John Walson, Sr. (born John Walsonavich; March 25, 1915 – March 27, 1983) was an American appliance store owner. Based in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, Walson worked for Pennsylvania Power & Light before starting a General Electric franchise out of his home in 1945. He founded Service Electric in 1948; the family-owned cable television provider services Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey.
Walson is widely considered to have invented cable television in 1948. The popular account involves him solving problems receiving radio signals from Philadelphia television stations, which were blocked by mountaintops. His claim is recognized by the U.S. Congress and the National Cable Television Association and has been repeated by journalists and scholarly sources alike. However, it has also been contested; research arguing against Walson's claim was published in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media in 1996.[1]