCA, which extended the reach of cable TV in ways that previously were unimaginable. This revolution was made possible by the technologists who built and flew these satellites - especially a team of engineers from RCA. But it wasn't easy or dull. One satellite blew up four days after launch. Another almost shook itself to pieces in deep space. Armed only with telemetry, engineers had to trouble-shoot problems on satellites worth tens of millions of dollars as they hurtled through the harsh environment of space.