Carrier
Oscillation at very high frequency. Due to modulation it is capable of transporting a TV or radio signal over very long distances.

Cinch connector
Standardised connector providing an internal and an external lead, it is used to bring about uni-polar, shielded connections.

Clarke, Arthur C
Physicist and science fiction writer in the USA who mathematically calculated the geostationary earth orbit.

Coaxial Cable
Component used to establish electrical connections between the antenna and the receiver. It involves a special construction consisting of an internal and an external lead. An insulating layer that guarantees minimum loss of signal separates the two leads. Coaxial cable is sometimes also known as shielded cable, since the function of the external lead is to shield the internal lead from interference, this is how the signal loss of the internal lead is minimised.

Compression, digital
A system used in order to filter out only the relevant data within a highly complex package of information. This system is used in conjunction with digital television in order to significantly reduce the amount of information required for a TV picture, and thus to ensure the data can be fed into conventional transmission channels at a suitable speed.

Conditional Access System (CA)
These are required in order to decode encrypted programmes, the actual part is known as a Conditional Access Module (CAM), International standards for these interfaces have been agreed, this resulted in the Common Interface (CI). In order to be able to operate with several CAMs, digital receivers have one or more interfaces based on the Common Interface standard. This CI interface ensures future expansion and upgradability of the digital receiver (the term I-CAM is also used).