Television then and now Essay example

Submitted By tara0711
Words: 1344
Pages: 6

Communication Revolution
Midterm Paper

Television has been such an important aspect of people’s lives today. It keeps everyone up to date with important information regarding news etc. It provides entertainment and you are able to watch any show to your liking. The beginning of the television time line started in 1831. In 1923 Vladimir Zworkin patents his iconoscope which is a TV camera tube. This is the beginning of the modern TV. He then develops the kinescope for the picture display which is known as the receiver. Then in 1927 Philio Farnsworth puts the patent on the very first complete electronic television system. Which is also known as the Image Dissector. 1927 Zworkin demonstrates the use of the new complete electronic television system. Also in this year the very first TV studio was open. The image broadcasted out was extremely poor. The very first broadcast which happened in 1939 happened by Zworkin from the top of the Empire State Building. It was showing the New York States World Fair and the San Francisco International Exposition. Both of these men made a huge change in the beginning of television and it was just a start to how the TV’s are today. (about.com) TV shows in the beginning were all live and performed right then to be shown all who was watching. They didn’t have anything to record shows invented yet. The very first drama television show was the “The Man With the Flower in his Mouth” it was filmed live in London on July 14th, 1930. There was only three people in this show. This show was then remade in 1967 to have much more lines and to be more of a show. BBC was the first television station where all the original shows were recorded. (http://www.tvdawn.com/earliest-tv/the-man-with-the-flower-in-his-mouth/) After the WWII TV became such an important source of news to see what was going on in the world then. Also TV sales boomed and everyone who was once in the war was treating themselves to a new TV. In 1952, 15 million homes had TV sets in their home. In the 1950’s there was a lot of TV quiz scandals. It was found out to be that the shows were all scripted and they were told whether or not to answer correctly or answer wrong. President Eisenhower said “it is such a terrible thing to do to the public”. No FCC laws were broken but after this scandal they fixed and wrote new regulations to make sure there was a lot more honesty involved with TV game shows. (Kovarik pg 243-244).
Broadcast and cable are two totally different ways to view what you want to watch. Broadcast is monitored and regulated whereas cable you pay for what you want to watch. Digital Television (DTV which is also broadcast) is an advanced broadcasting technology that transformed the television viewing experience it offers a better picture and sound quality and more channels to watch. The switch was made in June 2009 from analog viewing. It was known as the Digital Television Transition. Another important part of the switch was that it freed up the line for public safety communications so that police, fire departments and rescue squads can reach the public if there is an emergency. Also some of the broadcasting spectrums allowed for wireless broadband to be accessed. Cable TV is where some of the most entertaining shows are broadcasted on because they have no rules to follow.
With TV becoming such a huge new lifestyle there has to be some rules put into place to regulate what is said and put out there on TV. This is where the FCC comes in. “The Federal Communications Commission regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. It was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and operates as an independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress. The commission is committed to being a responsive, efficient and effective agency capable of facing the technological and economic opportunities of the