Today in Philly Tech History November 13, 1963; Comcast's predecessor founded

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On November 13, 1963, Ralph J. Roberts purchased a 1,500-subscriber cable system in Tupelo, Miss., and two unbuilt Mississippi cable-TV franchises in nearby towns, for about $250,000.

At the time, cable tv systems existed mostly in rural or mountainous areas where picking up over-the-air channels via rabbit ears was difficult.

Today, Philadelphia-based Comcast is by far the largest US cable provider, with over 20 million video subscribers, millions more broadband and telephone subscribers, ownership of NBC Universal, annual revenue of more than $60 billion, and a stock market capitalization in excess of $120 billion.

Comcast will celebrate the anniversary internally on November 20. The Philadelphia Inquirer
wrote about the anniversary here.

Although cable systems are often sold or swapped, Tupelo remains a Comcast franchise to this day.