The present invention provides a cable television program play method and device. The embodiment of the invention provides a method and device for playing cable television by using an intelligent television. The objective of the invention is to solve the defects that the hardware resource is wasted caused by the repeat arrangement of an intelligent television and the set top box hardware resource, and reduce the product hardware cost. The method comprises: receiving a cable television play request sent by the intelligent television, all the cable television play request carrying channel identifications; locking the channels corresponding to the channel identifications, and obtaining the cable television modulation signals of the channels; and demodulating the cable television modulation signals by using a modulation and demodulation unit and transmitting the demodulated cable television signals to the intelligent television, and performing parse of the demodulated cable television signals and playing the demodulated cable television signals through the intelligent television.