cable box

American  

noun

1. an electronic device that allows cable television channels to be viewed by a subscriber.

2. an electronic device that converts a digital television signal to analog or unscrambles a television signal.

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Example Sentences

Then a receiver at someone’s home, like an antenna, would pick up that signal and a cable box would decode it: a method known as multicast.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026

Energy Information Administration, 46% of U.S. homes had a cable box with a DVR, an additional 7% had a stand-alone DVR such as a TiVo, and only 29% had an internet streaming device.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2025

“There’s no contract, no cable box, and no wait time to subscribe,” Disney said in the blog post.

From Reuters • Sep. 5, 2023

All your “campaign reboots” — the equivalent of unplugging the cable box for 15 seconds before plugging it back in — have not worked.

From Washington Times • Aug. 7, 2023

Teenagers here scroll through comics on phones, consume countless hours of Korean dramas without a cable box and zealously follow K-pop stars on social media and new platforms.

From New York Times • Jan. 29, 2023