1. Television: History of Technology
1880s: Paul Nipkow experiments with mechanical disk television; leads to
1926: John Logie Baird (U.K) invents first practical television.
1927: Simultaneous development of electronic television by Farnsworth (scanning process)
and Zworykin (cathode ray tube).

2. Television: History of Technology
Philo Farnsworth, Fort Wayne Resident, 1939-mid 1940s
Farnsworth House on East State Boulevard

3. Television: History of Technology
1941: National Television Systems Committee adopts 525-line resolution for U.S. broadcast television. This standard is only now being replaced by Digital Television (DTV) and High Definition Television (HDTV).
: FCC freezes new station licenses.
1952: The “freeze” ends and the two band system adopted: Very High Frequency (VHF), from 2-13 and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) 14-83, later reduced to
NOTE: The FM band was assigned in the gap between VHF channel 6 and channel 7.

4. Television: The 1950s
1. Television replaces radio as the national mass medium: programming, celebrities, and use of leisure time.
2. Influence of Sylvester “Pat” Weaver (NBC): spot advertising replaces sponsorship, daypart programming (Today and Tonight shows), and “specials.”
3. The establishment of the three commercial networks (stable until mid-1980s).
4. Quiz show scandals: The end of innocence
5. Influence of Desi Arnez: filming live television series to enable reruns.

5. Television: The 1960s-1970s
1. The dominance of television news: the Kennedy assassination, the space race, the civil rights struggles, and the Vietnam War.
2. The dominance of television entertainment: mostly situation comedies and dramatic series.
3. By 1966, network television coverts totally to color (Last monochrome network television series was The Avengers).
4. The mini-series (1970s): Rich Man, Poor Man and Roots

6. Television: Technology, 1970-1990s
: The creation of super stations from local independent television stations (Ted Turner, WTBS).
2. Development of home video taping: Betamax (Sony) and VHS (JVC). By 19179, home taping is allowed by Supreme Court decision.
3. Competition from cable systems, microwave systems (wireless cable), and satellite delivery (C and Ku band).
4. Digital television : Requires reassignment of the spectrum.

7. Television: Regulation and Competition
Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR), 1970: Limited networks programming in prime time.
Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (FinSyn): Prohibited networks from financial interest in their programs and from subsequent participation in off-network distribution of those programs. These rules were rescinded in
1987: The Fox network emerges as viable competition, although not classified as a network and this able to avoid the above limitations. United Paramount (UPN) and Warner Brothers (WB) appear in the 1990s.

8. Television: Economics
Prime Time Production: Based on deficit financing. Network licensing fees do not cover total production cost: profit comes from off-network syndication.
Networks own some stations (limited now to 35% of the population). Affiliates are contractually obligated to air network programs, but are independent of the networks
First run syndication: Independently produced programs sold on a market-by-market basis (such as Oprah and Xena: Princess Warrior. May be cash sale, barter, or cash and barter. Stripping: syndicated programs aired five times per week at the same time.

9. Television: Economics
Ratings and Shares:
The cost of advertising time is based mostly on the rating and share of that time slot (generated by the program):
Rating = % of Total Television Homes (TT) (This figure must total 100% for all programs in the time slot)
Share = % of Homes Using Television (HUT) (This figure will always be less the 100% total in the time slot)