1930’s It was in the 1930’s that the first commercial television became widely available. These television sets used the kinescope (cathode ray tube) invented by Vladimir Zworykin in 1929. These were large television sets with an approximately 12 inch screen. They cost between 400 and 500 dollars whereas the average household income was about 1300 dollars per year. Figure 1 1940’s Due to the world war two production of televisions stopped in the early 1940’s. Innovation, however, continued and as a result colour television was introduced. In the late 1940’s, after the world war, production of television sets resumed and a boom was seen. In this time period two models were prevalent: the tabletop and the console television. Figure 2 1950’s …show more content…
In this decade, the remote control was invented and the colour TV became available but most families still owned none. Towards the end of the decade, the price of a 21 inch black and white TV set was 200 dollars whereas the price of a 21 inch colour TV set was 500 dollars. 1960’s By the end of the 60’s decade there were approximately 78 million TVs in the USA and approximately 200 million around the world Figure 3 1970’s During this decade, the video game ‘Pong’ became famous. In 1972 the first satellite television was launched. This was the last decade to see the production of black and white television sets. At this time the average price for a TV set was between 400 and 700 dollars whereas the average salary was 7500 dollars per year. Figure 4 1980’s During the 80’s there was not much innovation in television specifically but more focus was on the accessories. During this decade, there was a boom in cable television and the