Important Dates in Television History

The First Sketch of a TV

Jan 1, 1878

The first sketch of what is now called ''Television'' was sketched in 1878 and was named the ''Telephonoscope''. At that time science fiction authors imagined that light could be transmitted by wires. The first machine that transmitted images electrically was the early fax machine.

The First True Mechanical TV

Mar 25, 1925

London, the year of 1925 John Logee Baird just transmitted silhoettes in his early model of a TV. A year later he transmitted monochromatic images. By doing this Baird's Television became the first true TV that could transmit silhoettes and monochromatic images.

First Mechanical TV

Dec 25, 1925

In 1925, a 23 year old university student Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, patented the first mechanical television. It included a scanning disk and a spinning disk with holes spiraling toward the center, for rasterization. The distance beetween each hole was equal so that it would allow light to pass through

The First Electronic TV

Sep 1, 1927

By 1927, the famous american mastermind invented the first working electronic TV. This model had electronic scanning on both the pickup and display devices. He demonstrated it to the press on September 1st, 1927.

CBS

Sep 18, 1927

CBS begins its TV development.

First TV Station

Nov 8, 1928

The Federal Radio Commission issues the first television station license to Charles Jenkins.

First Public TV Broadcast

Sep 11, 1929

On November 2nd, 1936 BBC transmitted the first public TV broadcast. This special TV service was called Victorian Alexandra Palace. It claims to be the birthplace of TV broadcasting.

First TV Commercial

Jul 1, 1941

Charles Jenkins broadcasts the first TV commercial.

NTSC B&W TV

Nov 8, 1941

The FCC releases the NTSC standard for black and white TV.

First TV Remote Control

Jan 1, 1956

The first TV Remote Control was invented in 1956 by Robert Adler. He called it the ''Zenith Space Commander'', it was the first practical TV control. If you used this remote in sunlight, it wouldn't work. Before that you had to get up and go to switch the channels by hand.

First TV Satellite

Jul 10, 1962

AT&T launched the first TV satellite. It was named Tel-star, because of that people can now watch the same channel even if they are 1 million kilometers apart. This was one of the events that started the Modern Television Era.

AT&T

Nov 8, 1962

AT&T launches Tel-star, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts.

Color TV

Nov 8, 1967

Most TV broadcasts are in color.

First Music Video

Aug 1, 1981

Video Killed The Radio Star was the first music video ever.

VHS

Nov 8, 1986

Super VHS introduced.

Cartoon Network

Oct 1, 1992

Cartoon Network was launched.

Closed Captioning

Nov 8, 1993

Closed captioning required on all TV sets.

First 3D TV

Jan 9, 2010

On June 9th, 2010 Panasonic made the first ever 3D Television set. This TV is really big it is about 152 inches (390 centimeters). It costs $576,000, and that's the cheapest one. You would have to wear special 3D glasses, if you don't want to hurt your eyes.