channel
channel (chanəl) noun
1. A path or link through which information passes between two devices. A channel can be either internal or external to a microcomputer. See also bus.
2. In communications, a medium for transferring information. Depending on its type, a communications channel can carry information (data, sound, and/or video) in either analog or digital form. A communications channel can be a physical link, such as the cable connecting two stations in a network, or it can consist of some electromagnetic transmission on one or more frequencies within a bandwidth in the electromagnetic spectrum, as in radio and television, or in optical, microwave, or voice-grade communication. See also analog, band, bandwidth, digital, electromagnetic spectrum, frequency. Also called circuit, line.