Week 3, lecture 3 - Key Developments in UK Broadcasting 2

History of TV in the UK

• John Logie Baird demonstrated a TV system in Selfridges in 1925
• Other companies such as RCA, Marconi and EMI spent millions of pounds on research trying to create better systems
• EMI and Baird both created good systems - on alternative weeks their systems would be used to see which one was better
• In February 1937 Baird was dropped
• Service was suspended in 1939 due to the fact that the Germans could holm in - it restarted in 1946
• By 1954 TV was being broadcast for around 6 hours a day but NOT in the evenings - this would suggest entertainment and not education
• Commercial TV started in September 1955

21st Century TV

• 85.1% of households are multi-channel
• Scheduling affected by multiple time shift technologies - sky+, free view