Timeline of the introduction of television in countries

This is a list of when the first publicly announced television broadcasts occurred in the mentioned countries. Non-public field tests and closed circuit demonstrations are not included.

A map showing when television was introduced in each country.
  1939 and before
  1940s
  1950s
  1960s
  1970s
  1980s
  1990s
  2000 and after
  No television
  No data

This list should not be interpreted to mean the whole of a country had television service by the specified 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. Very few cities in each country had television service. Television broadcasts were not yet available in most places.

History

1920s and 1930s
Year Countries and territories
1928 United States (mechanical television, experimental)[1]
1929 United Kingdom (mechanical, experimental),[2] Germany Germany (mechanical, experimental),[3]  Australia (mechanical, experimental, after hours on two existing Melbourne radio stations),[4][5][6]  Netherlands (mechanical, experimental in Scheveningen)[7]
1931 France (mechanical, experimental),  Canada (mechanical, experimental),  Soviet Union (mechanical, experimental),  Siam (mechanical, experimental, cancelled because of the revolution)
1934 Australia (electronic television, experimental, Brisbane)[8]
1935 Germany (intermediate film; semi-electronic),  France (electronic - PTT Radio Vision),  Netherlands (electronic, experimental in Eindhoven by Philips)[7]
1936 United Kingdom (electronic - BBC Television Service),  Germany (electronic television - Deutscher Fernseh Rundfunk),[9]
1937 Free City of Danzig (electronic, experimental),[10] Poland Poland (mechanical, experimental), (Doświadczalna Stacja Telewizyjna)[11]
1938 Soviet Union (electronic, experimental),  Turkey (electronic, experimental)
1939 Chile (experimental),  Japan (electronic, experimental),[12] Italy Italy (electronic, experimental - EIAR Trasmissioni Sperimentali Radiovisione),[13]  Peru (electronic, experimental),[14] Poland Poland (electronic, experimental),[11]  United States (electronic; experimental and non-commercial until 1941 - NBC)

1940s
Year Countries and territories
1941 United States ( New York (WNBT),  Delaware,  New Jersey,  Connecticut, regular commercial telecasts,  Pennsylvania (WPTZ))
1943Nazi Germany Occupied France (Fernsehsender Paris)
1944 France (returned) (RDF Télévision française)
1945 Soviet Union (returned) (CT USSR),[15]  United States ( Washington, D.C., experimental (W3XWT))
1946 United States ( Iowa, experimental,  Washington, D.C. (WTTG)),  United Kingdom (returned),[16]  Philippines (experimental),  Mexico (experimental)[17]
1947 United States ( California (KTLA),  Maryland (WTTG),  Michigan (WDIV),  Missouri (KSDK))
1948 Czechoslovakia (experimental),[18]  United States ( Ohio (WEWS),  Washington (KING-TV),  Virginia (WTVR-TV),  Massachusetts (WBZ-TV),  Minnesota Minnesota (KSTP-TV),  Texas (KXAS-TV),  Tennessee (WMC-TV)),  Canada (experimental),  Brazil (experimental)
1949 United States ( Alabama (WBRC),  Arizona (KPHO-TV,  Missouri (WDAF-TV),  Iowa (KWQC-TV),  Oklahoma (KFOR-TV),  North Carolina (WBTV),  Florida (WJXT),  Rhode Island (WJAR)),  Italy (experimental)

1950s
Year Countries and territories
1950 United States (Iowa Des Moines (WOI-TV), Tennessee Nashville (WSM-TV)),   Switzerland (experimental),  West Germany (experimental),  Mexico (official) (XHTV-TV),  Japan (returned, electronic, experimental),  Brazil (Rede Tupi, now defunct),  Cuba (CMQ-TV)
1951 Denmark (DR),[19]  Netherlands (NTS),[7]  Argentina (LR3 Radio Belgrano Televisión),  Mexico (XEW-TV)
1952 United States ( Colorado (KBTV),  Hawaii (KGMB), Spokane Spokane (KHQ-TV)),  Turkey (İTÜ TV, now defunct),  Chile (sporadically until 1959),  Dominican Republic (La Voz Dominicana),  Thailand (experimental),  Canada (CBC),  United Kingdom ( Scotland (BBC TV Service Scotland)),  Venezuela (YVKA-TV, now defunct), Poland Poland (returned) (TVP),  East Germany (experimental, full service) (DFF), West Germany (full service) (NWDR-Fernsehen),  Mexico (XHGC-TV)
1953 Japan (returned) (NHK),   Switzerland (German television, SRG),  Canada ( Ottawa (CBOT),  British Columbia (CBUT),  United States ( Arkansas (KFSA-TV), California Fresno (KMJ-TV),  Nevada (KLAS-TV),  North Dakota (KFYR-TV)),  Czechoslovakia (Czechoslovak Television),  United Kingdom ( Northern Ireland, (BBC TV Service NI) programmes started in 1955.),  Philippines (thru ABS (DZAQ-TV), now ABS-CBN),  Belgium (INR - NIR),[20]  Alaska (KATV, now defunct)
1954 Italy (official) (Rai), Bulgaria Bulgaria (experimental, MEI),  Puerto Rico (WKAQ-TV),   Switzerland (French television, TSR),  Colombia (HJRN-TV),  United States ( New Hampshire (WMUR-TV),  Vermont (WMVT),  Wyoming (KFBC-TV)),  Canada ( Manitoba (CBWT),  Saskatchewan (CKCK-TV),  Alberta (CHCT-TV)),  Australia (experimental),  Norway (experimental),  Monaco (TMC - first microstate to have a native channel),  Latvian SSR (LTV),  Mexico (XEJ-TV),  Morocco (Telma, went defunct shortly after)[21]
1955 Estonian SSR (ETV),  Finland (test programming - TV-kerho),[22]  Guatemala (TGW-TV, now defunct),  United Kingdom ( Guernsey,  Jersey),  Luxembourg (Télé-Luxembourg), Romania Romania (experimental),  Saudi Arabia (experimental and regular programming) (AJL-TV), now defunct),  Thailand (official) (Thai Television Channel 4),  Austria (ORF),  Canada (United Kingdom Newfoundland And Labrador (CJON-TV))
1956 Australia (TCN), France French Algeria (RTF Television Algiers),[23]  Armenian SSR (Armenian Television),  Azerbaijan SSR (Baku Television Studio),  Byelorussian SSR (Belteleradio),  El Salvador (YSEB-TV),[24]  Finland (regular programming), (TES-TV, now defunct),[22]  Guam (KUAM-TV),  Georgian SSR (1TV), Iraq Iraq (Baghdad Television, now defunct and replaced by Al-Iraqiya TV),  Nicaragua (Canal 8),[25] Romania Romania (TVR),  South Korea (HLKZ-TV), Spain Spain (TVE),  Panama (RPC Televisión),[26]  Portugal (experimental),  Sweden, (Radiotjänst TV),  Ukrainian SSR (regular programming) (Pershyi),  Uruguay (Canal 10),  Uzbek SSR (Oʻzbekiston),  Yugoslavia (RTV Zagreb)[27]
1957 Portugal (full service) (RTP),  Lithuanian SSR (Lietuvos Televizija),[28] British Hong Kong Hong Kong (Rediffusion Television),[29] Hungary Hungary (MTV), Malta Malta,  Chile (UCV Televisión), Cyprus Cyprus (RIK)
1958 Bermuda (ZBM-TV),  China (Peking Television),  Kazakh SSR (Almaty Television Studio),  Moldavian SSR (TVM),  Iran (Iran's National TV),  Peru (Channel 7),  Czechoslovakia (ČST Bratislava),   Switzerland (Italian television, TSI),  United Kingdom ( Wales, TWW),[30]  Yugoslavia (RTV Belgrade), (RTV Ljubljana),  Malaya (mechanical, experimental)
1959Bulgaria Bulgaria (Bulgarian Television),  Chile (full service),  Ecuador (RTS),  Haiti (Tele Haiti),  Honduras (Canal 5 (Honduras)),  India (Doordarshan TV),  Kirghiz SSR (regular programming) (KTRK),  Lebanon (Télé Liban), Nigeria Nigeria (WNTV), United States Ryukyu Islands (KSDW-TV),[31]  Tajik SSR (Televizioni Tojikiston),  Turkmen SSR (Turkmen Television)

1960s
Year Countries and territories
1960Albania Albania (RTSH), Greece Greece (PPC) (experimental),  Costa Rica (Teletica), Netherlands Antilles Netherlands Antilles (PJC-TV),  New Zealand (NZBS TV),  Norway (full service) (NRK), Southern Rhodesia (Federal Broadcasting Corporation),  United Arab Republic (Egyptian Television Network) and (General Organization of Radio and TV)[32]
1961 Ireland (Telefís Éireann),[33]  Northern Rhodesia (Federal Broadcasting Corporation),  United States Virgin Islands (WBNB-TV, now defunct),  Kuwait (Kuwait Television)
1962Republic of the Congo Congo-Brazzaville (Télé Congo), Kenya Kenya (KBC), Malta Malta (MTV),[34]  Indonesia (TVRI),  Sierra Leone (SLBS),  Taiwan (TTV Main Channel),[35]  Trinidad and Tobago (TTT),  Gibraltar (GBC),[36]  Sudan (SNBC)
1963 North Korea (Central Television Broadcasting System of the DPRK),  Gabon (Radio Télévision Gabonaise),  Malaysia (TV Malaysia),  Singapore (Television Singapura Channel 5),  Jamaica (JBC, now defunct),  Uganda (UBC),  Upper Volta (Volta Vision),  Ivory Coast (RTI)
1964 American Samoa (KVZK-TV),  Barbados (ZNX-TV), Pakistan East Pakistan (now Bangladesh Bangladesh) (Pilot Television Dhaka),  Ethiopia (Ethiopian Television), France Guadeloupe (Guadeloupe La Première),  Liberia (Liberia National Television), France Martinique (Martinique La Première), Mauritius Mauritius (MBC 1), Yemen North Yemen,  Niger (Télé Sahel), Pakistan West Pakistan (PTV), France Réunion (Réunion La Première),  Yugoslavia (RTV Skopje)
1965Suriname (Kingdom of the Netherlands) Suriname (trial and regular programming) (STVS),  Ghana (GTV), France New Caledonia (Nouvelle-Calédonie La Première),  Paraguay (TV Cerro Cora),  Saudi Arabia (Al Saudiya, state-owned),  Senegal (RTS), France French Polynesia (Polynésie la 1ère)
1966 Zambia (ZNBC),  Cambodia (TVRK), Democratic Republic of the Congo Congo-Kinshasa (RTNC),[37] Greece Greece (EIR),  Tunisia (RTT),  Iceland (Sjónvarpið),  Israel (IETV went defunct and replaced by Kan Educational),[38]  South Vietnam (THVN, now defunct and replaced by HTV)
1967France French Somaliland (RTD), France French Guiana (Guyane La Première), Mongolia Mongolia (MNTV), France Saint Pierre and Miquelon (Saint-Pierre and Miquelon La Première),  Canada ( Northwest Territories (CFYK-TV)),  Madagascar (TVM),  Saint Lucia (HTS)
1968 Jordan (Jordan TV),  Equatorial Guinea (TVGE),  Libya (Al-Jamahiriya TV),  Canada (Yukon (CFWH-TV, now defunct))
1969 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (WSZE-TV, now defunct),  Abu Dhabi (now part of United Arab Emirates) (Abu Dhabi TV),  Yugoslavia (RTV Sarajevo),  Bolivia (TV Bolivia)

1970s
Year Countries and territories
1970 Qatar (QTV),  North Vietnam (Independent Television System)
1972 Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla (ZIZ),  Tanzania (TVZ)
1973 Bahrain (Bahrain TV),  Togo (Télévision Togolaise),  Antarctica (AFAN-TV)[39]
1974 Central African Republic (RTC),  Grenada,  Oman (Oman TV), Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Kosovo (RTV Priština)
1975 Angola (TPA),  Dominica,  Brunei (RTB),  Gilbert and Ellice Islands (foreign-owned launching),  South Yemen, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Vojvodina (RTV Novi Sad),  Burundi (RTNB)
1976 South Africa (SABC TV), Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic Abkhaz ASSR (National Television of Abkhaz ASSR)
1977 Bahamas (ZNS-TV),[40]  Guinea (RTG)
1978Afghanistan Afghanistan (Afghanistan National Television),  Benin (ORTB), East Timor (Indonesian province) East Timor (TVRI Dili),[41]  Maldives (TVM),  Swaziland (Eswatini TV)
1979Myanmar Burma (test programming),[42] South Africa South West Africa (SWABC),  Sri Lanka (ITN Sri Lanka),  Chad (mechanical, experimental)

1980s
Year Countries and territories
1980 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG-TV), Myanmar Burma (Myanmar Television, regular programming)
1981 Belize (Channel 7), Mozambique Mozambique (TVM)
1982Denmark Greenland (KNR), Portugal Macau (TDM),  Mauritania (TV de Mauritanie)[43]
1983 Antigua and Barbuda (ABS-TV), Cambodia Kampuchea (re-established), Mali Mali (ORTM),  Seychelles (SBC),[44]  Somalia (Telefishanka J. D. Soomaaliya),[45]   Vatican City (Centro Televisivo Vaticano),[46]  Laos (LNTV) [47]
1984 Åland (TV Åland),[48]  Cape Verde (TEVEC),  Faroe Islands (SvF),    Nepal (NTV)
1985 Cameroon (CTV)
1986France Mayotte (Mayotte La Première),  Niue (Television Niue), France Wallis and Futuna (Wallis and Futuna La Première)
1987 Chad (Télé Tchad),  Papua New Guinea (foreign-owned launching) (EM TV),  Guinea-Bissau (Guinea-Bissau Television)[49][50]
1988 Lesotho (Lesotho Television)[51]
1989 Cook Islands (Cook Islands Television),  Western Samoa

1990s
Year Countries and territories
1991 Cayman Islands (Cayman 27, now defunct),  Falkland Islands (FITV),[52]  Fiji (FijiTV),[53]  Nauru (NTV),  Rwanda (RTV)
1992 Solomon Islands (TTV),  São Tomé and Príncipe (TVS)
1993 Eritrea (Eri-TV),  San Marino (San Marino RTV),  Vanuatu (VTV),  Western Samoa (SBC Television 1)
1995 Andorra (ATV),  Gambia (Gambia Radio & Television Service), Saint Helena (Sure South Atlantic Ltd),  Turks and Caicos Islands (Channel 4)
1996 Palestine (PBC)
1999 Bhutan (BBS),[54]  Malawi (TVM)

2000s and 2010s
Year Countries and territories
2000 Botswana (BTV),  Tonga (TV Tonga)
2002 Kiribati (TV Kiribati, native, but suspended from 2013 to 2018)
2004 Guyana (NCN),  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic[55] (did not start its regular programming until 2009. RASD TV)
2005 British Virgin Islands (ZBTV)
2006 Comoros (ORTC),  Palau (OTV)
2008 Liechtenstein (1 FL TV),  Papua New Guinea (state-owned launching) (NBC Television)
2011 Norfolk Island (TVNI)
2018 Kiribati (returned)

See also

Notes and citations
  1. See WRGB History, How Television Came to Boston: The Forgotten Story of W1XAY, W3XK: America's first television station, and "WRNY to Start Daily Television Broadcasts," The New York Times, August 13, 1928, p. 13.
  2. See J.L. Baird: Television in 1932.
  3. See Museum of Broadcast Communications: Germany and Berlin 1936: Television in Germany.
  4. Australian TV – The First 25 Years by Peter Bielby, page 173. ISBN 0-17-005998-7
  5. Linking a Nation – Chap 9 – Australian Heritage Council
  6. Peter Luck, 50 Years of Australian Television ISBN 1-74110-367-3 p.15
  7. See Eerste NTS journaal op de Nederlandse televisie.
  8. "Timeline – national and state, 1927-1941". Brisbane Courier Mail. Archived from the original on February 15, 2008.
  9. See The Birth of Live Entertainment and Music on Television, November 6, 1936, and 1937 RCA Publicity Photographs. "Eighty-seven video programs were telecast by NBC last year," "Where Is Television Now? Archived 2008-09-13 at the Wayback Machine", Popular Mechanics, August 1938, p. 178. Regularly scheduled electronic broadcasts began in April 1938 in New York (to the second week of June, and resuming in August) and Los Angeles. "Telecasts Here and Abroad," The New York Times, April 24, 1938, Drama-Screen-Radio section, p. 10; "Early Birds," Time, June 13, 1938; "Telecasts to Be Resumed," The New York Times, Aug. 21, 1938, Drama-Screen-Radio section, p. 10; Robert L. Pickering, "Eight Years of Television in California," California — Magazine of the Pacific, June 1939. Also note that many rural areas of the Southern United States didn't receive television until the late 1950s and early 1960s.
  10. Although 180-line cathode ray tube receivers were manufactured in France in 1936, a mechanical scanning camera was still used at the transmitter in Paris until 1937.
  11. See The Warsaw Voice: What's On? and Historia Przemysłowego Instytutu Telekomunikacji przed II wojną światową at the Wayback Machine (archived September 28, 2007) (in Polish).
  12. See The Evolution of TV: A Brief History of TV Technology in Japan: “Can you see me clearly?” Archived 2013-01-01 at the Wayback Machine; Public TV Image Experiments Archived 2016-05-26 at the Wayback Machine.
  13. See Early Television in Italy
  14. See Historia de la televisión en el Perú
  15. Off from 1939 to 1945 during World War II.
  16. Off from 1939 to 1946 during World War II.
  17. ["Historia de la Televisión! | Primera transmisión en blanco y negro | Event view". Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2013-10-24. Latin America's first experimental television station (in Spanish)
  18. Czechoslovakia became two separate states, namely the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
  19. See DRs historie 1950-1959.
  20. Dutch-language BRT used the Belgian 625-line standard and French-language RTB used the Belgian 819-line standard (abandoned in 1963). Early Belgian sets were very expensive because they could receive four different standards: Belgian 625, European 625, Belgian 819, French 819. Later a fifth standard was added with the French 625-line standard.
  21. "TELMA, the story of Morocco's first and short-lived television channel".
  22. The channel launched in 1956 as a continuation of a project that had aired a public broadcast in May 1955 as the first television broadcast in Finland. Keinonen, Heidi (2011). Kamppailu yleistelevisiosta. TES-TV:n, Mainos-TV:n ja Tesvision merkitykset suomalaisessa televisiokulttuurissa 1956–1964 (in Finnish). Tampere: Tampere University Press. ISBN 9789514483684.
  23. Cheurfi, Achour (4 February 2011). Radio et télévision : histoire d'un monopole. p. 88–p. 148. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  24. Herrera Palacios, Antonio (October 1998). "Un breve recorrido por la televisión en El Salvador" [A Brief Tour of Television in El Salvador]. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  25. "Primeros". La Prensa. 11 September 2006. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  26. "¿Cómo fue la llegada de la pantalla chica a Panamá? - Nacional - title.suffix.trans".
  27. The date refers to the launch of the television channel in republics and autonomous provinces of Yugoslavia, there were: RTV Zagreb in Croatia (1956), RTV Ljubljana in Slovenia (1958), RTV Belgrade in Serbia (1958), RTV Skopje in Macedonia (1964), RTV Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1969), RTV Titograd (Podgorica) in Montenegro (1971), and in Kosovo (RTV Priština) and Vojvodina (RTV Novi Sad) was introduced in 1975.
  28. About LRT
  29. Television was introduced in Hong Kong when it was a British crown colony until 1997.
  30. Wales had received broadcasts from England since 1952.
  31. Television was introduced in the Ryukyu Islands (now part of Japan), when they were under U.S. administration.
  32. The United Arab Republic was a short-lived political union between  Egypt and  Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union.
  33. Ireland had received broadcasts from the United Kingdom since 1949.
  34. Previously received television broadcasts from Italy.
  35. This is the year when television was introduced in territories under its administration. After the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan and other islands, and Mainland China was controlled by the People's Republic of China.
  36. Gibraltar had previously received television broadcasts from Spain.
  37. Times, Special to The New York (1966-11-25). "Congo Celebration Marks Year of Rule by Mobuto". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  38. The Israeli Ministry of Education in co-operation with the Rothschild Fund started limited broadcasts to schools in March 1966. A public state-owned TV channel started broadcasting in May 1968. Broadcasts were black and white (with a few exceptions) until the early 1980s.
  39. Antarctic Journal of the United States. January–February 1974. p. 29. ISBN 9780786451982 – via Google Books.
  40. The Bahamas had previously received broadcasts from the United States.
  41. Now believed to be under the jurisdiction of Radio-Televisão Timor Leste following the formal independence of the country in 2002.
  42. Test service available only in Yangon in 1979, and formally launched in 1981.
  43. عن المؤسسة - موقع التلفزة الموريتانية. tvm.mr (in Arabic). Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  44. "Media in Seychelles". Seychelles Media Commission. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  45. Louise M. Bourgault (22 June 1995). Mass Media in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indiana University Press. pp. 104–. ISBN 0-253-11309-1.
  46. Although the Vatican did not have a television service of its own until 1983, broadcasts from Italy had been received since 1954.
  47. Television is available from Nong Khai city in Thailand since the mid-1970s.
  48. http://www.radiotv.ax/om-alands-radio (Swedish).
  49. "Guiné-Bissau: Televisão celebra 17º aniversário com 14 horas de emissão". Agência Angola Press. 15 November 2006. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  50. LUSA (Agência de Notícias de Portugal, S.A.) (14 November 2007). "Único canal de televisão da Guiné-Bissau comemora 18 anos". Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  51. "LTV starts broadcasting for the first time - lesothotribune". 7 September 2022.
  52. Television broadcasts had also been received from Argentina.
  53. Television came to Fiji in part-time for the 1991 Rugby World Cup, and it arrived in full-time in 1994.
  54. "Bhutan TV Follows Cyber Launch". BBC News. 2 June 1999.
  55. "Sahrawis launch national television". Afrol News. 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
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