TELEVISION FACTS & FIGURESWhat’s in a name?Have you ever wondered where the word television came from? It comes from the Greek word tele, which means ‘far’ and the Latin word videre, which means ‘to see’ and it certainly lives up to its name, when you think about it! Just think every time you turn on your television at home and you can see instantly an event happening in anywhere in the world. A television screen is like a magic window on the whole world through which people anywhere in the world can see things, which are not normally part of their lives. Remember though, for every image you see on the television there is a camera and someone else is deciding where it looks and what it shows.With the development of technology and the ability to post and stream video online as it happens, news producers can now share the most intimate news stories in incredible detail globally, using media gathered from a person’s cell phone. Indeed the very notion of a News Producer has become a job that is able to be carried out by anyone with an internet connection posting video online. But when was the first television invented?

Television timeline….1884 In Germany a gentleman by the name of P. Nipkow patented the

Nipkow disc. It was used for transmitting an exact image of an object onto a screen.

1897 Another German by the name of F Braun invented the cathode ray tube, which later became the basis for the modern television set. He painted the inside end of a glass tube with fluorescent paint. A cathode, which is a type of electrode, was placed inside the tube. It emitted electrons that made the paint inside glow! Not very interesting on its own you might say but…

1920 During this decade Professor Robert Jack of Otago University began experimenting with the new technology.

1925 A Russian by the name of V Zworykin patented the iconoscope. This was an electronic device with a lens that focused an image on to a screen inside a glass tube.

1925 J Baird of Great Britain gave the first demonstration of a television. He used the Nipkow discs to transmit images on to a screen, unfortunately the images were very blurred.

1936 The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) began operating with the first clear black and white television service from London. Baird’s system for producing pictures had been dropped in favour of one that was developed by Marconi and EMI based on the cathode ray tube and the iconoscope.

1953 The first successful transmission of colour television was made in the United States.

1960 NZBS (New Zealand Broadcasting Service) plans to run the country’s first television service in all the main centres.

1960 The first television commercials appear in New Zealand. Lots of people complain!

1960 Public television broadcasting in New Zealand began in June. Initially for only two hours a night, two nights a week!

1963 A new programme called NZBC – Reports goes on air. It is New Zealand’s first television News Programme.

1968 The Wahine ferry goes down in a storm off the coast of Wellington, providing the New Zealand News Service with its biggest story to date. The story goes on to win a world Newsfilm Award.

1969 NZBC Network News goes on air for the first time and is broadcast simultaneously around the country. The presenter is Dougal Stevenson.

1972 The second channel begins operating.

1972 New Zealand changes from black and white broadcasting to colour and begins full networking.

1975 Sony of Japan introduced the first domestic videotape system, known as the betamax. It uses a cassette to tape programmes while other stations are being watched.

1975 Avalon Television Studios open in Wellington.

1975 Television 2 opens by showing New Zealand’s first ever Telethon.

1976 Both TV 1 and TV 2 become one corporation – BCNZ.

1980 TV1 and TV2 merge to become Television New Zealand (TVNZ).

1985 24-hour a day access to satellites enabled international news to be available on demand.

1989 TV3 begins broadcasting.

1989 Ratings show that the public prefer TVNZ news to the TV3 product.

1990 Pay television enters the market. TV3 begins its popular one hour news.

1995 TVNZ begins to broadcast its one-hour news programme.

1995 Kiwi Cable begins transmission on the Kapiti Coast.

1996 Saturn Communications (which bought out Kiwi Cable) extends its cover to include Wellington and the Hutt Valley.

1997 TV3 Network Services launches TV4. Its target audience being 15 to 39 year olds.

2001 TVNZ changes from state owned enterprise to a crown owned company and at the end of the year TV 1 & 2 simulcast on Sky Digital platform.

2003 TVNZ officially adopts its charter in March. In December, under the TVNZ Bill, the previously known TVNZ Group splits into a television company and a new transmission company (Transmission Holdings Ltd). The legislation requires TVNZ to balance its commercial performance with public broadcasting objectives (as set out in the charter).

2003 TV4 renamed C4 on October 1st.

2006 Television signals in both analog and digital formats The US switch-off of all analogue terrestrial TV broadcasts is scheduled to begin NO LATER THAN February 17, 2009The switch-off of all analogue terrestrial TV broadcasts is scheduled to begin in 2008. The last regions will be switched off in 2012A Digital Terrestrial replacement, called Freeview, enables analogue television sets to receive digital programmes

2007 The digital license frequency plan, including some changes of frequency for existing analogue television services, was finalised in August and published on 12 September 2007.