a cable television provider's basic offering of channels, available at no extra charge, i.e., excluding those channels for which there is a premium charge; carries the lowest monthly fee.

Primary level or levels of cable service offered for subscription. Basic cable offerings may include retransmitted broadcast signals as well as local and access programming. In addition, regional and national cable network programming may be provided. Basic service offerings at the system level may be offered as more than one tier.

Channels received by cable subscribers at no extra charge, usually supported by advertising and small per-subscriber fees paid by cable operators.