Most RG6 cables use a copper-clad steel centre conductor. eg a very thin coating of copper on a steel wire.
The higher RF frequencies used for TV, Satellite and FM/Digital broadcasting travel mostly on the surface of the inner conductor in coaxial cables.
This is known as the 'skin effect' and as copper is one of the better conductors, those frequencies mostly only travel along the copper outer part of the coax inner conductor.
This keeps the cost of most RG6 Quadshield much lower than if you used a coaxial cable with an all-copper centre conductor.
In instances where baseband frequencies are used, such as video and audio, the signals use all of the centre conductor, not just the surface, so they are better suited to camera cables.
Having said that, RG6 Quadshield cables will in fact work with baseband video signals, but the signal levels will be degraded by comparison to solid copper types.
This will have a greater impact with digital signals compared to analogue, particularly with long runs.
However... if it works... no need to worry about theory.
Bookmarks