The Timeline of Television History

1860
Who Invented the Telephone?
1873
Selenium Experiments
1875
Thomson and Carey
1876
Bell Receives Telephone Patent
1877
Edison Invents the Phonograph
1884
The Nipkow Disc
1889
First Motion Picture System
1896
Movie Film
1897
Braun Invents the Cathode Ray Tube
1900
"Television" Coined
1901
Radio Morse Code
1902
Alexanderson Begins Working At GE
1903
Wright Brothers Fly
1904
Fleming Develops the Vacuum Tube
1906
First Long Range Broadcast of Radio by Voice
1907
Mechanical Scanner
1908
Campbell-Swinton Proposes Electronic Television
1911
Rosing Patent for Synchronization
1919
First Radio License in Canada
1920
Birth of Commercial Radio
1921
Farnsworth Daydreams
1922
BBC is Born
1922
Pictures by Telephone
1923
Zworykin Patent Application
1923
Baird Transmits Moving Shadows
1923
Wire and Wireless
1923
First Silhouette Television Images
1924
Japanese Race
1925
First Public Demonstration of Radiovison
1925
First Person Televised
1926
Baird Gives Demonstration
1926
First Screen Capture Published
1926
Phonovision
1926
Noctovision
1926
First Television Transmission in Japan
1927
Farnsworth's Barely Visible Line
1927
Baird Records Television Signals
1927
First Long Distance Transmission
1927
Baird Transmits From London to Glasgow
1927
First Talking Motion Picture
1927
CBS is Born
1928
Felix the Cat
1928
First Cross-Atlantic Transmission
1928
First Home TV Reception in the US
1928
Shore to Ship Transmission
1928
Regular TV Schedule
1928
Jenkins Begins Broadcasting
1928
First TV Drama
1929
Colour TV in the USA
1929
CBS Purchased
1929
Zworykin Demonstrates "Kinescope"
1929
Stock Market Crashes
1930
First Home Demonstration in the US
1930
First Closed Circuit TV in the US
1930
Blondie & Dagwood
1931
Empire State Building Transmitter
1931
First Wedding Broadcast
1932
FDR Elected
1932
Home of the Rockettes
1933
TV Demonstrated at Eaton's
1933
Storm Brewing
1933
First Drive-In Theatre
1934
Farnsworth Loans TV Camera to Baird
1934
Dionne Quintuplets
1934
The FCC is Created
1935
TV Experiments in Montreal
1936
BBC Begins Television Broadcasting
1936
HDTV Broadcasts in the US
1936
Berlin Summer Olympics
1936
Philco Demonstrates HDTV
1937
King's Coronation On BBC
1937
RCA Displays 343-Line TV
1937
Projection Television
1937
RCA Mobile TV
1937
First Animated Feature Film
1938
Allen B. DuMont
1938
First Hollywood Movie
1938
War of the Worlds
1939
1939 World's Fair
1939
Sports TV Firsts
1939
BBC Off the Air
1939
Canada Declares War
1940
CBS Demonstrates Colour TV
1940
Baird Demonstrates 600-Line Colour
1940
Hockey Night in New York
1941
NTSC Standard Adopted
1942
Wartime Hours
1943
First Televised Opera
1944
Baird Patents HDTV
1944
Ownership Limits
1945
Post War Commercial Television
1945
Atomic Bomb
1945
Germany Surrenders
1946
Baird Passes Away
1947
Kodak and NBC
1948
Mr. Television
1949
CBC Television Development
1950
FCC Approves CBS Standard
1951
Colour Experiments Fail
1951
I Love Lucy Premieres
1952
CBC Broadcasts Bring Cable to Canada
1953
Elizabeth II Crowned
1954
Compatible Colour Broadcasting Begins
1955
Demise of the Fourth Network
1956
Elvis the Pelvis
1957
Sputnik Launched
1958
Saint Clare - Patron Saint of Television
1959
Father of Canadian Television
1960
Nixon - Kennedy Debates
1961
CTV Launches
1961
Vast Wasteland
1962
Transatlantic Satellite TV
1963
The World Mourns JFK
1964
First VCR
1965
The Whole World is Watching
1966
Canadian TV in Colour
1967
Birth of Public Broadcasting
1968
Martin Luther King Assassinated
1969
Man Lands on the Moon
1970
War Measures Act
1971
All in the Family
1972
Anik 1 Satellite Launched
1972
The Beachcombers on CBC
1972
Cable Television Report and Order
1972
Pong Video Game
1972
Munich Olympics
1972
First Successful Pay Cable Service
1972
1972 Summit Series
1972
Citytv Everywhere!
1973
Projection Screens
1973
Statistics!
1973
Exporting Television
1973
Watergate Scandal
1974
Portable Colour VTR
1974
Global Launches
1974
Nixon Resigns
1975
Last of the Kit TVs
1975
Statistics!
1975
Saturday Night Live!
1975
Satellite to Cable
1975
First Home Use Videocassette Recorder
1975
First Personal Computer
Start of Timeline

1860

End of Timeline
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1860
Who Invented the Telephone?
2002 | June 15 - The US Congress officially recognized Antonio Meucci as the inventor of the telephone in 1860, not Alexander Graham, as so far claimed. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, who conducted experiments in the same laboratory where Meucci's material had been stored, was granted the first telephone patent, and was thereafter credited with inventing the telephone.  
Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci - Italiano - Inventore del Telefono.
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Selenium Experiments
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1873
Selenium Experiments
1873 | February - The two telegraph engineers, Joseph May and Willoughby Smith, experiment with selenium and light in order to give inventors a way of transforming images into electrical signals.
Willoughby Smith (6 April 1828,–17 July 1891) / Periodic Table of Elements: Selenium
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Who Invented the Telephone?
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Thomson and Carey
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1875
Thomson and Carey
1875 - Thomson transmits wireless signals. George R. Carey of Boston proposes a television system in which every picture element is transmitted simultaneously, each over a separate circuit. A large number of photoelectric cells are arranged on a panel, facing the image, and wired to a panel carrying the same number of bulbs.
George Carey's selenium camera, as illustrated in the Scientific American article Seeing by Electricity, June 5, 1880
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Selenium Experiments
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Bell Receives Telephone Patent
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1876
Bell Receives Telephone Patent
1876 | March 2 - In Boston, Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who is working on technology for the deaf, receives the first patent for a working telephone system.
Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922)
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Thomson and Carey
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Edison Invents the Phonograph
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1877
Edison Invents the Phonograph
1877 | August 12: Thomas Alva Edison finished the model of a device that recorded sound onto tinfoil cylinders, inventing the "phonograph" in Menlo Park , New Jersey.
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931)
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Bell Receives Telephone Patent
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The Nipkow Disc
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1884
The Nipkow Disc
1884 | January - German inventor Paul Nipkow develops a rotating-disc technology to transmit pictures over wire.
Nipkow's 'disc' from the patent application of 1884 / Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow (22 August 1860 – 24 August 1940)
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Edison Invents the Phonograph
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First Motion Picture System
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1889
First Motion Picture System
1889 - Film developed by Eastman and the film camera developed by Edison, are combined to produce the first motion picture system.
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The Nipkow Disc
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Movie Film
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1896
Movie Film
1896 - Kodak develops the first motion picture film designed for projection.
Original Eastman Kodak company logo
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First Motion Picture System
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Braun Invents the Cathode Ray Tube
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1897
Braun Invents the Cathode Ray Tube
1897 - Karl Ferdinand Braun, a German physicist, invents the first cathode-ray tube, the basis of all modern television cameras and receivers. Braun has the idea of placing two electromagnets around the neck of the tube to make the electron beam move horizontally and vertically. On the fluorescent screen the movement of the electron beam has the effect of tracing visible lines on the screen.
Karl Ferdinand Braun (6 June 1850 – 20 April 1918) and his cathode-ray tube sketch
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Movie Film
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"Television" Coined
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1900
"Television" Coined
1900 | August 25 - The term "television" was coined by Constantin Perskyi at the International Electricity Congress. Part of the 1900 Paris, France Exhibition.
The 1900 Paris Exhibition.
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Braun Invents the Cathode Ray Tube
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Radio Morse Code
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1901
Radio Morse Code
1901 | December 12 - The Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi developed radio telegraphy. Standing on Signal Hill, St. John's, Newfoundland, he received the first transatlantic wireless signal - the letter "S" in Morse code - which was transmitted from over 1800 miles away in Cornwall, England.
Guglielmo Marconi (25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) with Signal Hill Transmitter
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"Television" Coined
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Alexanderson Begins Working At GE
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1902
Alexanderson Begins Working At GE
1902 | February - Radio and television pioneer Ernst Alexanderson begins working at General Electric, commencing a career as an engineer and inventor that will earn him 344 patents.
Ernst Frederick Werner Alexanderson (January 25, 1878 – May 14, 1975)
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Radio Morse Code
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Wright Brothers Fly
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1903
Wright Brothers Fly
1903 | December 17 - Today we celebrate the anniversary of Orville and Wilbur Wright's achievement: sustained controlled powered flight. This exhibition occurred on this day in 1903, in their homemade flyer, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
The first flight, at Kitty Hawk
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Alexanderson Begins Working At GE
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Fleming Develops the Vacuum Tube
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1904
Fleming Develops the Vacuum Tube
1904 | November 16 - J. A. Fleming develops the vacuum tube diode.
Sir John Ambrose Fleming (29 November 1849 – 18 April 1945) and his 1904 patent Drawing
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Wright Brothers Fly
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First Long Range Broadcast of Radio by Voice
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1906
First Long Range Broadcast of Radio by Voice
1906 | December 24 - Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden is the first to successfully transmit the sound of a human voice by radio. He accomplishes this between two 50-foot towers. Six years later, after a long battle to raise more funds, Fessenden makes the first long-range voice broadcast in radio history on Christmas Eve, and plays "O Holy Night" on his violin to radio operators on ships in the Atlantic.
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (October 6, 1866 – July 22, 1932) in his lab, believed circa 1906
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Fleming Develops the Vacuum Tube
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Mechanical Scanner
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1907
Mechanical Scanner
1907 - Boris Rosing designs a mechanical scanner with a cathode ray tube (CRT) and a receiver at St. Petersburg Technical Institute.
Boris Lvovich Rosing (April 23, 1869 – April 20, 1933). Diagram as published in Scientific American
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First Long Range Broadcast of Radio by Voice
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Campbell-Swinton Proposes Electronic Television
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1908
Campbell-Swinton Proposes Electronic Television
1908 | June 18 - A.A. Campbell-Swinton, an electrical engineer, publishes proposals about an all-electronic television system that uses a cathode ray tube for both receiver and camera. Three years later, in 1911, he describes his cathode ray system in detail in "Scientific American". The article discusses future uses of television. Entertainment is not among them.
Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton, FRS (1863 – 1930). Diagram as published in The Times
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Mechanical Scanner
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Rosing Patent for Synchronization
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1911
Rosing Patent for Synchronization
1911 | April 5 - With college student Vladimir Zworykin as his assistant, Boris Rosing of Russia achieves his first distant transmission of images and receives the Gold Medal of the Russian Technical Society. Also this year, Rosing develops a system combining a cathode ray tube with a Nipkow disc.
Also in 1911 Boris and Vladimir demonstrated a mechanical mirror-drum scanner to transmit over wires.
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Campbell-Swinton Proposes Electronic Television
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First Radio License in Canada
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1919
First Radio License in Canada
1919 | December - The Marconi Company of Canada is awarded Canada's first broadcasting license, WXA in Montreal. The radio station is soon changed to CFCF.
The Broadcasting at "WXA" In Montreal.
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Rosing Patent for Synchronization
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Birth of Commercial Radio
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1920
Birth of Commercial Radio
1920 | October 27 - KDKA Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, applied for and was granted the very first commercial broadcast radio license in the world.
Radio Station KDKA broadcasting election results for the Harding-Cox presidential election, USA
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First Radio License in Canada
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Farnsworth Daydreams
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1921
Farnsworth Daydreams
1921 - A 14-year old Philo T Farnsworth, having read about mechanical television in magazines, is reported to have conceived of electronic television scanning while daydreaming in an Idaho potato field. He confides his idea to high school teacher Justin Tolman.
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) at age 13
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Birth of Commercial Radio
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BBC is Born
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1922
BBC is Born
1922 | October 18 - The British Broadcasting Company, as the BBC was originally called, is formed by a group of leading wireless manufacturers including Marconi.
Left: BBC/PMG stamp, November 1st 1922 to September 1924. Centre: BBC/EBM stamp, September 1924 to 1927. Right: B.B.C. 'Trademark' stamp, September 1924 to 1927
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Farnsworth Daydreams
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Pictures by Telephone
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1922
Pictures by Telephone
1922 | October 3 - The transmission of pictures by telephone wire was publicly demonstrated by Charles Francis Jenkins.
Charles Francis Jenkins
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BBC is Born
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Zworykin Patent Application
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1923
Zworykin Patent Application
1923 | December 29 - Russian born American inventor Vladimir Zworykin applied for a US patent for an electronic camera tube, the "Iconoscope". He didn't receive the patent until thirteen years later! By the end of 1923 he had also produced a picture display tube, the "Kinescope", an all-electronic television system.
Vladimir K. Zworykin and his filed patent application
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Pictures by Telephone
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Baird Transmits Moving Shadows
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1923
Baird Transmits Moving Shadows
1923 | April 23 - John Logie Baird transmitted moving shadows between two separate machines (two feet apart connected by wire) which were synchronized using an electrical current from a motor.
John Logie Baird
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Zworykin Patent Application
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Wire and Wireless
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1923
Wire and Wireless
1923 | May 26 - A.A. Campbell Swinton read a paper to the Radio Society of Great Britain on The Possibilities of Television with Wire and Wireless.
Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton
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Baird Transmits Moving Shadows
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First Silhouette Television Images
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1923
First Silhouette Television Images
1923 | June 14 - Charles Francis Jenkins demonstrated the first experimental wireless television transmissions with a mechanical system (48 lines on 1875 kHz). He managed to transmit silhouettes from the Navy radio station in Anacostia to his Jenkins Laboratories office in Washington Dc. Jenkins named this first laboratory demonstration of television “Radio Vision”, defined as the instantaneous reproduction on a small screen of a picture. This he differentiated from “Radio Movies”, which he defined as the transmission of pictures from a theatre film to a small screen at home.  
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Wire and Wireless
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Japanese Race
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1924
Japanese Race
1924 - Kenjiro Takayanagi begins work on television in Japan. He'll be the first in Japan to transmit an image two years later.
Kenjiro Takayanagi (January 20, 1899, – July 23, 1990)
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First Silhouette Television Images
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First Public Demonstration of Radiovison
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1925
First Public Demonstration of Radiovison
1925 | June 13: Ohio engineer Charles Francis Jenkins demonstrated the first synchronized transmission of pictures and sound, using 48 lines, and a mechanical system. Jenkins called this "the first public demonstration of radio-vision" though he claimed to have successfully transmitted a moving silhouette in June 1923.
Charles F. Jenkins demonstrating Radiovision
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Japanese Race
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First Person Televised
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1925
First Person Televised
1925 | October 2 - John Logie Baird obtains his first “tones and detail” television picture - an image of "Stooky Bill", a ventriloquist's dummy. That same day, Baird pays 24-year-old office boy William Taynton 2 shillings and sixpence to sit for the camera, sweating under the blazing lights for hours, in order to be the first individual to appear live on “true” television.
William Taynton televised
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First Public Demonstration of Radiovison
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Baird Gives Demonstration
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1926
Baird Gives Demonstration
1926⎟ January 26 - Television Pioneer, John Logie Baird, gave a successful public demonstration of mechanical television at his laboratory in London.
John Logie Baird's original television image of a moving face as transmitted at his public demonstration in London on 26 January 1926
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First Person Televised
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First Screen Capture Published
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1926
First Screen Capture Published
1926 | June 25 - Photograph of a human face, taken from the screen of a Baird televisor, is published in "The Electrician".
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Baird Gives Demonstration
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Phonovision
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1926
Phonovision
1926 | October 5 - John Logie Baird applied for a patent for “Phonovision” - a system for recording and playing back #television images on 78 rpm phonograph discs. By September 20, 1927, Baird had successfully transferred an image of his “Stooky Bill” doll to a 78 rpm disc. On that same day, he applied for separate patents for his experiments with radar and fibreoptics.
"Phonovision" device
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First Screen Capture Published
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Noctovision
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1926
Noctovision
1926 | November 23 - John Logie Baird demonstrated “Noctovision” - the ability to see in the dark using infrared or ultraviolet rays in place of light.
Baird and his "Noctovisor"
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Phonovision
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First Television Transmission in Japan
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1926
First Television Transmission in Japan
1926 | December 25 - To Kenjiro Takayanagi's delight, the Japanese character Katakana (I) was displayed on a Braun tube. Takayanagi had dreamed of “wireless distance vision,” which could reproduce a scene from far away.
The Japanese character Katakana (I) displayed on television
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Noctovision
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Farnsworth's Barely Visible Line
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1927
Farnsworth's Barely Visible Line
1927 | September 7 - American engineer Philo T. Farnsworth transmitted an electronic moving image - a barely visible line - to the delight of his technicians and investors. Nine months earlier, on January 7, Farnsworth applied for a patent for the dissector tube, the basis of today's all-electronic television, and received it three years later in August 1930. We've extended access to our magnificent exhibit, "Forgotten Genius: The Boy Who invented Electronic TV", curated by Phil Savenick of Los Angeles, California. Come and see some of the rarest, historic television artifacts on the planet. Don't miss it! On display...
Philo's early diagram of his image dissector.
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First Television Transmission in Japan
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Baird Records Television Signals
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1927
Baird Records Television Signals
1927⎟ Jan 26 - John Logie Baird applied for a patent for a system of recording television signals by means of a magnetic disc, essentially the mechanical television system.
Baird's patent
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Farnsworth's Barely Visible Line
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First Long Distance Transmission
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1927
First Long Distance Transmission
1927 | April 7 - Pictures of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, were transmitted 200 miles by wire from Washington to New York by AT&T's Bell Labs, in the world's first televised speech and first long-distance television transmission. 1000 men were employed for the demonstration.
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Baird Records Television Signals
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Baird Transmits From London to Glasgow
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1927
Baird Transmits From London to Glasgow
1927 | May 24 - Six weeks after the AT&T/Bell Labs transmission of Hoover's speech, John Logie Baird responded by broadcasting signals from London to Glasgow (more than 400 miles apart), with seven assistants and a telephone line.
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First Long Distance Transmission
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First Talking Motion Picture
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1927
First Talking Motion Picture
1927 | October 6 - "The Jazz Singer", starring Al Jolson, premiered. It was the first talking motion picture.
The Jazz Singer
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Baird Transmits From London to Glasgow
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CBS is Born
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1927
CBS is Born
1927 | October 18 - Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System - later CBS - makes its first broadcast.
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First Talking Motion Picture
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Felix the Cat
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1928
Felix the Cat
1928 | April - Station W2XBS, RCA's first television station, is established in New York City. Initially, it broadcasts only experimental mechanical television. W2XBS has the distinction of later creating television's first star, Felix the Cat.
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CBS is Born
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First Cross-Atlantic Transmission
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1928
First Cross-Atlantic Transmission
1928 | February 8 - John Logie Baird transmitted television across the Atlantic Ocean. From Baird Studios in Long Acre, Crystal Palace, London, Baird sent images of his experimental doll "Stooky Bill" to a relay station in Coulsdon, Croydon, United Kingdom. From there it was sent across the Atlantic via shortwave to New York, New York. Soon after, he transmitted the first image of a man (himself), followed by the first image of a woman, Mrs. Mia Howe. Her face was seen in Hartsdale, New York.
On February 9, 1928 a Mrs. Howe was the first person to be televised from London to New York
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Felix the Cat
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First Home TV Reception in the US
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1928
First Home TV Reception in the US
1928 | January 13 - Ernst Alexanderson demonstrated the GE system, and in doing so announced the beginning of television broadcasting. The images were received on sets with 1.5 square inch screens in the home of Alexanderson as well as two board members in Schenectady, New York. This broadcast is generally accepted by many as the very first home reception of television in the United States. The picture, with 48 lines at 16 frames per second, was transmitted over 2XAF on 37.8 meters and the sound was transmitted over WGY radio station.
Alexanderson on the cover of Popular Mechanics Magazine, shown at home receiving the first transmission
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First Cross-Atlantic Transmission
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Shore to Ship Transmission
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1928
Shore to Ship Transmission
1928 | May 6 - The first shore to ship transmission was received on the RMS Berengaria. It was an image of Stooky Bill, followed by the image of Dora Selvey, the ship's Chief Wireless Operator and fiancée of the ship’s Operator.
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First Home TV Reception in the US
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Regular TV Schedule
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1928
Regular TV Schedule
1928 | May 11 - The first regular schedule of TV programming begins in the US. General Electric programs are transmitted from Schenectady, using 24 lines, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons. In the same year, the Federal Radio Commission is established in the US.
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Shore to Ship Transmission
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Jenkins Begins Broadcasting
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1928
Jenkins Begins Broadcasting
1928 | July 2: Charles Francis Jenkins received for the first time in history, a United States television license for WSXK in Wheaton, Maryland and successfully began broadcasting to the general public.
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Regular TV Schedule
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First TV Drama
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1928
First TV Drama
1928 | September 11 - The world's first televised drama, The Queens Messenger, is broadcast live from W2XAD in Schenectady, NewYork with sound from WGY radio. GE Engineer, Ernst Alexanderson's 48-line system of mechanical television is used. The GE Octagon, which you can see at the MZTV Museum of Television, is used on the set of the play to monitor the broadcast. Given the constraints of his mechanical television apparatus, Alexanderson selects the 1899 play by J. Hartley Manners, which features only two characters and precious little movement. Three stationary cameras are used, one for each of the actors and...
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Jenkins Begins Broadcasting
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Colour TV in the USA
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1929
Colour TV in the USA
1929 | June 27 - Herbert E. Ives and his colleagues at Bell Laboratories in  NewYork produced and demonstrated colour TV mechanically. The first images were of a bouquet of roses and an American flag. The system used a single spiral, through the holes of which light from three coloured sources was passed. A mechanical system was used to transmit 50-line colour television images from New York, New York to Washington DC.
Bell Telephone Laboratories
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First TV Drama
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CBS Purchased
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1929
CBS Purchased
1929 | January 18 - The struggling radio network, CBS is bought by William S. Paley. Through Paley's management, the corporation grows and expands to include radio and television, recorded music, musical instruments, and publishing.
William S. Paley
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Colour TV in the USA
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Zworykin Demonstrates "Kinescope"
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1929
Zworykin Demonstrates "Kinescope"
1929 | November 18 - At a convention of radio engineers, Vladimir Zworkyn demonstrated a television receiver containing his "kinescope", a cathode ray tube.  
Vladimir Zworykin and his kinescope tube
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CBS Purchased
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Stock Market Crashes
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1929
Stock Market Crashes
1929 | October 24 - New York Stock Exchange investors begin selling off their stocks as fast as they can, leading to an unprecedented crash of stock prices and the beginning of the depression.
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Zworykin Demonstrates "Kinescope"
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First Home Demonstration in the US
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1930
First Home Demonstration in the US
1930 | August 20 - The first home reception of television in the United States is demonstrated. A half-hour broadcast from the Jenkins station, W2XCR in Jersey City, and the Deforest station W2XCD in Passaic. Two sets were available for public viewing, and one in a press suite.
Map showing the broadcast distance of the 1930 demonstration.
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Stock Market Crashes
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First Closed Circuit TV in the US
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1930
First Closed Circuit TV in the US
1930 | May 22 - An audience at Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady becomes the first in North America to see closed-circuit TV projected onto a big screen.
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First Home Demonstration in the US
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Blondie & Dagwood
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1930
Blondie & Dagwood
1930 | September 8 - It was this day when Blondie and Dagwood officially went to print in the newspaper for the first time. The comic strip had been a huge success, and only 8 years later, this led to their very own TV series.
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First Closed Circuit TV in the US
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Empire State Building Transmitter
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1931
Empire State Building Transmitter
1931 | December 22 - NBC began experimental transmissions of electronic television from a transmitter on top of the Empire State Building in New York City.
The Empire State Building and its transmitter
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Blondie & Dagwood
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First Wedding Broadcast
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1931
First Wedding Broadcast
1931 | May 1 - The first wedding is broadcast on television, station W2XOR in New York.
The bride and groom, Grace Jones and Frank Du Vall
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Empire State Building Transmitter
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FDR Elected
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1932
FDR Elected
1932 | November 8 - Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the United States. CBS TV reported on the presidential election to an estimated 7,500 sets, or 9,000 sets according to CBS's estimate. Programming consisted of commentary, return charts and still cartoons of politicians.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
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First Wedding Broadcast
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Home of the Rockettes
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1932
Home of the Rockettes
1932 | December 27 - Radio City Music Hall is opened in Manhattan.
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FDR Elected
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TV Demonstrated at Eaton's
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1933
TV Demonstrated at Eaton's
1933 - Western Television Limited's mechanical TV system is toured and demonstrated at Eaton's department stores in Toronto, Montreal, and Winnipeg.
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Home of the Rockettes
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Storm Brewing
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1933
Storm Brewing
1933 | February 24 - Japan left the League of Nations Assembly. This came around 4 months after Germany quit the League and withdrew from all disarmament talks.
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TV Demonstrated at Eaton's
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First Drive-In Theatre
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1933
First Drive-In Theatre
1933 | June 6 - Richard Hollingshead opened the first drive-in theatre in Camden, New Jersey.
Diagram of the first official drive-in theater in Camden
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Storm Brewing
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Farnsworth Loans TV Camera to Baird
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1934
Farnsworth Loans TV Camera to Baird
1934 - Philo T. Farnsworth licenses the use of his camera to John Logie Baird for his BBC presentations. The quality of the images captured with the camera is so poor, that Baird eventually ceases using it.
The Baird 30-line studio at Portland Place, around 1934.
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First Drive-In Theatre
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Dionne Quintuplets
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1934
Dionne Quintuplets
1934 | May 28 - The Dionne sisters, first quintuplets to survive beyond infancy, are born in Callander, Ontario.
The Dionne quintuplets
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Farnsworth Loans TV Camera to Baird
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The FCC is Created
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1934
The FCC is Created
1934 | June 19 - The United States Federal Communications Commission is created by an act of Congress. This merges the administrative responsibilities for regulating broadcasting and wired communications under one agency.
Members of the FCC inspect a television
  Previous
Dionne Quintuplets
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TV Experiments in Montreal
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1935
TV Experiments in Montreal
1935 | December - William Hoyt Peck of Peck Television of Canada uses a transmitter in Montreal during five weeks of experimental mechanical broadcasts.
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The FCC is Created
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BBC Begins Television Broadcasting
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1936
BBC Begins Television Broadcasting
1936 | November 2 - The BBC started the world's first public high definition electronic television service in London, with both Baird's mechanical 240 line system and the Marconi-EMI 405 line system. Adele Dixon opened the BBC service with a specially written song "Television".
Adele Dixon sings "Television"
  Previous
TV Experiments in Montreal
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HDTV Broadcasts in the US
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1936
HDTV Broadcasts in the US
1936 | June 29 - A 343-line TV signal was transmitted from the Empire State Building to RCA licensees. The programming was (reportedly) the first high-definition broadcast and featured speeches by RCA execs, dancing girls, and a film about United States Army maneuvers.
  Previous
BBC Begins Television Broadcasting
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Berlin Summer Olympics
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1936
Berlin Summer Olympics
1936 | August 1 - The first live television coverage of a sports event, transmitted by closed-circuit equipment to special viewing booths in Berlin, Germany and Potsdam, Germany. The Berlin Summer Olympics was televised by Telefunken (using RCA equipment) and Fernseh (using Farnsworth equipment).
Berlin Olympiade 1936
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HDTV Broadcasts in the US
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Philco Demonstrates HDTV
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1936
Philco Demonstrates HDTV
1936 | August 15 - "Broadcasting" magazine reported Philco Corporation demonstrated its system of television with seven-mile transmission of live and film subjects in 345-line images 9 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches.
Philco "116PX" television from 1936
  Previous
Berlin Summer Olympics
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King's Coronation On BBC
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1937
King's Coronation On BBC
1937 | May 12 - The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcasts the procession of the coronation of King George VI from Hyde Park Corner. This represents the first notable broadcast outside the US.
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Philco Demonstrates HDTV
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RCA Displays 343-Line TV
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1937
RCA Displays 343-Line TV
1937 | November 6 - RCA displays 343-line TV for the press as part of NBC's tenth anniversary celebration.
  Previous
King's Coronation On BBC
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Projection Television
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1937
Projection Television
1937 | May 15 - "Broadcasting" reports RCA demonstrates projection television, with images enlarged to 8 by 10 feet, at Institute of Radio Engineers convention.
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RCA Displays 343-Line TV
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RCA Mobile TV
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1937
RCA Mobile TV
1937 | December 12 - Mobile television vans that were developed by RCA / NBC appeared on New York streets for the very first time!
The RCA mobile television van in New York City
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Projection Television
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First Animated Feature Film
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1937
First Animated Feature Film
1937 | December 21 - The first full length animated feature film, Disney's Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, was an instant hit. This would prove that animated features had a place in the worldwide market.
  Previous
RCA Mobile TV
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Allen B. DuMont
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1938
Allen B. DuMont
1938 | June - Initially an inventor working on improving the cathode ray tube, Allen B. DuMont begins manufacturing televisions and offers the first all electronic TV set for retail sale in the US. His 14-inch model is reportedly superior to RCA's 12-inch. DuMont also forms a television network, partially funded by Paramount Pictures, to compete with RCA
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First Animated Feature Film
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First Hollywood Movie
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1938
First Hollywood Movie
1938 | May 31 - W2XBS telecasts the first Hollywood movie "The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel", starring Leslie Howard. The staff projectionist played the last reel out of order, ending the film 20 minutes early. After this incident, NBC can not obtain first-run movies for many years.
The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel
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Allen B. DuMont
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War of the Worlds
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1938
War of the Worlds
1938 | October 30 - Orson Welles sent panic along the East Coast with the radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' fantasy "The War of the Worlds". Thousands believed that an interplanetary conflict had started with invading martians spreading death and destruction in New York and New Jersey.
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First Hollywood Movie
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1939 World's Fair
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1939
1939 World's Fair
1939 | April 30 - Television was introduced to the public at large at the New York World's Fair. The "Phantom Teleceiver" (made of Lucite) and the entire line of RCA televisions were demonstrated at the RCA Pavilion. NBC televised the opening ceremonies including the first televised presidential address, by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to approximately 1,000 viewers who own television sets. The New York Times reported that the picture is "clear and steady."
RCA pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair
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War of the Worlds
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Sports TV Firsts
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1939
Sports TV Firsts
1939 | June 1 - First heavyweight boxing match televised, Max Baer vs. Lou Nova, from Yankee Stadium. Nova won.
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1939 World's Fair
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BBC Off the Air
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1939
BBC Off the Air
1939 | September 1 - Because of the outbreak of war, the BBC abruptly stopped broadcasting in the middle of a Mickey Mouse cartoon, resuming at that same point when peace returned in 1945.
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Sports TV Firsts
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Canada Declares War
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1939
Canada Declares War
1939 | Sept 10 - Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King announced Canada's declaration of war on Germany. The speech was broadcast live on radio, and published in The Gazette, to inform the Canadian population.
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BBC Off the Air
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CBS Demonstrates Colour TV
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1940
CBS Demonstrates Colour TV
1940 | August 29 - CBS research director Peter Goldmark announced the invention of Colour TV. He demonstrated a 343-line colour television system on September 3rd on W2XAB, transmitting from the Chrysler Building in New York, New York. The system used a disc of three filters (red, green and blue), rotated in front of the camera tube.
The CBS colour system
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Canada Declares War
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Baird Demonstrates 600-Line Colour
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1940
Baird Demonstrates 600-Line Colour
1940 | December 19 - Today, in 1940, television pioneer John Logie Baird demonstrated a high definition 600 line colour TV system at Crescent Wood Road, in his London home.
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CBS Demonstrates Colour TV
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Hockey Night in New York
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1940
Hockey Night in New York
1940 | February 25 - Montreal Canadiens lose 6-2 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Gardens in the world's first televised hockey game.
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Baird Demonstrates 600-Line Colour
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NTSC Standard Adopted
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1941
NTSC Standard Adopted
1941 | April 30 - North America's current 525-line NTSC (National Television Standards Committee ) standard of picture definition was adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC also authorized commercial television to begin on July 1. The first transmitters were installed in the capital cities (London, United Kingdom, Paris, France, Berlin, Germany, Rome, Italy, New York, New York), so only a small proportion of each country was therefore able to benefit.      
  Previous
Hockey Night in New York
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Wartime Hours
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1942
Wartime Hours
1942 | April 13: "Broadcasting" magazine reported that the minimum program time required of TV stations had been cut from fifteen hours to four hours a week during the war. The NBC commercial TV schedule was canceled. Television continued to be broadcast in the United States of America on a limited basis, however, the BBC halted broadcasting right in the middle of a Mickey Mouse cartoon.
"Broadcasting" magazine, 1942
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NTSC Standard Adopted
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First Televised Opera
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1943
First Televised Opera
1943 | December 23 - The first complete opera, Hansel and Gretel, is telecast by WRGB Schenectady.
Television camera at WRGB
  Previous
Wartime Hours
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Baird Patents HDTV
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1944
Baird Patents HDTV
1944 | August - John Logie Baird patents a 600-line electronic high-definition colour system in Britain. News of the invention is overshadowed by the Second World War.
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First Televised Opera
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Ownership Limits
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1944
Ownership Limits
1944 | May 22: "Broadcasting" reported that single ownership of up to five TV stations was permitted by FCC, up from former limit of three.
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Baird Patents HDTV
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Post War Commercial Television
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1945
Post War Commercial Television
1945 | July 1 - Post-war commercial television resumed. NBC opened with a USO fundraising show, the news - sponsored by Sun Oil, a television version of a radio show for Levers Brothers, and a quiz show presented by P&G. CBS had no sponsorship lined up yet, but managed to broadcast a dance lesson, a newscast and an art exhibit.
Post-war commercial television resumes
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Ownership Limits
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Atomic Bomb
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1945
Atomic Bomb
1945 | August 6 - The United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9). On September 2 (V-J Day) Japan signed an official surrender.
The crew of the B-29 bomber Enola Gay before dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima
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Post War Commercial Television
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Germany Surrenders
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1945
Germany Surrenders
1945 | May 8 - After six years of Nazi aggression and millions of lives lost, Germany surrendered, ending the second World War.
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Atomic Bomb
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Baird Passes Away
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1946
Baird Passes Away
1946 | June 14 - After a lifetime fraught with ill health, John Logie Baird passed away in his sleep at the age of 57 in Sussex. We remember and revere him with great honour and respect. Don't forget to come and check out our new exhibit about John Logie Baird, "The First Father of Television". We have some amazing artifacts of history on display that we are sure you will enjoy!
Newspaper article reporting Baird's death
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Germany Surrenders
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Kodak and NBC
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1947
Kodak and NBC
1947 | September 13 - Kodak and NBC developed special "Kinescopes" to facilitate the use of a film camera to shoot directly off a TV screen. This marked the beginning of recording and distribution of live shows for sale and archiving.
A kinescope recorder
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Baird Passes Away
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Mr. Television
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1948
Mr. Television
1948 | June 8 - The Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle "Mr. Television" was a popular hit, contributing to the boom in TV set sales.
Milton Berle on Texaco Star Theater.
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Kodak and NBC
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CBC Television Development
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1949
CBC Television Development
1949 | March - The Canadian Government establishes an interim policy for television and announces loans for CBC television development.
  Previous
Mr. Television
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FCC Approves CBS Standard
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1950
FCC Approves CBS Standard
1950 | October 10 - The FCC approves CBS's field sequential colour transmission system as the US standard, effective November 20. CBS promises 20 hours of colour programming a week within two months. Using a mechanical colour wheel inside the camera and set, this color system is incompatible with the 20 million black-and-white sets already in use. Manufacturers are divided as to whether to make sets and converters to receive CBS colourcasts. Meanwhile, RCA works on creating a compatible all electronic colour system.
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CBC Television Development
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Colour Experiments Fail
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1951
Colour Experiments Fail
1951 | June 25 - The first colour #television transmissions began in the United States with CBS broadcasting a one-hour program called Premiere, featuring Ed Sullivan and other CBS stars, carried on a five-station east coast CBS-TV hookup. Unfortunately, only 30 sets were equipped to receive the colour broadcasts. Because of technical incompatibilities with the new CBS colour standard, all existing black-and-white receivers could not pick up the colour programming, even in black-and-white, and colour sets went blank during television's many hours of black-and-white broadcasting. The experiment was a failure and colour transmissions were stopped in October.
The CBS colour receiver and their first transmission, "Premiere"
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FCC Approves CBS Standard
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I Love Lucy Premieres
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1951
I Love Lucy Premieres
1951 | October 15 - "I Love Lucy" starring Lucille Ball premiered on CBS. The show was filmed in front of a studio audience with 3 cameras, setting the production standard for sitcoms - still used to this day. It ran for 180 episodes until 1957.
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Colour Experiments Fail
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CBC Broadcasts Bring Cable to Canada
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1952
CBC Broadcasts Bring Cable to Canada
1952 | September - Cable TV systems begin in Canada. The CBC begins broadcasting in Montreal (in both French and English) on CBFT, September 6, and in Toronto, on CBLT, September 8.
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I Love Lucy Premieres
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Elizabeth II Crowned
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1953
Elizabeth II Crowned
1953 | June 2 - The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II is televised within four hours of the ceremony's finish. CBC beats the US competition to fly a kinescope across the Atlantic. ABC is the first to AIR in the US, courtesy of CBC. For the first time in a simultaneous broadcast in Britain, the television audience exceeds the radio audience.
The coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II
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CBC Broadcasts Bring Cable to Canada
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Compatible Colour Broadcasting Begins
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1954
Compatible Colour Broadcasting Begins
1954 | January 1 - The first national coast-to-coast colour broadcast takes place. The Tournament of Roses Parade from Pasadena, California is broadcast to 21 network stations. There are only 200 RCA electronic colour television sets (model 5-experimental) available to view the show. This is acknowledged as the first day American television officially changes from black and white to colour.
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Elizabeth II Crowned
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Demise of the Fourth Network
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1955
Demise of the Fourth Network
1955 | April 1 - The DuMont Television Network goes off the air after ten years, squeezed out by the other three networks who leverage their ownership of radio stations to attract advertisers.
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Compatible Colour Broadcasting Begins
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Elvis the Pelvis
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1956
Elvis the Pelvis
1956 | September 9 - Elvis Presley makes first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, from the waist up. He receives $50,000 to perform "Hound Dog."
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Demise of the Fourth Network
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Sputnik Launched
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1957
Sputnik Launched
1957 | October 4 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the world's first Earth-orbiting satellite.
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Elvis the Pelvis
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Saint Clare - Patron Saint of Television
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1958
Saint Clare - Patron Saint of Television
1958 | February 17 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare of Assisi the Patron Saint of Television. Her placement on the television set is said to guarantee good reception.
Saint Clare of Assisi
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Sputnik Launched
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Father of Canadian Television
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1959
Father of Canadian Television
1959 - Alphonse Ouimet, General Manager of the CBC in 1953 and President in 1958, is named the Father of Canadian Television for building the world's biggest TV system when the CBC pioneers Canadian television.
Joseph Alphonse Ouimet
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Saint Clare - Patron Saint of Television
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Nixon - Kennedy Debates
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1960
Nixon - Kennedy Debates
1960 | September 26 - The Nixon-Kennedy debates are televised, marking the first network use of the split screen. Kennedy performs better on television than Nixon, and it is believed that television helps Kennedy win the election.
For the first time in U.S. history, a debate between major party presidential candidates - John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon - is shown on television.
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Father of Canadian Television
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CTV Launches
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1961
CTV Launches
1961 | October 1 - The Canadian Television Network (CTV), a privately owned network, begins operations. The Toronto affiliate, CFTO, goes on the air December 31st.
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Nixon - Kennedy Debates
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Vast Wasteland
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1961
Vast Wasteland
1961 | May 23 - FCC Chairman Newton Minow makes his famous "vast wasteland" speech at the meeting of the National Association of Broadcasters. In his speech, Minow derides television programming as a "vast wasteland" of senseless violence, mindless comedy, and offensive advertising. He also warns the networks to live up to their responsibilities to the public, saying, "It is not enough to cater to the nation's whims; you must also serve the nation's needs."  
  Previous
CTV Launches
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Transatlantic Satellite TV
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1962
Transatlantic Satellite TV
1962 | July 10 - The Telstar 1 television satellite was launched by the United States and began to relay transatlantic television signals via satellite. The first program showed scenes of Paris, France. Definitely something to remember, awesome!"
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Vast Wasteland
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The World Mourns JFK
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1963
The World Mourns JFK
1963 | November 22 - Regular TV programming was suspended in the US, following news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
President John F. Kennedy's state funeral
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Transatlantic Satellite TV
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First VCR
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1964
First VCR
1964 - Sony markets the first video recorder for the general public. A team led by Nobutoshi Kihara develops the CV (Consumer Video) -2000, the world's first VCR intended for home use.
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The World Mourns JFK
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The Whole World is Watching
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1965
The Whole World is Watching
1965 | March - The Vietnam war is the first war to be televised. The American public watches the war in their living rooms on the evening news. Protestors against the war adopt the television-age slogan "The whole world is watching."
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First VCR
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Canadian TV in Colour
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1966
Canadian TV in Colour
1966 | October 1: First transmission of colour television signals by Canadian stations began. At the time there were only 50,000 colour televisions in Canada, compared to almost 5 million black and white sets. Most of the colour sets were concentrated in the Toronto, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, and the Golden Horseshoe area of Southern Ontario where they could receive a large number of colour programs from the United States.
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The Whole World is Watching
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Birth of Public Broadcasting
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1967
Birth of Public Broadcasting
1967 | November 7 - Seeking to provide an alternative to commercial broadcasting in the US, educational stations band together to form the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) federally funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
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Canadian TV in Colour
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Martin Luther King Assassinated
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1968
Martin Luther King Assassinated
1968 | April 4 - Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed by a sniper at 6:01 pm as he stepped onto the balcony outside the Motel Lorraine in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Birth of Public Broadcasting
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Man Lands on the Moon
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1969
Man Lands on the Moon
1969 | July 20 - The very first television transmission from the moon was received by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and viewed by an audience of 600 million worldwide. Amazing fact!
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Martin Luther King Assassinated
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War Measures Act
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1970
War Measures Act
1970 | October 16 - During the October Crisis in Montreal, militant separatists kidnap a British trade commissioner and murder a Quebec cabinet minister. Restrictions under the War Measures Act are proclaimed by Trudeau, "just watch me".
A newsboy holds up a newspaper with a banner headline reporting the invoking of the War Measures Act, in Ottawa, Oct. 16, 1970 the first time Canada had invoked the act in peacetime. The act was put into effect following the kidnapping of British diplomat James Cross and Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte by the terrorist FLQ. An author of Quebec's high-school history textbooks casts the federal government as the main villain of the October Crisis 40 years ago, disputes that Pierre Laporte was murdered, and defends the terrorist FLQ whose victims were, he says, mere “collateral damage” in the greater cause of independence. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter Bregg
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Man Lands on the Moon
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All in the Family
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1971
All in the Family
1971 | January 12 - Norman Lear's All In The Family debuts, introducing the nation to Archie Bunker- a cantankerous, if ultimately good hearted bigot whose views on nearly everything are both amusingly shocking and uncomfortably familiar. The show's success leads to numerous spin-offs (The Jeffersons, Maude, Gloria), each attempting to use comedy to explore some of the day's thornier issues.
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War Measures Act
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Anik 1 Satellite Launched
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1972
Anik 1 Satellite Launched
1972 | November 9 - Canada’s Anik 1, the first domestic synchronous communications satellite, is launched. It is capable of relaying 12 television programs simultaneously.
The Anik satellite
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All in the Family
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The Beachcombers on CBC
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1972
The Beachcombers on CBC
1972 | October 1 - The Beachcombers debuts on CBC. Airing for 19 years, becomes the longest running drama series in Canadian television history.
The Beachcombers
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Anik 1 Satellite Launched
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Cable Television Report and Order
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1972
Cable Television Report and Order
1972 - The FCC creates the Cable Television Report and Order, creating must-carry and may-carry stations and requiring all cable systems to be built with a capacity of at least twenty channels.
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The Beachcombers on CBC
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Pong Video Game
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1972
Pong Video Game
1972 | November 29 - The first commercially successful video game is introduced, a simple table tennis game called Pong. It is developed by Nolan Bushnell after he plays a ping-pong game on an Odyssey 1TL200 at an LA Magnavox dealership.
Original poster for Pong
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Cable Television Report and Order
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Munich Olympics
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1972
Munich Olympics
1972 | August 26 - The Munich Olympics are broadcast live, drawing an estimated 450 million viewers worldwide. When Israeli athletes are kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists during the games, coverage of the games cuts back and forth between shots of the terrorists and footage of Olympic events.
German officers prepare for a raid during the 1972 Olympic terrorist attack
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Pong Video Game
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First Successful Pay Cable Service
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1972
First Successful Pay Cable Service
1972 | November 8 - The first HBO programming is transmitted to 365 Service Electric subscribers in Pennsylvania. “Home Box Office” goes on to become the first successful pay cable service in the US.
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Munich Olympics
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1972 Summit Series
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1972
1972 Summit Series
1972 | September 2 - Hockey fans all over Canada are glued to their television sets to watch the “Summit Series” – a hockey tournament between Canada and the Soviet Union. With 34 seconds left in the final game, Paul Henderson scores the dramatic winning goal and Team Canada defeats the Soviet Union 6 – 5 clinching the series. The whole country celebrates.
Team Canada celebrates their win at the 1972 Summit Series
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First Successful Pay Cable Service
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Citytv Everywhere!
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1972
Citytv Everywhere!
1972 | September 28 - Moses Znaimer and partners launch Toronto's Citytv. Low powered, low cost, and locally focused, Citytv is Canada's first commercial UHF station. The infamous broadcasts of the Baby Blue Movies (erotic films) mark a major turning point in the history of Canadian Television. Citytv soon becomes a force to be reckoned with.
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1972 Summit Series
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Projection Screens
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1973
Projection Screens
1973 - The US begins marketing giant screen projection colour TV’s.
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Citytv Everywhere!
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Statistics!
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1973
Statistics!
1973 - Ninety-six countries now have regular television service.
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Projection Screens
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Exporting Television
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1973
Exporting Television
1973 - US producers sell nearly $200 million dollars worth of programming overseas, more than the rest of the world combined.
  Previous
Statistics!
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Watergate Scandal
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1973
Watergate Scandal
1973 - As it unfolds during the summer, the Senate Watergate hearing quickly becomes the most popular program on daytime television. The Big Three networks follow PBS' lead in carrying the hearing live and quickly see it outdraw the usual selection of soap opera fare.
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Exporting Television
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Portable Colour VTR
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1974
Portable Colour VTR
1974 - JVC launches the first portable colour VTR (Video Tape Recorder) machine.
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Watergate Scandal
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Global Launches
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1974
Global Launches
1974 | January 6 - The Global Television Network begins operations in Canada with a Winnipeg station.
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Portable Colour VTR
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Nixon Resigns
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1974
Nixon Resigns
1974 | August 8 - Richard Nixon not only becomes the first US President to resign, he becomes the first to do so before the unforgiving television camera lens.
Nixon resigns
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Global Launches
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Last of the Kit TVs
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1975
Last of the Kit TVs
1975 - One of the last kit televisions, made by the Heathkit company, is sold.
  Previous
Nixon Resigns
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Statistics!
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1975
Statistics!
1975 - A study indicates that the average American child during this decade will have spent 10,800 hours in school by the time he or she is 18, but will have seen an average 20,000 hours of television. Studies also estimate that, by the time he is 75, the average American male will have spent nine years of his life watching television; the average British male, eight years.
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Last of the Kit TVs
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Saturday Night Live!
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1975
Saturday Night Live!
1975 | October 11: "Live From New York, It's Saturday Night!" Reviving the live variety show tradition, Saturday Night Live debuted on NBC, with Canadian producer Lorne Michaels at the helm.
CREDIT: Courtesy of NBC. CAPTION: NBC 75TH ANNIVERSARY -- NBC Special -- SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- NBC Late Night -- Pictured: 'Not Ready For Primetime Players' (clockwise from left) Chevy Chase, Jim Belushi, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman -- Broadcast Dates: (1975-1976) ORG XMIT: DIGITAL FILE / E-MAIL
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Statistics!
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Satellite to Cable
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1975
Satellite to Cable
1975 | September 30 - Home Box Office (HBO) inaugurates satellite-to-cable broadcasting.
  Previous
Saturday Night Live!
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First Home Use Videocassette Recorder
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1975
First Home Use Videocassette Recorder
1975 | June 7 - Sony introduces the Betamax VCR, the world's first home-use videocassette recorder using 1/2-inch tape. Demonstrates the world's first four-channel cassette tape recorder. The BM-144 allows the user to switch back and forth on single standard cassette from four different recordings. Priced at $1,295, it records for a maximum of 1 hour. "Make your own TV schedule" - early ads proclaim.
  Previous
Satellite to Cable
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First Personal Computer
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1975
First Personal Computer
1975 | January - The first personal computer kit, the Altair, goes on sale.
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First Home Use Videocassette Recorder
MZTV Museum of Television
  • 64 Jefferson Avenue
  • Toronto, Ontario M6K 1Y4
  • Phone: 416-599-7339
  • Email: mztv@mztv.com


Admissions
Adults $10
Seniors and Students $5
Groups 10 + $5
CARP Members FREE
Children 12 and under FREE
Hours
  • Tuesday - Friday: 2pm - 5pm
  • Saturday: 10am-6pm
  • Closed Sunday & Monday

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