Timeline of the introduction of television in countries
Encyclopedia
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
broadcasts occurred in the mentioned countries. Non-public field tests and closed circuit demonstrations are not included.
The map should not be interpreted to mean the whole of a country had television service by a certain date. For example, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and the former Soviet Union all had operational television stations and a limited number of viewers by 1939. However, in those countries only a few cities, such as New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles in the United States, London in Great Britain, Berlin in Germany, and Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the Soviet Union had television service; outside of these metropolitan areas, television broadcasts were not yet available. Furthermore, only a very limited number of people owned or had access to a television set. There are also cases in which smaller countries were completely covered by broadcasts from larger neighbours, sometimes long before they introduced their own service. For example Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
received broadcasts from Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
for 58 years and from Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
for 52 years.
| Year | Countries |
|---|---|
| 1928 |  United States (Mechanical televisionMechanical television Mechanical television was a broadcast television system that used mechanical or electromechanical devices to capture and display video images. However, the images themselves were usually transmitted electronically and via radio waves... ) 1 |
| 1929 | (Mechanical), 2 (Mechanical) 3 |
| 1931 | (Mechanical), Canada(Quebec only) , (Mechanical) 14 |
| 1935 |  Germany (Intermediate filmIntermediate film system The intermediate film system was a television process in which motion picture film was processed almost immediately after it was exposed in a camera, then scanned by a television scanner, and transmitted over the air... ; semi-electronic),  Mexico (Experimental) |
| 1936 |  Germany (Electronic television), (Electronic), United States (Electronic) 15 |
| 1937 |  Free City of Danzig (Electronic), (Electronic), 19 (Mechanical) 16 |
| 1939 | (Electronic), 4  Italy (Electronic) 5 (Electronic) 16 |
| 1942 |  Occupied France |
| 1944 | (Returned), United States (Returned) |
| 1946 | (Returned), 17 (Experimental) |
| 1948 | (Experimental) 6, (Experimental), (Experimental) |
| 1950 | , Mexico, , ,  West Germany (experimental) |
| 1951 | , , 12 , , (Returned) |
| 1952 | Canada, (Sporadically until 1956), , West Germany (full service),  German Democratic Republic (experimental), (Returned), |
| 1953 | ( Alaska), , 28 , , |
| 1954 | , , , , , , (experimental) |
| 1955 | , 30,  Romania (experimental) |
| 1956 | ,  AlgeriaAlgeria Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab... , , , , , ,  Iraq, Romania, ,  Spain, , (experimental) , , German Democratic Republic (full service) |
| 1957 | (full-service), ,  Hong Kong, 7  Hungary, |
| 1958 | , ,  MoldovaMoldova Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part... , ,  Iran, , |
| 1959 |  Bulgaria, , , , , , ,  Slovenia |
| 1960 |  Albania, , , ,  Southern Rhodesia,  United Arab Republic (EgyptEgypt Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world... and Syria Syria Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.... ), (full service) |
| 1961 | ,  Northern Rhodesia,  United States Virgin Islands |
| 1962 | ,  Republic of the Congo, , , 21 (own service was opening ceremony of 1962 Asian Games1962 Asian Games The 4th Asian Games were held from August 24, 1962 to September 4, 1962 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Most notable is the exclusion of Israel and the Republic of China from the Games.... ) , 34 , (Double Tenth Day), 9 ,  Gibraltar, 22  Sudan |
| 1963 | , , French Polynesia French Polynesia French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory... , , , 36 , ,  Republic of Upper Volta |
| 1964 | ,  Barbados,  East PakistanEast Pakistan East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal... ,  Ethiopia, GuadeloupeGuadeloupe Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe... ,  Liberia,  Republic of Macedonia, MartiniqueMartinique Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados... ,  MauritiusMauritius Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar... ,  Yemen Arab Republic,  West PakistanWest Pakistan West Pakistan , common name West-Pakistan , in the period between its establishment on 22 November 1955 to disintegration on December 16, 1971. This period, during which, Pakistan was divided, ended when East-Pakistan was disintegrated and succeeded to become which is now what is known as Bangladesh... , , |
| 1965 | , , , |
| 1966 |  Democratic Republic of the Congo,  Greece, , , 23 |
| 1967 | , French Guiana French Guiana French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west... ,  Mongolia, , ,  Saint Lucia |
| 1968 | , , ,  Libya |
| 1969 |  Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, |
| 1970 | |
| 1972 |  Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla |
| 1973 |  Bahrain, , , , |
| 1974 | ,  Central African Republic, , 25  MozambiqueMozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest... , |
| 1975 | ,  Dominica, , 37 ,  South Yemen, Wallis and Futuna Islands,  Republic of Kosovo |
| 1976 |  South Africa |
| 1977 | , 25 ,  East TimorEast Timor The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor... |
| 1978 |  Benin,  Liechtenstein,  Lesotho,  Maldives,  Swaziland |
| 1979 | Mars Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance... 31  Mali, , , |
| 1980 | ,  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| 1981 |  Belize, MacauMacau Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China... , South West AfricaSouth West Africa South-West Africa was the name that was used for the modern day Republic of Namibia during the earlier eras when the territory was controlled by the German Empire and later by South Africa.... |
| 1982 |  Mauritania |
| 1983 | ,  Antigua and Barbuda,  Cambodia (Returned),  Cameroon, , ,  Seychelles, 26 |
| 1984 |  Burundi,  Cape Verde, ,  Comoros, ,  Faroe Islands |
| 1986 |  Mayotte, , |
| 1989 | ,  San Marino,  Samoa |
| 1991 |  Cayman Islands,  Falkland Islands, 27 , 28 , ,  São Tomé and Príncipe |
| 1992 | , , |
| 1993 | , 29,  Rwanda |
| 1994 |  VietnamVietnam Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –... (ROV) |
| 1995 | , , , , |
| 1996 | ,  Greenland, |
| 1999 | |
| 2000 | |
| 2007 | (own service)33 |
| 2008 | (own service) |
See also
- Oldest television stationOldest television stationThis is a list of prewar television stations of the 1920s and 1930s that were among the first in the world. Most of these experimental stations were located in Europe , Canada and the United States...
- Timeline of the introduction of color television in countriesTimeline of the introduction of color television in countriesThis is a list of when the first color television broadcasts were transmitted to the general public. Non-public field tests and closed-circuit demonstrations are not included.Countries and territories which never had black and white television This is a list of when the first color television...