The Story of Communication:

TV—Timeline

1818: In Sweden, Berzelius isolates selenium; its electric conductivity reacts to light.
1827: Wheatstone constructs a kind of microphone and a kind of image scanner.
1873: Report about selenium, resistance and light is a step toward television.
1873: In Ireland, May uses selenium to send a signal through the Atlantic cable.
1875: In England, William Crookes builds a forerunner to the cathode ray tube.
1878: Portuguese professor Adriano de Paiva writes proposal for a video system.
1880: France’s Leblanc theorizes transmitting a picture in segments.
1884: In Germany, Paul Nipkow’s scanning disc, early version of television.
1890: In Germany, Ferdinand Braun invents the cathode ray tube.
1897: In Germany, Braun improves the Crookes’ tube with fluorescence.
1907: In Russia, Boris Rosing develops theory of electronic television.
1910: Neon tube development will aid mechanical television.
1920: Charles Jenkins invents “prismatic rings,” precursor to mechanical TV.
1922: 15-year-old Philo Farnsworth designs a television “image dissector.”
1923: Vladimir Zworykin patents electronic camera tube, the iconoscope.
1925: In London, the demonstration of a televised image. The first image: $
1925: A moving image, the blades of a model windmill, is telecast.
1925: John Logie Baird shows first TV system, using mechanical scanning.
1926: Weather map is televised experimentally.
1926: Bell Telephone Labs transmit film by television.
1926: Charles Jenkins transmits TV signal between cities.
1927: Live test TV by mechanical scanning, 2” x 2.5”, of Herbert Hoover’s face.
1927: Philo Farnsworth assembles a complete electronic TV system.
1927: John Logie Baird sells first recorded TV images, 30-line Phonovisor.
1928: Television sets are put in three U.S. homes, programming begins.
1928: General Electric builds a television set with a 3-inch x 4-inch screen.
1928: Baird invents a videodisc to record television.
1928: In an experiment, television crosses the Atlantic.
1928: In Schenectady, N.Y., the first scheduled television broadcasts.
1928: Mechanical TV disc can scan 3 standards: 24, 36, and 48 lines/sec.
1929: In London, the first TV station is built, experimental transmission only.
1929: Experiments begin on electronic color television.
1929: Zworykin demonstrates the kinescope cathode ray tube for TV receivers.
1929: Television studio is built in London.
1929: Bell Labs produces color TV mechanically.
1930: TVs based on British mechanical system roll off factory line.
1930: NBC sets up experimental TV transmitter in New York.
1930: BBC transmits a play by television, 240 lines/sec of resolution.
1931: RCA broadcasts experimental TV image of Felix the Cat.
1931: Jenkins Radiovisor uses slotted, spinning wheel to send experimental TV image.
1931: Electronic TV broadcasts in Los Angeles and Moscow.
1931: Allen DuMont improves the cathode ray tube.
1931: NBC experimentally transmits 120-line screen.
1932: Allen DuMont secretly develops radar for U.S. Army.
1932: BBC broadcasts television four days a week.
1934: In Germany, mobile television truck roams streets, catches Nazi rally.
1934: Soviet Union makes a television broadcast.
1935: Germany begins TV programming with 180-line resolution.
1935: BBC chooses electronic television over mechanical after six-month trial.
1935: All-electronic VHF television comes out of the RCA lab.
1936: BBC starts world’s first television service, three hours a day.
1936: Berlin Olympics are televised closed circuit.
1936: Philco demonstrates 345-line TV with transmission of 7 miles.
1936: Co-axial cable connects New York to Philadelphia.
1937: BBC transmits final mechanical television program.
1937: NBC sends mobile TV truck onto New York streets.
1938: Baird demonstrates live TV in color.
1938: DuMont markets electronic television receiver for the home.
1939: New York World’s Fair shows TV to the public; FDR is first president on TV.
1939: NBC starts first regular daily electronic TV broadcasts in the U.S.
1940: Zenith experiments with mechanical color wheel television.
1940: Peter Goldmark at CBS demonstrates electronic color TV.
1940: U.S. gets first regular TV station, WNBT, New York; estimated 10,000 viewers.
1941: FCC sets U.S. TV standards.
1941: In New York the first television commercial is broadcast.
1944: NBC presents first U.S. televised network newscast, a curiosity.
1945: Gallup Poll asks, “Do you know what television is?” Many don’t.
1945: FCC creates VHF spectrum of channels 2 – 13.
1945: U.S. has 2,000 miles of co-axial cable.
1946: Soap operas enter television with Faraway Hill.
1946: Louis-Conn heavyweight title fight is telecast to 100,000 viewers.
1946: RCA, NBC demonstrate rival color television systems.
1946: Westinghouse “Stratovision” on airplane bounces TV signal 250 miles.
1946: CBS experiment sends color TV program 450 miles over coaxial cable.
1947: Seven U.S. East Coast TV stations begin regular programming.
1947: Television network service expands with line from New York to Boston.
1947: American television viewers watch commercials.
1947: The zoom lens covers baseball’s world series for TV.
1947: FCC decrees national standard for television receivers.
1948: From RCA, a 16-inch television tube.
1948: CBS and NBC begin nightly 15-minute television newscasts.
1948: Public clamor for television begins; FCC freezes new licenses.
1948: CBS raids NBC for radio, TV top talent.
1948: Community Antenna Television, CATV, forerunner to cable TV.
1948: Airplane re-broadcasts TV signal across nine states.
1949: Network TV established in U.S.
1949: The Emmy Awards for television begin, with 1948 programs.
1949: Hollywood studios begin to produce television programs.
1949: The United States has 98 television stations.
1950: Nielsen’s Audimeter tracks television audiences.
1950: CBS broadcasts in color to 25 television sets.
1950: The wired television remote control.
1950: The FCC adopts CBS color TV standard, changes its mind three years later.
1950: Vidicon camera tube improves television picture.
1951: First transcontinental telecast.
1951: Color television sets go on sale.
1951: One and a half million TV sets in U.S., a tenfold jump in one year.
1951: FCC approves Chicago test of Phonevision subscription TV, $1 for a movie.
1951: CBS presents 4 hours of color TV, but only CBS execs, engineers have sets.
1952: FCC ends freeze, sets VHF band, opens UHF band, reserves education channels.
1952: The first magazine-format TV program, The Today Show, with Dave Garroway.
1953: TV Guide; initial press run is 1.5 million copies.
1953: FCC adopts NTSC color standard developed by RCA; drops CBS standard.
1954: Regular color TV broadcasts begin in U.S. using NTSC standard.
1954: Sporting events are broadcast live in color.
1954: U.S. shaken by Edward R. Murrow TV documentary on Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
1954: 54% of American homes have television sets.
1954: In U.S., television revenue surpasses radio revenue.
1954: U.S. Senate committee holds hearings on effects of televised violence.
1954: Disney ends freeze, leads studios in producing television programs.
1955: Most movie studios open their vaults for television rentals, sales.
1955: Dumont television network gives up.
1955: Research shows TV viewing runs opposite to education, income.
1956: Chet Huntley, David Brinkley bring star system to U.S. TV newscasting.
1956: CBS evening news videotaped on West Coast for 3-hour delay rebroadcast.
1956: From Zenith, the wireless television remote control.
1957: A surgical operation is televised.
1957: Quiz show fraud rocks U.S. television.
1959: French SECAM and German PAL introduced as competing TV systems.
1960: 90% of American homes have television sets.
1960: Kennedy-Nixon debates draw huge numbers of viewers, voters.
1960: Gulf Oil sponsors unscheduled news bulletins on NBC-TV.
1960: Zenith tests subscription TV; unsuccessful.
1961: FCC Chairman Newton Minow calls television a “vast wasteland.”
1961: Boxing match test shows potential of pay-TV.
1962: FCC requires UHF tuners on tv sets.
1963: CBS and NBC TV newscasts expand to 30 minutes in color.
1963: TV news “comes of age” in reporting JFK assassination.
1964: Japan’s NHK begins HDTV development.
1964: The first televised negative political ad skewers Barry Goldwater.
1965: “Bobo doll” study indicates effects on small children of televised violence.
1965: Vietnam War becomes first war to be televised.
1965: Color news film.
1965: Most broadcasts are in color.
1965: Westinghouse Phonovid stores TV sound, pictures on phonograph records.
1966: European nations adopt competing TV standards, PAL and SECAM.
1967: Congress creates Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
1967: ABC joins CBS and NBC in presenting 30-minute television newscasts.
1968: Approximately 200 million TV sets in the world, 78 million in U.S.
1968: Sony develops the Trinitron color television tube.
1969: Supreme Court’s Red Lion decision OK’s Fairness Doctrine.
1969: Public Broadcasting Service, PBS, is created.
1969: In U.S., FCC bans broadcast advertising of tobacco.
1970: Big Bird of Sesame Street gets a Time cover.
1970: FCC forces television networks out of syndication business.
1972: Digital television comes out of the lab.
1974: Electronic News Gathering (ENG).
1975: U.S. television networks agree to “family hour” free of sex and violence.
1976: Court rules that “family hour” on television is unconstitutional.
1976: FCC reserves line 21 on television sets for closed captions.
1980: Sears sells closed-caption decoders for television.
1980: Consultants dominate news policy at many U.S. television stations.
1983: Japan’s NHK presents its analog HDTV system at Swiss conference.
1984: Experimental television set can be worn on the wrist.
1985: Television broadcasts can be heard in stereo.
1985: U.S. TV networks begin satellite distribution to affiliates.
1985: At Expo, a Sony TV screen measures 40x25 meters.
1985: In Japan, experimental 3-D television; no spectacles needed.
1986: U.S., Europe veto Japanese analog HDTV; will develop digital system.
1986: A fourth U.S. television network, Fox, is added to ABC, CBS, NBC lineup.
1986: Television is on for more than seven hours a day in average U.S. home.
1987: FCC repeals most of the Fairness Doctrine. Personal Attack Rule remains.
1987: Half of all U.S. homes with TV are on cable.
1988: 98% of U.S. homes have at least one television set.
1989: NHK begins regular broadcasting of analog HDTV programs.
1989: Tiananmen Square coverage shows power of media to inform the world.
1990: Flyaway SNG aids foreign reportage.
1990: Television Marti joins Radio Marti in sending U.S. propaganda to Cuba.
1990: Congress passes Children’s Television Act to improve programming.
1990: Channel One starts beaming to schools.
1991: Live TV news switching between world capitals during Gulf War.
1992: After President Bush speaks, 25 million viewers try to phone in opinions.
1993: World conference adopts MPEG-2 standard for digital television pictures.
1993: Demand for “V-chip” to block out violent or sexual television programs.
1993: NBC News causes ethical explosion by staging a GM truck explosion.
1994: FCC approves Advanced TV standard, including HDTV and SDTV.
1994: Competitors agree on a standard for high definition TV.
1995: UPN television network created by Paramount and Universal studios.
1995: Sony demonstrates a flat TV set.
1995: WebTV formed to combine television and the Internet.
1995: TV of black/white reactions to O.J. Simpson verdict show polarized U.S.
1996: American Psychological Assoc. correlates TV violence, aggressive behavior.
1996: The FCC approves a digital HDTV standard.
1996: Loosening rules allow multiple radio, TV station ownership in same city.
1996: Sesame Street gets a Russian version.
1997: The Supreme Court finds Communication Decency Act unconstitutional.
1997: U.S. television adopts age-based ratings; news, sports excluded.
1998: 1,280 TV stations have online websites.
1998: First digital TV programs are broadcast in the U.S.
1998: V-chips go into television sets.
1998: HDTV broadcasts begin in the United States.
1998: An HDTV station goes on the air in the United States.
2000: Supreme Court ends Personal Attack Rule, last vestige of Fairness Doctrine.
2001: Average American adult watches 4 hours of TV daily.
2002: From England, roll-up screens for computers, television sets.
2004: 98% of all U..S. homes have color television.
2004: RCA sells 61-inch-wide TV sets 6.5 inches thick.


Cable TV

1953: CATV system uses microwave to bring in distant signals.
1958: Cable carries FM radio stations.
1959: Local announcements, weather data, and local ads go on cable.
1962: Cable companies import distant signals.
1965: FCC rules bring structure to cable television.
1965: Solid-state equipment spreads through the cable industry.
1966: FCC blocks cable television wiring in large cities.
1972: HBO starts pay-TV service for cable.
1972: New FCC rules lead to community access channels.
1972: FCC ends six-year ban on installing cable TV in large cities.
1973: Starting in Columbus, OH, TV cable homes get identifiable addresses.
1975: HBO’s “Thrilla’ from Manila,” nationwide by satellite, begins pay cable boom.
1975: Substantial entertainment production for cable channels.
1976: Ted Turner delivers programming nationwide by satellite.
1977: Columbus, Ohio, residents try 2-way cable experiment, QUBE.
1980: CNN, 24-hour news channel, begins reports.
1980: Addressable cable TV converters pinpoint individual homes.
1985: Pay-per-view channels open for business.
1986: HBO scrambles its signals.
1986: Cable shopping networks meet two public desires: TV and shopping.
1987: Half of all U.S. homes with TV are on cable.
1987: Government deregulates cable industry.
1991: CNN dominates news coverage worldwide during Gulf War.
1991: Denver viewers can order movies at home from list of 1,000+ titles.
1992: U.S. cable mogul John Malone predicts 500-channel future.
1992: Cable TV revenues reach $22 billion.
1992: At least 50 U.S. cities have competing cable services.
1996: Telecommunication Reform Act: phone, cable, broadcast companies compete.
1998: Cable channels start using digital compression technology.
1998: Some cable systems upgraded to permit hundreds of channels.
2002: 70% of U.S. households could have broadband service; 15% use it.
2003: Cable TV offers TiVo-like features: storing, skipping commercials.

Please report any errors to info@radapress.com

Other Resources for TV

• Fascinating Facts

• Websites to Explore

• Sample Chapter (you must have Adobe Reader)

Writing | Printing | Mail | Telephone | Recording | Photography |
Movies | Radio | TV | Computers | Internet