Shows
A brief history of television — plus the shows everyone is watching right now and the most popular of all time.
Timeline
1927First electronic TV picture21-year-old inventor Philo Farnsworth transmits a simple straight line in his San Francisco lab — the first fully electronic television image, with no mechanical parts.
1936BBC launches the first regular TV serviceThe BBC begins the world's first regular 'high-definition' broadcasts from Alexandra Palace in London, a service interrupted only by World War II.
1939Television arrives in AmericaNBC broadcasts the opening of the New York World's Fair, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt becoming the first US president to appear on television.
1941The first TV commercialA ten-second Bulova watch ad airs before a Brooklyn Dodgers game, costing nine dollars — the birth of TV advertising.
1948Cable TV is bornAppliance dealer John Walson strings a signal over a Pennsylvania mountain to sell televisions in his town, creating the first community-antenna (cable) systems.
1954Colour broadcasting goes mainstreamNBC's coast-to-coast colourcast of the Tournament of Roses Parade ushers in the colour television era for American audiences.
1962Telstar bridges the AtlanticThe first communications satellite relays live television pictures between Europe and North America, making same-day global viewing possible.
1969The Moon Landing broadcastAn estimated 650 million people worldwide watch Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong step onto the Moon — television's first true global event.
1975Home video arrivesSony's Betamax and JVC's VHS bring time-shifting into the living room, letting viewers record and watch programmes on their own schedule for the first time.
1979ESPN and the 24-hour sports eraESPN launches as the first all-sports cable channel, soon followed by the 24-hour news cycle with CNN in 1980.
1981MTV launches"Video Killed the Radio Star" becomes the first clip played on Music Television, fusing pop music and television culture for a generation.
1983The M*A*S*H finaleOver 105 million US viewers watch the final episode — a record that stood for decades and showed the raw cultural power of a shared broadcast.
1997DVRs and DVDs change viewingTiVo debuts the digital video recorder while Netflix launches its DVD-by-mail service — both quietly rewiring how audiences consume shows.
2007Streaming goes mainstreamNetflix launches its instant-streaming service, and binge-watching an entire season becomes a viewing style of its own.
2013Streaming originals arriveNetflix's House of Cards proves a streaming service can make prestige television, winning Emmys and upending the network pilot model.
2019The streaming warsDisney+, Apple TV+ and HBO Max launch within months of each other as traditional networks rush to build their own platforms.
2020Streaming overtakes cableFor the first time, more households watch streaming services than traditional cable, with smart 4K TVs becoming the default living-room screen.
Most-watched broadcasts
FIFA World Cup Final~1.5B
2022 · Argentina v France
The largest global reach of any single broadcast, spanning 170+ territories.
Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales~2.5B
1997 · BBC & worldwide
The most widely claimed global audience in television history.
Apollo 11 Moon Landing~650M
1969 · Live worldwide
Television's first planetary shared moment, watched in 49 countries.
M*A*S*H Series Finale~106M
1983 · CBS, United States
Held the US record for a scripted broadcast for 27 years.
Super Bowl LIX~128M
2025 · Fox, United States
The most-watched single-network broadcast in US history.