This is a list of American television-related events in 1940.
Events
edit- January – The FCC has public hearings concerning television.
- January 12 - The first network telecast, a play entitled "Meet The Wife," is televised by NBC over W2XBS (NBC) and W2XB.[1]
- February 25 – The first ice hockey game is televised in the United States, the New York Rangers vs Montreal Canadiens, from Madison Square Garden on W2XBS-TV.
- February 28 – The first basketball game is televised, from Madison Square Garden: Fordham University vs the University of Pittsburgh.
- March 10 – The Metropolitan Opera broadcast for the first time from NBC studios at Rockefeller Center an abridged performance of the first act of Pagliacci, along with excerpts from four other operas.
- March 15 – RCA reduces the price of television sets.
- May 21 – Bell Telephone Laboratories transmits a 441-line video signal, with a bandwidth of 2.7 MHz, by coaxial cable from New York to Philadelphia and back.
- June – W2XBS in New York (NBC) covers the Republican National Convention from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for 33 hours, during a five-day period. The signal is transmitted via coaxial cable.
- August 1 – W2XBS goes out of commission from 1 August 1940 until the 27th of October 1940 while the transmitter is adjusted from 441-line picture to 525-line picture.[2][3]
- August 29 – Peter Carl Goldmark of CBS announces his invention of a color television system.
- September 3 – CBS resumes its television transmissions with the first demonstration of high definition color TV, by W2XAB, transmitting from the Chrysler Building.
- November 5 - First televised Presidential election coverage is carried by W2XBS (NBC) and W2XWV (DuMont).
Television programs
editDebuts
edit| Date | Debut | Network |
|---|---|---|
| February 3 | Art for Your Sake | W2XBS |
| February 21 | The Esso Television Reporter | W2XBS |
| July 8 | Boxing from Jamaica Arena | W2XBS |
Births
editDeaths
editReferences
edit- ^ "Early Networks and the East-Midwest Connection - TVObscurities". Television Obscurities. November 12, 2009.
- ^ Television Station to be shut-down; station to be remodelled. New York, NY: New York Times. Sunday, 21 July 1940. Page 10X, col. 8.
- ^ Television Station to Reopen. New York, NY: New York Times. Wednesday, 23 October 1940. Page L25, col 8.