Television
The word television first appeared in print on the 24th of August 1900. A Russian scientist named Constantin Perskyi used it during a paper presentation at the International Congress of Electricity held in Paris. The term described a theoretical system for sending moving images over telegraph or telephone wires. Earlier proposals existed with names like telephote from 1880 and televista from 1904. These early concepts remained purely hypothetical until technology caught up to the ideas. The abbreviation TV did not appear until 1948. By 1927, the term began referring to the medium itself rather than just the device.
Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow patented a spinning disk with holes in Berlin in 1884. This mechanical device scanned images line by line through a spiral pattern of apertures. John Logie Baird employed this Nipkow disk in his prototype systems during the 1920s. On the 25th of March 1925, Baird demonstrated televised silhouette images in motion at Selfridges department store in London. He used a ventriloquist dummy named Stooky Bill because human faces lacked contrast on his primitive screen. By January 1926, he transmitted recognizable face movements before members of the Royal Institution. His system had only 30 scan lines yet proved sufficient to identify a human face. Mechanical television broadcasts reached resolutions between 30 and 120 lines before electronic systems took over. The last mechanical telecasts ended in 1939 at public university stations across the United States.
Philo Farnsworth transmitted his first image on the 7th of September 1927 from his laboratory at 202 Green Street in San Francisco. A simple straight line appeared on the screen using an image dissector camera tube. By September 1928, he held a press demonstration that became widely regarded as the first electronic television proof. Vladimir Zworykin worked for Westinghouse Electric starting in 1923 developing an electronic camera tube. RCA acquired Westinghouse patents and later filed interference suits against Farnsworth over patent priority. The U.S. Patent Office decided in 1935 that Farnsworth held invention priority. RCA agreed to pay him one million dollars over ten years plus license fees in September 1939. Manfred von Ardenne demonstrated the first completely electronic transmission at the Berlin Radio Show in August 1931. He used a cathode-ray tube for both sending and receiving images without a dedicated camera tube. The BBC began its regular high-definition service on the 2nd of November 1936 using Emitron cameras developed by Isaac Shoenberg's team. This system alternated briefly with Baird's mechanical setup before becoming the dominant standard.
John Logie Baird demonstrated the world's first color transmission on the 3rd of July 1928 using scanning discs with three spirals of apertures. Each spiral contained filters for different primary colors while light sources at the receiver alternated illumination. Peter Carl Goldmark introduced an electro-mechanical CBS field-sequential system in 1939 containing spinning discs inside the camera. The Federal Communications Commission approved an all-electronic compatible color system developed by RCA in the early 1950s. The first actual color broadcast occurred on the 8th of July 1954 as the episode The Marriage aired live. Most network programming remained black-and-white throughout the following decade until mid-1965. That year over half of prime-time broadcasts switched to color with the first all-color season arriving one year later. Sales of color sets finally surpassed black-and-white models in 1972. European broadcasters adopted the PAL format during the 1960s and began transmissions in 1967. By 1979 even the last remaining black-and-white stations had converted to color systems.
A digital television service was proposed in 1986 by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone alongside Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication. Practical implementation waited until DCT video compression technology became available in the early 1990s. General Instrument demonstrated a viable digital signal in June 1990 which persuaded the FCC to delay its ATV standard decision. The commission declared that new standards must provide genuine HDTV signals with at least twice the resolution of existing images. Interlaced scanning scanned even-numbered lines before odd ones while progressive scanning painted every line sequentially from top to bottom. Digital transition started globally in the late 2000s with governments setting analog shutdown deadlines for the 2010s. Adoption rates initially remained low due to high costs of digital tuner-equipped televisions. Prices dropped over time allowing more households to convert their equipment. The worldwide transition is expected to complete by the mid to late 2010s. Modern formats include 1080p, 1080i, and 720p resolutions transmitted through various digital channels.
Major manufacturers announced production of smart TVs only for middle-end and high-end models in 2015. By 2019, 46 million U.S. households owned at least one connected television set. These devices integrate Internet access and Web 2.0 features alongside traditional broadcasting functions. Netflix earned its first Primetime Emmy Award nominations for original streaming content on the 13th of July 2015 during the 65th ceremony. Three series including House of Cards and Arrested Development received that year's recognition. As of 2018, Netflix operated as the world's largest streaming network with 117 million paid subscribers. YouTube launched its own live television service called YouTube TV in 2017 allowing users to record shows anywhere. Cable providers like Comcast introduced discounted packages combining broadband and cable services starting in 2015. In 2017, 28% of U.S. adults cited streaming as their primary viewing method while 61% of young adults aged 18 to 29 did the same. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 significantly impacted the streaming business through lockdowns and lifestyle changes.
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Common questions
When did the word television first appear in print?
The word television first appeared in print on the 24th of August 1900. A Russian scientist named Constantin Perskyi used it during a paper presentation at the International Congress of Electricity held in Paris.
Who invented mechanical television and when was it demonstrated?
John Logie Baird employed the Nipkow disk to demonstrate televised silhouette images in motion on the 25th of March 1925 at Selfridges department store in London. His system had only 30 scan lines yet proved sufficient to identify a human face before electronic systems took over by 1939.
Which company paid Philo Farnsworth for his television patents?
RCA agreed to pay Philo Farnsworth one million dollars over ten years plus license fees in September 1939 after the U.S. Patent Office decided that he held invention priority. This settlement followed interference suits filed against Farnsworth regarding patent priority with Vladimir Zworykin's work.
What year did color television broadcasts begin in the United States?
The first actual color broadcast occurred on the 8th of July 1954 as the episode The Marriage aired live. Most network programming remained black-and-white throughout the following decade until mid-1965 when over half of prime-time broadcasts switched to color.
When did digital television transition start globally?
Digital transition started globally in the late 2000s with governments setting analog shutdown deadlines for the 2010s. Practical implementation waited until DCT video compression technology became available in the early 1990s and General Instrument demonstrated a viable digital signal in June 1990.