Constantin Perskyi coined the word “television” in 1900. Black and white images with sound were displayed on a black and white screen at the World’s Fair in New York on April 30, 1939.
More than one million American homes had a TV after the end of World War II. Initial TV sets had only 200-400 lines of resolution. The first sets were only 200-400 lines of resolution.
Currently, there are more than 250 million TV sets in the United States.
Quick Navigation
Television Facts for Kids
- Television started in the United States in 1928
- The first BBC transmission began in 1930
- Revenue comes from commercials and subscriptions.
- On October 2, 1925, John Logie Baird transmitted the first-ever television picture.
- In 1967, BBC2 aired the first color pictures.
- Britain’s first outside broadcast was George VI’s coronation in 1937.
- The first TV advertisement was for Bulova watches on July 1, 1941.
- Cable TV was introduced in 1952 in Canada, but it didn’t spread across the country at that time.
- The average person watches TV for almost 10 years of their life.
Television History
Television became available in the late 1920s and was popular in the United Kingdom and the United States by the 1950s.
The word television came from Ancient Greek and Latin and was first used in 1900.
TV is an abbreviation for television, which was first used in 1907 to mean “a theoretical system to transmit moving images over telegraph or telephone wires.”
In the 1940s and 1950s, a new slang term, “small screen,” was used to distinguish television productions from films made for theatrical release.
Color Television

John Baird demonstrated the world’s first color transmission and broadcast in 1928 and 1938, respectively. Bell Laboratories demonstrated mechanically scanned color television in 1929.
The first color broadcast was on July 8, 1954. It took until the mid-1960s for color sets to start selling in large numbers, and in 1972 for, the first completely all-color network season to occur.
Color sets finally surpassed sales of black-and-white sets in 1972, and by the mid-1970s, the last B&W sets were found in small markets or used as video monitor screens in low-cost consumer equipment.
Digital Television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digitally processed and multiplexed signals, in contrast to the totally analog and channel separated signals used by analog television. It was not possible to implement a digital television service before the adoption of DCT video compression technology.
The transition from analog to digital television started in the late 2000s. The price of digital tuner-equipped television sets dropped and more households converted to digital television sets.
Smart Television
Smart television sets integrate Internet and Web 2.0 features into a traditional television set. These TVs can provide Internet TV, online interactive media, over-the-top content, and home networking access.
Smart TV is not to be confused with Internet TV, Internet Protocol television (IPTV), or Web TV. A smart TV is a television system that can be linked to data networks and automatically download necessary software routines according to a user’s demand.
3D Television
3D television conveys depth perception to the viewer by using techniques such as stereoscopic display, multi-view display, 2D-plus-depth, or any other form of 3D display. It is quite popular for watching home media, but 3D programming has largely failed to make inroads with the public.
Terrestrial Television
Television stations broadcast programming over assigned channels in the television band. Government regulation was the norm in the US, but the United Kingdom chose a different route.
The widespread adoption of cable television in the US in the 1970s and 1980s led to a decline in terrestrial television broadcasts. A slight increase in use began around 2010 due to the switchover to digital terrestrial television broadcasts.
Cable Television
Coaxial cable is used to carry cable television signals into cathode-ray tubes and flat-panel television sets. It can also carry FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone service, and similar non-television services.
Satellite Television
Satellite television is a system of supplying television programming using broadcast signals relayed from communication satellites. A satellite receiver decodes the desired television program for viewing on a television set.
Direct-broadcast satellite television (DBSTV) systems receive signals from direct broadcast satellites on the Ku wavelength and are completely digital. These systems require a compatible receiver and may include high-definition television (HDTV).
The Telstar satellite transmitted the first satellite television signals from Europe to North America on July 23, 1962. The Relay 1 satellite transmitted the first satellite television signals from the US to Japan on July 26, 1963.
Internet Television
Internet television is the digital distribution of television content via the Internet as opposed to traditional systems like terrestrial, cable, and satellite. It is not to be confused with Smart TV, IPTV, or Web TV.
Television Sets
A television set combines a tuner, display, amplifier, and speakers for the purpose of viewing television and hearing its audio components. It became popular after World War II in electronic form and was replaced by LEDs in the 2010s.
A plasma display panel is a type of flat panel display that uses electrically charged gas cells.
LCD televisions use liquid crystal displays to produce images and are thinner and lighter than cathode-ray tubes. They are available in much larger sizes and have quickly displaced Plasma display panels and rear-projection televisions.
An OLED display works without a backlight is thinner and lighter than an LCD and can achieve a higher contrast ratio in low ambient light conditions.
