Timeline of the introduction of television in countries
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
1920s to 1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s to 2010s
2020s and after
No television
No data
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, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the former Soviet Union all had operational television stations and a limited number of viewers by 1939. 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 | |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | Pre-regular | |
| 1924 |
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| 1928 | ||
| 1929 | ||
| 1930 |
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| 1931 |
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| 1932 |
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| 1934 |
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| 1935 |
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| 1936 |
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| 1937 | ||
| 1938 |
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| 1939 |
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1940s
| Year | Countries and territories | |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | Pre-regular | |
| 1943 |
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| 1944 | ||
| 1946 |
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| 1948 |
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| 1949 |
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1950s
| Year | Countries and territories | |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | Pre-regular | |
| 1950 |
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| 1951 |
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| 1952 |
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| 1953 |
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| 1954 |
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| 1955 |
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| 1956 |
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| 1957 |
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| 1958 |
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| 1959 |
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1960s
| Year | Countries and territories | |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | Pre-regular | |
| 1960 |
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| 1961 |
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| 1962 | ||
| 1963 |
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| 1964 |
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| 1965 |
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| 1966 | ||
| 1967 |
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| 1968 |
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| 1969 |
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1970s
| Year | Countries and territories | |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | Pre-regular | |
| 1970 |
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| 1972 |
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| 1973 |
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| 1974 |
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| 1975 |
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| 1976 |
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| 1977 | ||
| 1978 |
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| 1979 | ||
1980s
| Year | Countries and territories | |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | Pre-regular | |
| 1980 |
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| 1981 |
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| 1982 |
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| 1983 | ||
| 1984 | ||
| 1985 |
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| 1986 |
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| 1987 |
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| 1988 |
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| 1989 |
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1990s
| Year | Countries and territories | |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | Pre-regular | |
| 1991 | ||
| 1992 |
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| 1993 |
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| 1994 |
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| 1995 |
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| 1996 |
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| 1997 |
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| 1999 |
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2000s and 2010s
| Year | Countries and territories |
|---|---|
| 2000 | |
| 2001 | |
| 2002 |
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| 2006 |
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| 2008 | |
| 2009 | |
| 2010 |
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| 2011 |
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| 2014 |
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| 2018 |
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| 2019 |
2020s and onwards
| Year | Countries and territories |
|---|---|
| 2021 |
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| 2023 |
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| 2025 |
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See also
Notes
- 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.
- Off from 1940 to 1950 due to Japan's entry in the World War II and subsequent US occupation.
- Czechoslovakia became two separate states, namely the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
- License auctioned to Silvio Santos and became SBT São Paulo in 1981.
- 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.
- Rollout for NHK started in 1953 in Kanto, 1954 in Tokai and Kansai and between 1956 and 1958 for the rest of Japan. For commercial TV, limited to Kanto from 1953 to 1955 (NTV and KRT) and spread between 1956 and 1963 to the rest of the country. Saga Prefecture only gained television (NHK and commercial) in 1969 due to overspill from neighboring prefectures and usage of UHF as the preferred band.
- Coverage was limited to Manila until 1959, and by 1972 had also reached Baguio, Batangas, Bacolod, Cebu and Davao. During the Martial Law that led into first ABS-CBN shutdown, there were still many regions in the Philippines that hadn't been electrified, making a total nationwide expansion unviable for years.
- Telesaar went defunct in 1958 as it was ordered by the German authorities.
- The date refers to the launch of the television channel in republics and autonomous provinces of Yugoslavia, there were: RTV Zagreb in SR Croatia (1956), RTV Ljubljana in SR Slovenia (1958), RTV Belgrade in SR Serbia (1958), RTV Skopje in SR Macedonia (1964), RTV Sarajevo in SR Bosnia and Herzegovina (1969), RTV Titograd (Podgorica) in SR Montenegro (1971), and in SAP Kosovo (RTV Priština) and SAP Vojvodina (RTV Novi Sad) was introduced in 1975.
- Television was introduced in Hong Kong when it was a British crown colony until 1997. The Rediffusion service was a cable network until 1973, when it converted to terrestrial television.
- Date where relays from Italy became available.
- This station was the first in the Chinese world to be strictly terrestrial from the outset.
- Originally limited to Tehran area, later to Abadan, and from 1969, expanded to the whole nation. Television of Iran was absorbed into National Iranian Television in 1969; since the main network of the NIRT used a different frequency from TVI (which used channel 3) in Tehran, it's likely that the former TVI frequency was turned off.
- Until the launch of the first version of Telenorte in Antofagasta in 1966, television was limited to central Chile (Santiago and Valparaíso). The definitive roll-out of television outside of this region didn't start until late 1968, when TVN set up its first station in Arica months before it started definitive broadcasts, though in 1969, most of its network was concentrated in central Chile.
- Station shut down in 1972. The frequency was later occupied by Teleamazonas starting in 1974. RTS is often erroneously believed to be the first.
- Television was introduced in the Ryukyu Islands (now part of Japan), when they were under U.S. administration.
- 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.
- Ireland had received broadcasts from the United Kingdom since 1949.
- Originally limited to Jakarta area, and from 1965, the island of Java as a whole. The first television station outside of the island, TVRI North Sumatera, opened in 1970, after receiving just overspill coming from West Malaysia.
- This is the year when television was introduced in territories under its administration. After the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan and other islands, and Mainland China was controlled by the People's Republic of China.
- Gibraltar had previously received television broadcasts from Spain.
- Previously received television broadcasts from Italy.
- Originally limited to most areas of Peninsular Malaysia.
- Although the Isle of Man has received television signals since 1951, 1965 marked the first direct broadcast from a relay station built on the island. To date, no local television service has been set up and the island is served by BBC North West and ITV Granada (until 2009, ITV Border) with no local opt-outs.
- 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.
- Successor of the prior RTV service in Lusaka, which started in 1961.
- SLTV relayed television broadcasts from Barbados.
- Station operated autonomously by the territorial production center of Televisión Española (TVE) in the region.
- Corresponds to the current Northern Mariana Islands.
- Was replaced by a cable network with the normal AFN Television channels in the mid 90s.
- Converted from the former cable service.
- Current Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
- The Bahamas had previously received broadcasts from the United States.
- Now believed to be under the jurisdiction of Radio-Televisão Timor Leste following the formal independence of the country in 2002.
- Off from 1973 to 1979.
- Replaced a cable company set up in 1975 when it was still under the control of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and was shut down due to storm surges from a hurricane in 1979.
- Available only in Colombo in the network's early years.
- Corresponds to the current country of Namibia.
- Off from 1991 to 2011 as the channel was suspended due to the civil war. During the interim, numerous private television stations appeared.
- Although the Vatican did not have a television service of its own until 1983, broadcasts from Italy had been received since 1954.
- Subscription service, shut down in 1987, during its existence it also faced competition from ASTL-TV3, itself a subscription service until the 1991 launch of the Oceania Broadcasting Network, ASTL-TV3 later shut down in 1996.
- Established as a private operation from the US Trinity Broadcasting Network by arrangement with the Venda government. After apartheid ended, the station likely shut down and resumed in 1997 as a community station under IBA/ICASA rules (TBN Eastern Cape). That station later went national on DStv in 2002 but ended its ties with TBN in 2014, becoming Faith Broadcasting Network.
- Originally established in 1955.
- Originally established in 1954, becoming the third SSR to introduce television, after Ukraine (1951) and Russia.
- Originally established in 1957.
- Television broadcasts had also been received from Argentina.
- Television came to Fiji in part-time for the 1991 Rugby World Cup, and it arrived in full-time in 1994.
- ATV's origins trace back to the early 90s as an opt-out in the local relay of TVC's second channel, Canal 33.
- Previously relayed broadcasts from Antigua and Barbuda.
- Excluding the cable network installed by the PNCC in 1990.
- Liechtenstein previously received television broadcasts from Switzerland.
- Became the national broadcaster upon independence in 2011.
- Excludes local stations that existed before and were confiscated by the new regimes. Suspilne still has channels for the occupied areas, which as of 2024 are "temporarily occupied" according to the official stance of the Ukrainian government.
