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The Television Portal

Flat-screen television receivers on display for sale at a consumer electronics store in 2008

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set, rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports. The medium is capable of more than "radio broadcasting", which refers to an audio signal sent to radio receivers.

Television became available in crude experimental forms in the 1920s, but only after several years of further development was the new technology marketed to consumers. After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white television broadcasting became popular in the United Kingdom and the United States, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses, and institutions. During the 1950s, television was the primary medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the U.S. and most other developed countries.

In 2013, 79% of the world's households owned a television set. The replacement of earlier cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen displays with compact, energy-efficient, flat-panel alternative technologies such as LCDs (both fluorescent-backlit and LED), OLED displays, and plasma displays was a hardware revolution that began with computer monitors in the late 1990s. Most television sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel, mainly LEDs. Major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, Digital Light Processing (DLP), plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. LEDs are being gradually replaced by OLEDs. Also, major manufacturers have started increasingly producing smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s. (Full article...)

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WPSG (channel 57), branded Philly 57, is an independent television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS outlet KYW-TV (channel 3). The two stations share studios on Hamilton Street north of Center City Philadelphia; WPSG's transmitter is located in the city's Roxborough section.

Channel 57 was allocated for commercial use in Philadelphia at the start of the 1970s; it was fought over by two groups who sought to broadcast subscription television (STV) programming to paying customers in the metropolitan area. Radio Broadcasting Company prevailed and launched WWSG-TV on June 15, 1981. It offered limited financial news programming, which was abandoned after 18 months, and a subscription service utilizing programming from SelecTV. Two years later, the station switched to broadcasting PRISM, a premium regional sports and movies service seeking to reach potential subscribers in areas beyond cable coverage, such as the city of Philadelphia.

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Publicity photo National Broadcasting Company (NBC) issued for their 30th anniversary in 1956. The photo depicts their work in television beginning in 1928. The Felix the Cat doll shown in the photo was used by the company for over a decade beginning with mechanical television in 1928 and continued to be used to help develop electronic television.
Publicity photo National Broadcasting Company (NBC) issued for their 30th anniversary in 1956. The photo depicts their work in television beginning in 1928. The Felix the Cat doll shown in the photo was used by the company for over a decade beginning with mechanical television in 1928 and continued to be used to help develop electronic television.
Credit: National Broadcasting Company/public domain

W2XBS, Schenectady, New York. In 1928, Felix the Cat was one of the first images ever broadcast by television when RCA chose a papier-mâché Felix doll for an experimental broadcast on W2XBS. The doll was chosen for its tonal contrast and its ability to withstand the intense lights needed in early television and was placed on a rotating phonograph turntable and televised for about two hours each day. The doll remained on the turntable for nearly a decade as RCA fine-tuned the picture's definition, and converted to electronic television.

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  • ... that Phoenix radio station KTAR bought television station KTYL-TV to avoid a conflict with former U.S. senator Ernest McFarland?
  • ... that the day employees of Boston television station WLVI received new business cards, they learned the station would be sold and they would lose their jobs?
  • ... that after his movement's victory in the Cuban Revolution, television broadcasts showed Camilo Cienfuegos freeing parrots from birdcages, declaring that the birds had "a right to liberty"?
  • ... that Amrita Shah found that the introduction of television to India led to more women aspiring to become independent?
  • ... that a television in the film Day of Reckoning includes scenes from Big Ass Spider!?
  • ... that John Seigenthaler hosted a literary interview program which ran for 42 years on Nashville Public Television?

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Andy Warhol with President Jimmy Carter
When I got my first television set, I stopped caring so much about close personal relationships.

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Pitt in 2019

William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including three Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. One of the most influential celebrities, Pitt appeared on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list from 2006 to 2008, and the Time 100 list in 2007.

Pitt first gained recognition as a cowboy hitchhiker in the Ridley Scott road film Thelma & Louise (1991). His first leading roles in big-budget productions came with the drama films A River Runs Through It (1992) and Legends of the Fall (1994). He also starred in the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), alongside Tom Cruise. He gave critically acclaimed performances in David Fincher's crime thriller Seven (1995) and the science fiction film 12 Monkeys (1995). The latter earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and his first Academy Award nomination. (Full article...)

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History of television: Early television stationsGeographical usage of televisionGolden Age of TelevisionList of experimental television stationsList of years in televisionMechanical televisionSocial aspects of televisionTelevision systems before 1940Timeline of the introduction of television in countriesTimeline of the introduction of color television in countries

Inventors and pioneers: John Logie BairdAlan BlumleinWalter BruchAlan Archibald Campbell-SwintonAllen B. DuMontPhilo Taylor FarnsworthCharles Francis JenkinsBoris GrabovskyPaul Gottlieb NipkowConstantin PerskyiBoris RosingDavid SarnoffKálmán TihanyiVladimir Zworykin

Technology: Comparison of display technologyDigital televisionLiquid crystal display televisionLarge-screen television technologyTechnology of television

Terms: Broadcast television systemsComposite monitorHDTVLiquid crystal display televisionPALPicture-in-picturePay-per-viewPlasma displayNICAMNTSCSECAM

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