Wikipedia

Timeline of the introduction of television in countries

A map showing when television was introduced in each country.
 1939 and before
 1940s
 1950s
 1960s
 1970s
 1980s
 1990s
 2000 and after
 No television
 No data

This is a list of when the first publicly announced television broadcasts occurred in the mentioned countries. Non-public field tests and closed circuit demonstrations are not included.

This list should not be interpreted to mean the whole of a country had television service by the specified date. For example, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and the former Soviet Union all had operational television stations and a limited number of viewers by the year 1939. However, in those countries, only very few cities in each country had television service. Television broadcasts were not yet available in most places.

History

1920s and 1930s

Year Countries and territories
1928 United States United States (mechanical television, experimental)[1]
1929 United Kingdom (mechanical, experimental),[2] Germany Germany (mechanical, experimental),[3] Australia (mechanical, experimental, after hours on two existing Melbourne radio stations),[4][5][6] Netherlands Netherlands (mechanical, experimental in Scheveningen)[7]
1931 France (mechanical, experimental), Canada Canada Quebec Québec (mechanical only, experimental), Soviet Union (mechanical, experimental), Thailand Siam (mechanical, experimental, cancelled because of the revolution)
1934 Australia (electronic television, experimental, Brisbane)[8]
1935 Germany Germany (intermediate film; semi-electronic), France (electronic - PTT Radio Vision), Netherlands Netherlands (electronic, experimental in Eindhoven by Philips)[7]
1936 United Kingdom (electronic - BBC Television Service), Germany Germany (electronic television - Deutscher Fernseh Rundfunk), United States United States (electronic; experimental and non-commercial until 1941 - NBC)[9]
1937 Free City of Danzig Free City of Danzig (electronic, experimental),[10] Poland Poland (mechanical, experimental)[11]
1938 Soviet Union Soviet Union (electronic, experimental), Turkey Turkey (electronic, experimental)
1939 Chile Chile (experimental), Japan Japan (electronic, experimental),[12] Italy Italy (electronic, experimental),[13] Peru Peru (electronic, experimental),[14] Poland Poland (electronic, experimental)[11]

1940s

Year Countries and territories
1941 United States United States (New York (state) New York, Delaware Delaware, New Jersey New Jersey, Connecticut Connecticut, regular commercial telecasts, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania)
1942 Nazi Germany Occupied France
1944 France (returned)
1945 Soviet Union Soviet Union (returned)[15]
1946 United States United States (Iowa Iowa, experimental), United Kingdom (returned),[16] Philippines Philippines (experimental), Mexico Mexico (experimental)[17]
1947 United States United States (California California, Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., Virginia Virginia, Maryland Maryland, Missouri Missouri)
1948 Czechoslovakia (experimental),[18] United States United States (Ohio Ohio, Washington (state) Washington, Minnesota Minnesota, Texas Texas, Tennessee Tennessee), Canada Canada (experimental) Brazil (experimental)
1949 United States United States (Alabama Alabama, Arizona Arizona, Iowa Iowa, Oklahoma Oklahoma, North Carolina North Carolina, Florida Florida), Italy (experimental)

1950s

Year Countries and territories
1950 United States United States (Iowa Des Moines, Tennessee Nashville), Cuba Cuba, Brazil Brazil, Switzerland Switzerland, Germany West Germany (experimental), Mexico Mexico (official), Japan (returned, electronic, experimental)
1951 Argentina Argentina, Denmark Denmark,[19] Netherlands Netherlands[7]
1952 Canada Canada, United States United States (Spokane Spokane, Colorado Colorado), Chile Chile (sporadically until 1959), Dominican Republic Dominican Republic, Germany West Germany (full service), East Germany East Germany (experimental), Poland Poland (returned), Thailand Thailand (experimental), Hawaii Hawaii, United Kingdom ( Scotland), Venezuela Venezuela
1953 Japan (returned), Canada Canada (Ottawa Ottawa, British Columbia British Columbia), United States United States (Arkansas Arkansas, California Fresno, Nevada Nevada, North Dakota North Dakota) Belgium Belgium,[20] Czechoslovakia, Philippines Philippines (thru ABS, now ABS-CBN), Alaska Alaska, United Kingdom ( Northern Ireland)
1954 Colombia Colombia, United States United States (New Hampshire New Hampshire, Vermont Vermont, Wyoming Wyoming), Canada Canada (Alberta Alberta, Manitoba Manitoba), Australia (experimental), Italy (official), Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic Latvian SSR, Morocco Morocco, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico, Monaco Monaco, Norway Norway (experimental), Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (experimental)
1955 Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic Estonian SSR, Guatemala Guatemala, United Kingdom (Guernsey Guernsey, Jersey Jersey), Luxembourg Luxembourg, Romania Romania (experimental), Thailand Thailand (official)
1956 Australia, France French Algeria,[21] Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic Armenian SSR, Austria Austria, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic Azerbaijan SSR, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Byelorussian SSR, Cyprus Cyprus, East Germany East Germany (full service), Guam Guam, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic Georgian SSR, Iraq Iraq, Nicaragua Nicaragua, Romania Romania, South Korea South Korea, Spain Spain, Philippines Philippines, Panama Panama,[22] Portugal Portugal (experimental), Sweden Sweden, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Ukrainian SSR (regular programming), Uruguay Uruguay, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic Uzbek SSR, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia[23]
1957 Finland Finland (test programming), Hong Kong Hong Kong,[24] Hungary Hungary, Kuwait Kuwait, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic Lithuanian SSR,[25] Lebanon Lebanon, Portugal Portugal (full service)
1958 Bermuda Bermuda, China China, Finland Finland (regular programming), Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic Kazakh SSR, Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic Moldavian SSR, El Salvador El Salvador, Iran Iran, Peru Peru, United Kingdom ( Wales)[26]
1959 Bulgaria Bulgaria, Chile Chile (full service), Ecuador Ecuador, Haiti Haiti, Honduras Honduras, India India, Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic Kirghiz SSR (regular programming), Nigeria Nigeria, United States Ryukyu Islands,[27] Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic Tajik SSR, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic Turkmen SSR

1960s

Year Countries and territories
1960 Albania Albania, Costa Rica Costa Rica, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand New Zealand, Norway Norway (full service), Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia, United Arab Republic United Arab Republic[28]
1961 Republic of Ireland Ireland,[29] Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia, United States U.S. Virgin Islands
1962 Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo, Kenya Kenya, Malta Malta,[30] Indonesia Indonesia, Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, Taiwan Republic of China,[31] Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom Gibraltar,[32] Sudan Sudan
1963 Bolivia Bolivia, North Korea North Korea, France French Polynesia, Gabon Gabon, Malaysia Malaysia, Singapore Singapore, Jamaica Jamaica, Uganda Uganda, Republic of Upper Volta Upper Volta
1964 American Samoa American Samoa, Barbados Barbados, Pakistan East Pakistan, Ethiopia Ethiopia, France Guadeloupe, Liberia Liberia, France Martinique, United Kingdom Mauritius, Yemen Arab Republic North Yemen, Pakistan West Pakistan, France Réunion, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
1965 Suriname (Kingdom of the Netherlands) Dutch Guiana (trial and regular programming), Ghana Ghana, France New Caledonia, Paraguay Paraguay, Senegal Senegal
1966 Zambia Zambia, Cambodia Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo Congo-Kinshasa, Greece Greece, Tunisia Tunisia, Iceland Iceland, Israel Israel,[33] South Vietnam South Vietnam
1967 France French Somaliland, France French Guiana, Mongolia Mongolia, France Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Canada (Northwest Territories Northwest Territories), Madagascar Madagascar, Saint Lucia Saint Lucia
1968 Turkey Turkey, Jordan Jordan, Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, Libya Libya, Canada (Yukon Yukon)
1969 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Trucial States Abu Dhabi (now part of United Arab Emirates)

1970s

Year Countries and territories
1970 Qatar Qatar, North Vietnam North Vietnam
1972 Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla
1973 Bahrain Bahrain, Niger Niger, Tanzania Tanzania, Togo Togo, United Kingdom British Virgin Islands
1974 Central African Republic Central African Republic, Grenada Grenada, Oman Oman
1975 Angola Angola, Dominica Dominica, Brunei Brunei, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Kosovo (RTV Priština), Tuvalu Tuvalu (foreign-owned launching), South Yemen South Yemen, France Wallis and Futuna Islands
1976 South Africa South Africa
1977 The Bahamas Bahamas,[34] Guinea Guinea, Indonesia East Timor
1978 Afghanistan Afghanistan, Benin Benin, Lesotho Lesotho, Maldives Maldives, Eswatini Swaziland
1979 Myanmar Burma,[35] Sri Lanka Sri Lanka

1980s

Year Countries and territories
1980 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
1981 Belize Belize, Portugal Macau, Mozambique Mozambique, South Africa South West Africa
1982 Denmark Greenland, Mauritania Mauritania[36]
1983 Andorra Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda, Cambodia Cambodia (as Kampuchea; re-established), Cameroon Cameroon, Mali Mali, Nepal Nepal, Seychelles Seychelles, Somalia Somalia,[37] Vatican City Vatican City,[38] Laos Laos[39]
1984 Burundi Burundi, Cape Verde Cape Verde, Chad Chad, Comoros Comoros, Faroe Islands Faroe Islands
1986 France Mayotte, Niue Niue
1987 Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (foreign-owned launching)
1989 Cook Islands Cook Islands, Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau,[40][41] San Marino San Marino, Samoa Western Samoa

1990s

Year Countries and territories
1991 Cayman Islands Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands Falkland Islands,[42] Fiji Fiji[43] Guyana Guyana, Nauru Nauru, Rwanda Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe
1992 Botswana Botswana, Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, Vanuatu Vanuatu
1993 Eritrea Eritrea, Czech Republic Czech Republic, Slovakia Slovakia[44]
1995 The Gambia Gambia, Kiribati Kiribati, United Kingdom Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Turks and Caicos Islands Turks and Caicos Islands
1996 Malawi Malawi, Palau Palau
1999 Bhutan Bhutan[45]

2000s and 2010s

Year Countries and territories
2000 Tonga Tonga
2002 Kiribati Kiribati (native, but suspended from 2013 to 2018), Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic[46]
2006 Åland Islands Åland[47]
2008 Liechtenstein Liechtenstein, Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (state-owned launching)
2018 Kiribati Kiribati (returned)

Countries without television

As of July 2019, the only such country is Tuvalu which has no native service.

See also

Notes and citations

  1. ^ See WRGB History, How Television Came to Boston: The Forgotten Story of W1XAY, W3XK: America's first television station, and "WRNY to Start Daily Television Broadcasts," The New York Times, August 13, 1928, p. 13.
  2. ^ See J.L. Baird: Television in 1932.
  3. ^ See Museum of Broadcast Communications: Germany and Berlin 1936: Television in Germany.
  4. ^ Australian TV – The First 25 Years by Peter Bielby, page 173. ISBN 0-17-005998-7
  5. ^ Linking a Nation – Chap 9 – Australian Heritage Council
  6. ^ Peter Luck, 50 Years of Australian Television ISBN 1-74110-367-3 p.15
  7. ^ a b c See Eerste NTS journaal op de Nederlandse televisie.
  8. ^ "Timeline – national and state, 1927-1941". Brisbane Courier Mail. Archived from the original on February 15, 2008.
  9. ^ See The Birth of Live Entertainment and Music on Television, November 6, 1936, and 1937 RCA Publicity Photographs. "Eighty-seven video programs were telecast by NBC last year," "Where Is Television Now? Archived 2008-09-13 at the Wayback Machine", Popular Mechanics, August 1938, p. 178. Regularly scheduled electronic broadcasts began in April 1938 in New York (to the second week of June, and resuming in August) and Los Angeles. "Telecasts Here and Abroad," The New York Times, April 24, 1938, Drama-Screen-Radio section, p. 10; "Early Birds," Time, June 13, 1938; "Telecasts to Be Resumed," The New York Times, Aug. 21, 1938, Drama-Screen-Radio section, p. 10; Robert L. Pickering, "Eight Years of Television in California," California — Magazine of the Pacific, June 1939. Also note that many rural areas of the Southern United States didn't receive television until the late 1950s and early 1960s.
  10. ^ Although 180-line cathode ray tube receivers were manufactured in France in 1936, a mechanical scanning camera was still used at the transmitter in Paris until 1937.
  11. ^ a b See The Warsaw Voice: What's On? and Historia Przemysłowego Instytutu Telekomunikacji przed II wojną światową at the Wayback Machine (archived September 28, 2007) (in Polish).
  12. ^ See The Evolution of TV: A Brief History of TV Technology in Japan: “Can you see me clearly?” Archived 2013-01-01 at the Wayback Machine; Public TV Image Experiments Archived 2016-05-26 at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ^ See Early Television in Italy
  14. ^ See Historia de la televisión en el Perú
  15. ^ Off from 1939 to 1945 during World War II.
  16. ^ Off from 1939 to 1946 during World War II.
  17. ^ ["Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2013-10-24. Latin America's first experimental television station (in Spanish)
  18. ^ Czechoslovakia became two separate states, namely the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
  19. ^ See DRs historie 1950-1959.
  20. ^ Dutch-language BRT used the Belgian 625-line standard and French-language RTB used the Belgian 819-line standard (abandoned in 1963). Early Belgian sets were very expensive because they could receive four different standards: Belgian 625, European 625, Belgian 819, French 819. Later a fifth standard was added with the French 625-line standard.
  21. ^ Cheurfi, Achour (September 2010). Radio et télévision : histoire d'un monopole. La presse algérienne : génèse, conflits et défis (in French). Algiers: Casbah Éditions. p. 88–p. 148.
  22. ^ https://www.laestrella.com.pa/amp/nacional/180314/chica-panama-llegada-pantalla
  23. ^ The date refers to the launch of the television channel in republics and autonomous provinces of Yugoslavia, there were: RTV Zagreb in Croatia (1956), RTV Ljubljana in Slovenia (1958), RTV Belgrade in Serbia (1958), RTV Skopje in Macedonia (1964), RTV Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1969), RTV Titograd (Podgorica) in Montenegro (1971), and in Kosovo (RTV Priština) and Vojvodina (RTV Novi Sad) was introduced in 1975.
  24. ^ Television was introduced in Hong Kong when it was a British crown colony until 1997.
  25. ^ About LRT
  26. ^ Wales had received broadcasts from England since 1952.
  27. ^ Television was introduced in the Ryukyu Islands (now part of Japan) when they were under U.S. administration.
  28. ^ The United Arab Republic was a short-lived political union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union.
  29. ^ Ireland had received broadcasts from the United Kingdom since 1949.
  30. ^ Previously received television broadcasts from Italy.
  31. ^ This is the year when television was introduced in territories under its administration. After the Chinese Civil War, the government of the Republic of China retreat to Taiwan and other islands, and Mainland China was controlled by the People's Republic of China.
  32. ^ Gibraltar had previously received television broadcasts from Spain.
  33. ^ The Israeli Ministry of Education in co-operation with the Rothschild Fund started limited broadcasts to schools in March 1966. A public state-owned TV channel started broadcasting in May 1968. Broadcasts were black and white (with a few exceptions) until the early 1980s.
  34. ^ The Bahamas had previously received broadcasts from the United States.
  35. ^ Test service available only in Yangon in 1979, and formally launched in 1981.
  36. ^ عن المؤسسة - موقع التلفزة الموريتانية. tvm.mr (in Arabic). Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  37. ^ Louise M. Bourgault (22 June 1995). Mass Media in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indiana University Press. pp. 104–. ISBN 0-253-11309-1.
  38. ^ Although the Vatican did not have a television service of its own until 1983, broadcasts from Italy had been received since 1954.
  39. ^ Television is available from Nong Khai city in Thailand since the mid-1970s.
  40. ^ "Guiné-Bissau: Televisão celebra 17º aniversário com 14 horas de emissão". Agência Angola Press. 15 November 2006. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  41. ^ LUSA (Agência de Notícias de Portugal, S.A.) (14 November 2007). "Único canal de televisão da Guiné-Bissau comemora 18 anos". Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  42. ^ Television broadcasts had also been received from Argentina.
  43. ^ Television came to Fiji in part-time for the 1991 Rugby World Cup, and it arrived in full-time in 1994.
  44. ^ The Czech Republic and Slovakia inherited Czechoslovakia's common service upon its dissolution.
  45. ^ "Bhutan TV Follows Cyber Launch". BBC News. 2 June 1999.
  46. ^ "Sahrawis launch national television". Afrol News. 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
  47. ^ http://www.radiotv.ax/om-alands-radio (Swedish).

External links

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