Clipping is a fundamental source of distortion in subcarrier multiplexed lightwave systems. We numerically simulate the clipping nonlinear distortion for typical CATV systems. The simulation results agree well with the Saleh clipping limit for effective modulation depths greater than 0.25. The composite second-order (CSO) and composite triple-beat (CTB) distortion are also predicted. The results indicate that the CSO and CTB distortion rise sharply at nearly the same value of the effective rms modulation depth as the total nonlinear distortion (NLD).