Invention: 1954 First consumer color television
Inventor: RCA
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Color television made its debut after the Federal Communications Commission accepted the RCA-developed "Compatible Color" System permitting colorcasting of programs without blanking the screens of black-and-white TV sets. Source: Bettmann / Contributor, v
The RCA CT-100 color TV was the first color television produced for the masses. The company began manufacturing it in 1954, when there were few color broadcasts, and its $1,000 price tag would make it a luxury item. This hulking beast, its innards packed with vacuum tubes, showed a picture that measured just 12 inches wide. About 4,000 were produced, and only 300 or so are known to exist today. While the CT-100 was, for consumers, the first color TV on the market, it wasn't the first color TV ever made.
The color television stands as one of the
greatest inventions of the 20th century. Today, it’s how many of us get our news, entertain ourselves, even improve ourselves with the litany of educational programs. However, the historic invention of the color television reads like the
space race between Russia and the United States.
Only this race was between Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and Colombia Broadcasting System (CBS). There was also an army of engineers fighting over who would invent the best system and most crucially, who got credit for the invention.
The earliest inventions of color television began in the early 1900s with men you’ve never heard of, like Vladimir K. Zworykin and versions of color TV that never quite got off the ground. Things really heated up in the ‘20s with John Logie Baird’s design, which is credited as the first color television. However, without getting into the technical mumbo jumbo, his invention was mechanical in nature, while the basis for our television today is electronic.
The Very First NTSC Color TV: 1954 RCA Model CT-100