There are approximately 119.9 million TV homes in America as of last year. That’s a lot of families and individuals tuning in!
But it wasn’t always this way. TVs took decades of development and used to be hard to acquire in the home.
Learn about the history of TV and see how far it’s come with this quick and dirty guide to what TV was, is, and will be!
The Early History of TV
TV was first successfully demonstrated in 1927, just shy of a century ago. The concept of compiling moving pictures into radio waves that showed up as pictures on a screen was conceived by a 21-year-old named Philo Farnsworth!
Through much more development Farnsworth’s ideas contributed to the creation of two kinds of TVs: mechanical and electronic. As these devices became more reliable, television stations and sets started popping up in the later 1920s through the ’30s.
Then came more firsts, like the first remote control in 1955, and the first commercials and television programs. It’s safe to say we’ve come a long way since that part of TV history!
Modern TV
All that hard work brings us to today.
You can connect your laptop to your TV via the HDMI cord and watch whatever’s on your screen! TVs and TV antenna installation cost is much more affordable for most families and people spend a lot of time watching.
Some are skeptical of the success of television in the technology age because of the various streaming services that are taking over. However, the peak of television thus far was not too long ago.
From 2009-2010 Americans watched almost nine hours of TV per day! The average right now is almost eight hours, which is still a sizeable amount given the streaming service skeptics.
The Future of TV
But will that number go up? Go down?
Is TV headed under thanks to the technology in laptops, tablets, and smartphones?
It’s difficult to gauge as time goes on. The TV industry certainly is reaching some competition as services like Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, and HBO become more popular.
But as for right now, it would seem as if the TV itself is here to stay thanks to the many different uses it contains thanks to technology. Appliances like Chromecast and Apple TV turn TVs into screens of the future, allowing you to use apps, stream movies, and watch YouTube videos all through one big screen in your living room.
So what’s coming next? We’ll have to wait and see!
TV History: Quick and Easy!
Now you know the basics of the history of TV and what it was before it became what it is today. Whether this knowledge will come out on trivia night or on a pop quiz, it’s handy information to keep in your back pocket.
Happy watching!
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