The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offered the
first public television (TV) programming in 1936. But World War II stalled the
development and popularity of the new invention.
At first, people preferred radio to the small, fuzzy
black and white pictures and poor sound of early TV. Very few people could even
receive the programs. In the United States, when the 1947 World Series of
baseball was shown on TV, many Americans watched and afterward decided to buy
TV sets. The turning point in Great Britain came with the televised coronation
of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
The first TV programs - mostly news reports, comedies,
variety shows, soap operas, and dramas - were based on popular radio shows.
Gradually, detective programs, game shows, sports, films, and children's programs
joined the line-up.
In some countries, independent businesses called
'networks' - groups of stations linked together - choose TV programming and
make money by selling advertising time. In other countries, people buy a TV and
radio license, which helps pay for government-sponsored programming. Another
system, called 'cable TV', often sells subscriptions that allow viewers to
watch their shows.
Broadcast TV works much as radio does. Special
equipment changes images and sound into electrical signals. These signals are
sent through the air and are received by individual aerials, which pass the
signals on to the TV sets. There they are read and changed back into images and
sound.
The TV technology keeps changing. Color TV became
popular in the mid-1960s, and cable TV and videocassette recorders (VCRs)
spread during the '80s. Today, advance such as digital videodiscs (DVDs),
high-definition TV, and satellite dishes provide even better picture and sound.
Earth-orbiting satellites have improved TV
broadcasting. In fact, the only things that haven't changed much are the kinds
of shows people watch and enjoy!
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