The Colorful History of Television: When Did Color TV Arrive?
The invention of color television wasn’t a single event but a gradual evolution involving numerous inventors and technologies. While pinpointing an exact “invention” date is difficult, key milestones mark its journey from concept to mainstream adoption.
Early color television concepts emerged in the early 20th century. A German patent for a color system was filed in 1904, and Russian inventor Vladimir K. Zworykin filed a patent disclosure for an all-electronic system in 1925. These initial designs, though unsuccessful, laid the foundation for future innovations.
Between 1946 and 1950, RCA Laboratories researchers developed the world’s first electronic color television system. This breakthrough led to the first commercial color broadcast on December 17, 1953, based on RCA’s system.
Before RCA’s success, CBS, led by Peter Goldmark, developed a mechanical color system based on John Logie Baird’s 1928 designs. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initially approved CBS’s technology as the national standard in October 1950. However, this system faced challenges: bulkiness, poor picture quality, and incompatibility with existing black-and-white TVs.
CBS began limited color broadcasting in June 1951. But RCA sued to halt broadcasts using CBS’s system. The widespread adoption of black-and-white televisions (around 10.5 million sets, half RCA’s) further hindered CBS’s color system. The Korean War also halted color TV production. Facing these obstacles, the CBS system ultimately failed.
These setbacks allowed RCA to refine its color technology based on Alfred Schroeder’s 1947 shadow mask CRT patent application. This improved system gained FCC approval in late 1953, and RCA began selling color TVs in 1954.
Early color broadcasts were initially preserved using the 1947 black-and-white kinescope process. In 1956, NBC used color film for delayed broadcasts and preservation. Ampex developed a color videotape recorder in 1958, which NBC used to record “An Evening With Fred Astaire,” the oldest surviving network color videotape.
In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s visit to an NBC station in Washington, D.C., and his pro-color television speech, marked another milestone. This speech was recorded in color and preserved in the Library of Congress.
The first coast-to-coast color broadcast was NBC’s Tournament of Roses Parade telecast on January 1, 1954. Walt Disney’s “Wonderful World of Color” premiere in September 1961 significantly boosted consumer demand for color TVs.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, television stations and networks worldwide transitioned to color. By 1979, almost all broadcasting was in color. By the early 1980s, black-and-white sets were mainly small portables or monitors in budget-friendly equipment. By the late 1980s, even these niche uses had mostly switched to color.