Brief History and Evolution of Television Timeline

People are watching television more than ever being stuck at home. It can be an interesting thing to find out how television has evolved over the years. There has been a significant growth on television viewing as compared to other mass medium like radio. Similarly, we have seen a shift towards DTH connection from traditional cable connections.Dish TV DTH new connection offers channels in both SD and HD. TV history timeline? Check out the timeline of how mechanical television has paved the way to smart TV.

Brief History and Evolution of Television Timeline

• 1920- 1930:

TV sets are available to a privileged few with a price tag of $200 to $600. Screen size was 5-inch, 9, and 12 inches. It offered only 5 channels. The picture was broadcast in black and white.

• 1950-1960s:

Color television came into existence. J. L. Baird adopted the mechanical method using a Nipkow disk with three spirals for the three primary colors red, green and blue. 

• 1960 to 1970s:

This period saw a rise in the sale of television sets in US household from a staggering 9 percent in the 1950 to 95.3 percent in 1970. Mass production of TV sets started by a lot of manufacturers and became hugely popular. By 1960 more than 60 million TV sets were sold in the US alone. Broadcast of news, tournaments, and movies through television became quite common. Initially, shows were created with a single sponsor. When the show length was increased to 30 minutes or more, advertisement spots started selling that ran for 30 and 60 seconds. Radio themed quiz shows started airing through the TV. During the period 1957-1958, 22 quiz shows were aired on network television. 

• 1970 to 2000:

History of cable TV timeline? Cable television was first started in the year 1940 in remote areas with connectivity issues like Arkansas, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. It also helped in the long-distance broadcasting of shows. By 1962, nearly 800 cable networks were broadcasting to 850,000 subscribers. The nation’s first pay cable TV service was launched by Home Box Office (HBO), in which the customers paid a subscription fee to view premium TV shows. 

• 1990- 2005:

Cable operators upgraded their technology of signal transmission through fiber optic and coaxial cable. These broadband networks provided multiple channels, high-speed internet, and telephone through one single wire.

Analog network faced signal interruption and poor picture quality which led to the development of digital connection. Digital television used the technology of a computer, by translating images and sounds into binary codes. 

• 2000-2010:

This period saw the introduction of the High Definition crystal clear picture in widescreen TV. The first HDTV launched in the year 1998 was rather expensive. 

During this period Direct To Home connections became popular, where signals are transmitted to a personal dish installed at home through geostationary satellites. Some leading DTH service provider in India are Dish TV, Tata Sky, Reliance TV, Sun TV, etc.

• 2008-Present:

Smart TVs were launched with features like smart remote control, LED screen, 3D effect, etc. Companies like LG, Samsung Electronics, and others launched Smart TVs around 2010.