A Timeline of Television

Posted By admin on July 2014

Television has come a long way since it was first invented. From the early sets with small screens to today’s massive home cinema screens and ultra 4K high-definition picture quality, the rapid development of this technology is astonishing. Here, we take a look at the timeline of television, from its humble beginnings to where it is now.

The Evolution of Television

1884: A German university student, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, proposed and patented the scanning disk, which would later form the basis of mechanical television—though it seems he never actually built one.
1908: Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton published a letter in the scientific journal Nature, describing how a cathode ray tube could be used to transmit and receive “distant electric vision.”
1925: John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor, gave the first public demonstration of television on March 25 at Selfridges in London using a mechanical system. At this stage, it displayed only moving silhouettes.
1926: Baird improved his system enough to reproduce a recognizable human face—his partner Oliver Hutchinson—using just 30 lines to produce the image.
1927: Philo Farnsworth, working on electronic television systems, transmitted his first image—a simple straight line.
1928: The first commercial television sets became available. These were radios with an added mechanical television device, using Nipkow’s scanning disk to produce an image the size of a postage stamp, magnified only slightly.
1934: Philo Farnsworth gave the world’s first public demonstration of an all-electronic television system using a live camera at the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia.
1936: The BBC began transmitting the world’s first public television service from Alexandra Palace in North London. Initially, it alternated between Baird’s mechanical system and an electronic system, but the 405-line electronic system quickly became the standard.
- That same year, Hungarian engineer Kálmán Tihanyi first described the principles of plasma television—something that wouldn’t become commercially available for decades.
1937: Viewers watched King George VI’s Coronation Procession in May—the BBC managed an impressive number of outside broadcasts despite limited audiences due to the high cost of television sets.
1939: Two days before World War II broke out, the BBC suddenly blacked out its television service—midway through a Mickey Mouse cartoon—amid fears that transmitters could aid enemy aircraft navigation.
1946: BBC broadcasts resumed with the same Mickey Mouse cartoon that had been interrupted seven years earlier. The next day, the Victory Parade was televised.
1951: The first national live television broadcast in the U.S. aired, featuring President Harry Truman's speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco.
1953: The BBC’s Panorama debuted—the current affairs program is still running today, making it the BBC’s longest-running series.
1954: In the U.S., the first color television broadcast featured the Tournament of Roses Parade. However, most broadcasts remained in black and white.
1955: Independent Television (ITV) was launched as the UK’s first commercial television service.
- On ITV’s launch night, the BBC controversially aired a dramatic episode of The Archers, featuring the death of Grace Archer, attracting 20 million listeners—some claimed this was timed to draw viewers away from ITV.
1960: Coronation Street aired for the first time on ITV. It became the world’s longest-running soap opera in 2010 and is still on air today.
1963: Doctor Who debuted—the cult science fiction show, despite being canceled in the late ‘80s, later returned and remains one of the BBC’s longest-running series.
1964: The first monochrome plasma display was invented at the University of Illinois by Donald Blitzer, H. Gene Slottow, and graduate student Robert Willson. Initially, it was used in computer systems.
1967: The BBC broadcast its first color pictures from Wimbledon. By mid-1968, nearly all BBC2 programs were in color, and within six months, BBC1 followed suit.
1977: James P. Mitchell developed the first true all-LED flat-panel television screen. The prototype was displayed at the 29th International Science and Engineering Fair in Washington, D.C., the following year.
1986: Over 30 million people tuned in to EastEnders to watch Den divorce Angie, setting record audience numbers.
1988: Sharp introduced the first commercial LCD television, marketed as a boutique item rather than for mass consumers.
1997: The first plasma televisions went on sale, with Fujitsu, Philips, and Pioneer leading the market.
1998: The first digital television broadcasts began in the UK.
2007: LCD televisions outsold both plasma televisions and traditional CRT sets during the Christmas season.
2008: Sony produced the first commercial LED television—the XEL-1.
- That same year, Hyundai (better known for its cars) released the world’s first 3D television in Japan.
2010: HD was launched on Freeview in the UK.
2012: Analogue television broadcasts ended in the UK.
- LG announced the world’s first 3D UHDTV using the 4K system.
2013: Samsung announced the availability of its 110-inch Ultra HDTV for custom orders—the world's largest Ultra HDTV at the time.
2014: Samsung ceased plasma television production.
- Netflix began streaming shows in 4K to compatible televisions.
2016: Sportsnet broadcast the first-ever NBA game produced in 4K.
2018: LG introduced the world’s first 8K OLED TV at the IFA in Berlin.
- The company also unveiled the world’s first 65-inch rollable TV.