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History of TV
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Cathode Rays
William Crookes confirmed the existence of cathode rays by building a tube to display them in. -
First Time Use
Russian Constantin Perskyi introduces the word "television" at the 1st International Congress of Electricity at
the World's Fair in Paris. Souvenir trading cards are sold at the same fair, two predicting color television and
news radio in the year 2000. -
Images on screen
A.A. Campbell Swinton in England and Boris Rosing in Russia independently propose an electronic scanning
system in which a cathode ray tube could produce an image on a phosphorus-coated screen. -
Moving Pictures
In England, John Logie Baird demonstrates the first moving television pictures via a mechanical system based
on Nipkow's disk; they were recognizable human faces in 1925 and moving objects in 1926. He had shown a
still image of Felix the Cat in 1924. -
tennis
The coronation of King George VI and the Wimbledon tennis tournament are televised in England. Nine
thousand sets are sold in London. -
Showings
Full time evening programming begins for all four television networks and there are 27 stations in 18 cities
beaming to an estimated 350,000 sets. -
Remote
Zenith Radio Corporation creates the first television remote control in 1950, the "Lazy Bone." Lazy Bone could
turn a television on and off and change channels, but it was attached by a bulky cable. -
portable tv
Black-and-white portable television era begins. -
Color Telivision
Color television broadcasting officially begins on The Colgate Comedy Hour after the FCC adopts the RCA
system as the standard. -
I love lucy
When Lucy gave birth to Little Ricky forty-four million viewers (72% of all U.S. homes with televisions - half of
U.S. homes own televisions) tune in to I Love Lucy, 15 million more than had watched Dwight Eisenhower's
inauguration the day before. The first issue of TV Guide features the baby. -
Split Screen
The first split screen broadcast occurs on the Kennedy-Nixon debates. -
Court Appeal
The U.S. Court of Appeals of the D.C. Circuit (Quincy Cable TV v. FCC, 768 F.2d 1434) rules the FCC's "mustcarry"
rules requiring cable companies to include local stations are unconstitutional and an FCC inquiry into
the "fairness doctrine" concludes the policy no longer serves the public interest. -
Satellites
Scrambling of satellite-fed cable television programming starts; sale of decoders and program subscriptions to
home dish owners begins. -
Victoria
Victoria's Secret Super Bowl ad parades scantily clad models across the television screen and a reported 1
million people turn away from the game to log on to the Web address promoted in the ad. Three days later,
they webcast their annual fashion show and a record 750,000 comes to watch in spite of slow, if not
impossible, connections and a grainy picture worse than that of a 1930 Dumont. -
Star Wars
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones is the first big budget film shot with digital cameras. -
TiVo
Cable television companies offer TiVo-like features: storing programs and skipping commercials. -
Overall Providence
Raleigh, NC TV station WRAL is the first television station in the U.S. to provide video news, weather and
traffic information to cell-phone users. -
AOL
Time-Warner/AOL offers telephone service, in addition to cable television and internet access.
