How long have tvs been around

Offered free time by CBS, McCarthy replied on April 6, calling Murrow "the leader and the cleverest of the jackal pack which is always found at the throat of anyone who dares to expose Communist traitors. In the U. Between and , television programming began to take some steps away from radio formats.

NBC television president Sylvester Weaver devised the "spectacular," a notable example of which was Peter Pan , starring Mary Martin, which attracted 60 million viewers.

Weaver also developed the magazine-format programs Today , which made its debut in with Dave Garroway as host until , and The Tonight Show , which began in hosted by Steve Allen until The programming that dominated the two major networks in the mids borrowed heavily from another medium: theater. Steel Hour This is often looked back on as the "Golden Age" of television. However, by only one of these series was still on the air. Viewers apparently preferred dramas or comedies that, while perhaps less literary, at least had the virtue of sustaining a familiar set of characters week after week.

I Love Lucy , the hugely successful situation comedy starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, had been recorded on film since it debuted in lasting until It had many imitators. The Honeymooners , starring Jackie Gleason, was first broadcast, also via film, in lasting until with the original cast.

The first videotape recorder was invented by Ampex in see video; video recording; video technology. Another format introduced in the mids was the big-money quiz show. Cowan, by that time president of CBS television, was forced to resign from the network amid revelations of widespread fixing of game shows see Van Doren, Charles.

Television news first covered the presidential nominating conventions of the two major parties, events then still at the heart of America politics, in The term "anchorman" was used, probably for the first time, to describe Walter Cronkite's central role in CBS's convention coverage that year. In succeeding decades these conventions would become so concerned with looking good on television that they would lose their spontaneity and eventually their news value.

The networks had begun producing their own news film. Increasingly, they began to compete with newspapers as the country's primary source of news see journalism.

The election of a young and vital president in , John F. Kennedy, seemed to provide evidence of how profoundly television would change politics.

Commentators pointed to the first televised debate that fall between Kennedy, the Democratic candidate for president, and Vice-President Richard M.

Nixon, the Republican's nominee. A survey of those who listened to the debate on radio indicated that Nixon had won; however, those who watched on television, and were able to contrast Nixon's poor posture and poorly shaven face with Kennedy's poise and grace, were more likely to think Kennedy had won the debate.

Television's coverage of the assassination of President Kennedy on Nov. Most Americans joined in watching coverage of the shocking and tragic events, not as crowds in the streets, but from their own living rooms. By the end of the decade Cronkite had become not just a highly respected journalist but, according to public opinion surveys, "the most trusted man in America.

While the overwhelming majority of television news reports on the Vietnam War were supportive of U. Many believed it contributed to growing public dissatisfaction with the war.

And some of the anger of those defending U. Marines on a "search and destroy" mission to a complex of hamlets called Cam Ne. The Marines faced no enemy resistance, yet they held cigarette lighters to the thatched roofs and proceeded to "waste" Cam Ne.

After much debate, Safer's filmed report on the incident was shown on CBS. Johnson, accusing the network of a lack of patriotism. During the Tet offensive in , Cronkite went to Vietnam to report a documentary on the state of the war. That documentary, broadcast on Feb. President Johnson was watching Cronkite's report.

In color broadcasting began on prime-time television. During the s and s a country increasingly fascinated with television was limited to watching almost exclusively what appeared on the three major networks: CBS, NBC, and ABC. In the larger cities, there might also be a few independent stations mostly playing reruns of old network shows and perhaps a fledgling public broadcasting channel.

Programming on each of the three networks was designed to grab a mass audience. Network shows therefore catered, as critics put it, to the lowest common denominator. Daytime television programming consisted primarily of soap operas and quiz shows until the s, when talk shows discussing subjects that were formerly taboo, such as sexuality, became popular. The three major networks have always been in a continual race for ratings and advertising dollars.

CBS and NBC dominated through the mids, when ABC, traditionally regarded as a poor third, rose to the top of the ratings, largely because of shrewd scheduling. A Carnegie Commission report in recommended the creation of a fourth, noncommercial, public television network built around the educational nonprofit stations already in operation throughout the United States see television, noncommercial. Congress created the Public Broadcasting System that year. Unlike commercial networks, which are centered in New York and Los Angeles, PBS's key stations, many of which produce programs that are shown throughout the network, are spread across the country.

When a slew of contestants accused the show Dotto of being fixed in , the networks rapidly dropped 20 quiz shows. A New York grand jury probe and a congressional investigation effectively ended prime-time quiz shows for 40 years, until ABC revived the genre with its launch of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in Boddy, Formerly known as Community Antenna Television, or CATV, cable television was originally developed in the s in remote or mountainous areas, including in Arkansas, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, to enhance poor reception of regular television signals.

Cable antennas were erected on mountains or other high points, and homes connected to the towers would receive broadcast signals.

In the late s, cable operators began to experiment with microwave to bring signals from distant cities. Taking advantage of their ability to receive long-distance broadcast signals, operators branched out from providing a local community service and began focusing on offering consumers more extensive programming choices.

Rural parts of Pennsylvania, which had only three channels one for each network , soon had more than double the original number of channels as operators began to import programs from independent stations in New York and Philadelphia. The wider variety of channels and clearer reception the service offered soon attracted viewers from urban areas. By , nearly cable systems were operational, serving , subscribers. The FCC responded by placing restrictions on the ability of cable systems to import signals from distant stations, which froze the development of cable television in major markets until the early s.

When gradual deregulation began to loosen the restrictions, cable operator Service Electric launched the service that would change the face of the cable television industry— pay TV.

This gave it an advantage over the microwave-distributed services, and other cable providers quickly followed suit. Further deregulation provided by the Cable Act enabled the industry to expand even further, and by the end of the s, nearly 53 million households subscribed to cable television see Section 6.

In the s, cable operators upgraded their systems by building higher-capacity hybrid networks of fiber-optic and coaxial cable. These broadband networks provide a multichannel television service, along with telephone, high-speed Internet, and advanced digital video services, using a single wire.

Following the FCC standards set out during the early s, television sets received programs via analog signals made of radio waves. The analog signal reached TV sets through three different methods: over the airwaves, through a cable wire, or by satellite transmission. Although the system remained in place for more than 60 years, it had several disadvantages. Analog systems were prone to static and distortion, resulting in a far poorer picture quality than films shown in movie theaters.

As television sets grew increasingly larger, the limited resolution made scan lines painfully obvious, reducing the clarity of the image.

Companies around the world, most notably in Japan, began to develop technology that provided newer, better-quality television formats, and the broadcasting industry began to lobby the FCC to create a committee to study the desirability and impact of switching to digital television. A more efficient and flexible form of broadcast technology, digital television uses signals that translate TV images and sounds into binary code, working in much the same way as a computer.

This means they require much less frequency space and also provide a far higher quality picture. The committee ultimately agreed to switch from analog to digital format in , allowing a transition period in which broadcasters could send their signal on both an analog and a digital channel. Once the switch took place, many older analog TV sets were unusable without a cable or satellite service or a digital converter. These companies were eager to gain access to the analog spectrum for mobile broadband projects because this frequency band allows signals to travel greater distances and penetrate buildings more easily.

Around the same time the U. High-definition television , or HDTV, attempts to create a heightened sense of realism by providing the viewer with an almost three-dimensional experience. It has a much higher resolution than standard television systems, using around five times as many pixels per frame. However, as with most new technology, prices dropped considerably over the next few years, making HDTV affordable for mainstream shoppers.

The wide-screen format of HDTV is similar to that of movies, allowing for a more authentic film-viewing experience at home. As of , nearly half of American viewers are watching television in high definition, the fastest adoption of TV technology since the introduction of the VCR in the s Stelter, The new technology is attracting viewers to watch television for longer periods of time.

According to the Nielsen Company, a company that measures TV viewership, households with HDTV watch 3 percent more prime-time television —programming screened between 7 and 11 p. The same report claims that the cinematic experience of HDTV is bringing families back together in the living room in front of the large wide-screen TV and out of the kitchen and bedroom, where individuals tend to watch television alone on smaller screens.

However, these viewing patterns may change again soon as the Internet plays an increasingly larger role in how people view TV programs. The impact of new technologies on television is discussed in much greater detail in Section 9.

Please respond to the following writing prompts. Each response should be a minimum of one paragraph. Boddy, William. Klooster, John. Steinberg, Jacques. Stelter, Brian. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Chapter 9: Television. Search for:. Explain why electronic television prevailed over mechanical television.

As TheHistoryOfTelevision. Black and white television was thought of as old and it was time to do something new. This is when color television systems first began to be considered seriously. CBS was the first company to create a color television set. Thus, it was not compatible with black and white TV sets in use across America. Unfazed, RCA continued to develop their own color television system that would be compatible with its customers RCA sets.

Few people owned color TV sets between and However, starting in , color TV programming was broadcast across America, leading to a surge in sales of color television sets.

Between the s and s, television turned from a niche technology into a critical form of communication found in living rooms across the nation. A vast number of changes and improvements took place in the second half of the 20th century to make the television into what it is today. Today, online television and other broadcasting technologies have changed the future of traditional TV. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Home » History » History of the Television. History of the Television Televisions can be found in billions of homes around the world. Mechanical Televisions in the s and Early s Prior to electric televisions, we had mechanical televisions. How Did Early Televisions Work? Mechanical Televisions Mechanical televisions relied on rotating disks to transmit images from a transmitter to the receiver. Color Television in America Color television traces its roots as far back as , when a German inventor received a patent for color television.

Timeline of TV History Between the s and s Between the s and s, television turned from a niche technology into a critical form of communication found in living rooms across the nation. This act was a supplement to the Communications Act of , which required broadcasters to give equal airtime to candidates running in elections. The half-hour sitcom ranked as the number one program in the nation for four of its first six full seasons.

Only 12 customers across America could see the first color TV broadcast. Kennedy and Richard Nixon were broadcast throughout the year across the country, forever changing the way presidents would campaign. This meant 30 minutes of programming each night were given back to local stations in the top 50 markets, encouraging the production of local programming. ESPN would go on to become the largest and most successful basic cable channel. Johnson Hur. After having graduated with a degree in Finance and working for a Fortune company for several years, Johnson decided to follow his passion by embarking on a path to the digital world.

He has over 8 years of experience with large companies setting marketing strategy. One comment. Mary October 24, at pm. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. All Right Reserved.