fancy cable

n. A type of cable television distribution using fancy video compression. The technology was developed by Motorola. Fancy cable is used by cable distributors to increase the variety of programming available on their networks, using video compression to transfer more channels through their cable networks already in place. The use of the fancy technology also adds the functionality of the cable box to have two-way communication, allowing for the purchasing of pay-per-view programming without use of a phone line, in addition to video on demand services and a secure signal.