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The elements of a simple broadcast television system are:

• An image source. This is the electrical signal representing the visual image, and may be from a camera in the case of live images, a video tape recorder for playback of recorded images, or a film chain-telecine-flying spot scanner for transmission of motion pictures (films).
• A sound source. This is an electrical signal from a microphone or from the audio output of a video tape recorder or motion picture film scanner.
• A transmitter, which generates radio signals (radio waves) and encodes them with picture and sound information.
• An antenna coupled to the output of the transmitter for broadcasting the encoded signals.
• An antenna to receive the broadcast signals.
• A receiver (also called a tuner), which decodes the picture and sound information from the broadcast signals, and whose input is coupled to the antenna.
• A display device, which turns the electrical signals into visual images.
• An audio amplifier and loudspeaker, which turns electrical signals into sound waves (speech, music, and other sounds) to accompany the images.

Practical television systems include equipment for selecting different image sources, mixing images from several sources at once, insertion of pre-recorded video signals, synchronizing signals from many sources, and direct image generation by computer for such purposes as station identification. The facility for housing such equipment, as well as providing space for stages, sets, offices, etc., is called a television studio, and may be located many miles from the transmitter. Communication from the studio to the transmitter is accomplished via a dedicated cable or radio system.

Television signals were originally transmitted exclusively via land-based transmitters. The quality of reception varied greatly, dependent in large part on the location and type of receiving antenna. This led to the proliferation of large rooftop antennas to improve reception in the 1960s, replacing set-top dipole or "rabbit ears" antennas, which however remained popular. Antenna rotors, set-top controlled servo motors to which the mast of the antenna is mounted, to enable rotating the antenna such that it points to the desired transmitter, would also become popular.

In most cities today, cable television providers deliver signals over coaxial or fiber-optic cables for a fee. Signals can also be delivered by radio from satellites in geosynchronous orbit and received by parabolic dish antennas, which are comparatively large for analog signals, but much smaller for digital. Like cable providers, satellite television providers also require a fee, often less than cable systems. The affordability and convenience of digital satellite reception has led to the proliferation of small dish antennas outside many houses and apartments.

Digital systems may be inserted anywhere in the chain to provide better image transmission quality, reduction in transmission bandwidth, special effects, or security of transmission from reception by non-subscribers. A home today might have the choice of receiving analog or HDTV over the air, analog or digital cable with HDTV from a cable television company over coaxial cable, or even from the phone company over fiber optic lines. On the road, television can be received by pocket sized televisions, recorded on tape or digital media players, or played back on wireless phones (cell or "mobile" phones) over a high-speed or "broadband" internet connection.

Display technology

Thanks to the advances in display technology, there are now several kinds of video displays used in modern TV sets:

• CRT (cathode-ray tube): The most common screens were direct-view CRTs for up to roughly 100 cm (40 inch) (in 4:3 ratio) and 115 cm (45 inch) (in 16:9 ratio) diagonals. These are the least expensive, and are a refined technology that can still provide the best overall picture quality value. As they do not have a fixed native resolution, they are capable of displaying sources with different resolutions at the best possible image quality. The frame rate or refresh rate of a typical NTSC format CRT TV is 29.97 Hz, and for the PAL format, 25 Hz, both are scanned with two fields per frame in an interlaced fashion. A typical NTSC broadcast signal's visible portion has an equivalent resolution of about 640x480 pixels. It actually could be slightly higher than that, but the vertical blanking interval (VBI), allows other signals to be carried along with the broadcast.
• Rear projection (RPTV): Most very large screen TVs (to 100 inches or more) use projection technology. Three types of projection systems are used in projection TVs: CRT-based, LCD-based, and DLP (reflective micromirror chip) -based, D-ILA and LCOS-based. Projection television has been commercially available since the 1970s, but at that time could not match the image sharpness of the CRT; current models are vastly improved, and offer a cost-effective large-screen display.
  • A variation is a video projector, using similar technology, which projects onto a screen.

• Flat panel (LCD or plasma): Modern advances have brought flat panels to TV that use active matrix LCD or plasma display technology. Flat panel LCDs and plasma displays are as little as 25.4 mm (1 inch) thick and can be hung on a wall like a picture or put over a pedestal. Some models can also be used as computer monitors.
• LED technology has become one of the choices for outdoor video and stadium uses, since the advent of bright LEDs and driver circuits. LEDs enable scalable ultra-large flat panel video displays that other technologies may never be able to match in performance.

Each has its pros and cons. Flat panel LCD and plasma displays have a wide viewing angle (around 160 degrees) so they may best suited for a home theatre with a wide seating arrangement. Rear projection screens do not perform well in daylight or well-lit rooms and so are only suited to darker viewing areas.

Terminology for televisions

Pixel resolution is the amount of individual points known as pixels on a given screen. Use of the word pixel is fairly new, as it only dates to the introduction of the DVD digital display standard. Before the year 2000 horizontal lines of resolution was the standard method of measurement for analog video. For example, a VHS VCR might be described as having 250 lines of resolution as measured across a circle circumscribed in the center of the screen (approximately 440 pixels edge-to-edge).

A typical resolution of 720×480 means that the television display has 720 pixels across and 480 pixels on the vertical axis. The higher the resolution on a specified display the sharper the image. Contrast ratio is a measurement of the range between the brightest and darkest points on the screen.

The higher the contrast ratio, the better looking picture there is in terms of richness, deepness, and shadow detail. The brightness of a picture measures how vibrant and impacting the colors are. Measured in ${\displaystyle cd/m^{2}}$ equivalent to the amount of candles required to power the image.

On the other hand, the so-called brightness and contrast adjustment controls on televisions and monitors are traditionally used to control different aspects of the picture display.

The brightness control shifts the black point, or shadow level, primarily affecting the contrast ratio or gamma of the image, while the contrast control primarily controls the image intensity or brightness.

Transmission band

There are various bands on which televisions operate depending upon the country. The VHF and UHF signals in bands III to V are generally used. Lower frequencies do not have enough bandwidth available for television. Although the BBC initially used Band I VHF at 45 MHz, this frequency is (in the UK) no longer in use for this purpose. Band II is used for FM radio transmissions. Higher frequencies behave more like light and do not penetrate buildings or travel around obstructions well enough to be used in a conventional broadcast TV system, so they are generally only used for MMDS and satellite television, which uses frequencies from 2 to 12 GHz. TV systems in most countries relay the video as an AM (amplitude-modulation) signal and the sound as a FM (frequency-modulation) signal. An exception is France, where the sound is AM.

Aspect ratios

Aspect ratio refers to the ratio of the horizontal to vertical measurements of a television's picture. Mechanically scanned television as first demonstrated by John Logie Baird in 1926 used a 7:3 vertical aspect ratio, oriented for the head and shoulders of a single person in close-up.

Most of the early electronic TV systems from the mid-1930s onward shared the same aspect ratio of 4:3 which was chosen to match the Academy Ratio used in cinema films at the time. This ratio was also square enough to be conveniently viewed on round cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), which were all that could be produced given the manufacturing technology of the time. (Today's CRT technology allows the manufacture of much wider tubes, and the flat-screen technologies which are becoming steadily more popular have no technical aspect ratio limitations at all.) The BBC's television service used a more squarish 5:4 ratio from 1936 to 3 April 1950, when it too switched to a 4:3 ratio. This did not present significant problems, as most sets at the time used round tubes which were easily adjusted to the 4:3 ratio when the transmissions changed.

In the early 1950s, movie studios moved towards widescreen aspect ratios such as CinemaScope in an effort to distance their product from television. Although this was initially just a gimmick, widescreen is still the format of choice today and 4:3 aspect ratio movies are rare.

Yet the various television systems were not originally designed to be compatible with film at all. Traditional, narrow-screen movies are projected onto a television camera either so that the top of the screens line up to show facial features, or, for films with subtitles, the bottoms. What this means is that filmed newspapers or long captions filling the screen for explanation are cut off at each end. Similarly, while the frame rate of sound films is 24 per second, the screen scanning rate of the NTSC is 29.97 Hz (per second), which requires a complex scanning schedule. That of PAL and SECAM are 50 Hz, which means that films are shortened (and the sound is offkey) by scanning each frame twice for 25 per second.

The switch to digital television systems has been used as an opportunity to change the standard television picture format from the old ratio of 4:3 (1.33:1) to an aspect ratio of 16:9 (approximately 1.78:1). This enables TV to get closer to the aspect ratio of modern widescreen movies, which range from 1.66:1 through 1.85:1 to 2.35:1. There are two methods for transporting widescreen content, the most common of which uses what is called anamorphic widescreen format. This format is very similar to the technique used to fit a widescreen movie frame inside a 1.33:1 35 mm film frame. The image is compressed horizontally when recorded, then expanded again when played back. The anamorphic widescreen 16:9 format was first introduced via European PALPlus television broadcasts and then later on "widescreen" DVDs; the ATSC HDTV system uses straight widescreen format, no horizontal compression or expansion is used.

Recently "widescreen" has spread from television to computing where both desktop and laptop computers are commonly equipped with widescreen displays. There are some complaints about distortions of movie picture ratio due to some DVD playback software not taking account of aspect ratios; but this may subside as the DVD playback software matures. Furthermore, computer and laptop widescreen displays are in the 16:10 aspect ratio both physically in size and in pixel counts, and not in 16:9 of consumer televisions, leading to further complexity. This was a result of widescreen computer display engineers' assumption that people viewing 16:9 content on their computer would prefer that an area of the screen be reserved for playback controls, subtitles or their Taskbar, as opposed to viewing content full-screen.

Aspect ratio incompatibility

The television industry's changing of aspect ratios is not without difficulties, and can present a considerable problem.

Displaying a widescreen aspect (rectangular) image on a conventional aspect (square or 4:3) display can be shown:

• in "letterbox" format, with black horizontal bars at the top and bottom
• with part of the image being cropped, usually the extreme left and right of the image being cut off (or in "pan and scan", parts selected by an operator or a viewer)
• with the image horizontally compressed

A conventional aspect (square or 4:3) image on a widescreen aspect (rectangular with longer horizon) display can be shown:

• in "pillar box" format, with black vertical bars to the left and right
• with upper and lower portions of the image cut off (or in "tilt and scan", parts selected by an operator)
• with the image vertically compressed

A common compromise is to shoot or create material at an aspect ratio of 14:9, and to lose some image at each side for 4:3 presentation, and some image at top and bottom for 16:9 presentation. In recent years, the cinematographic process known as Super 35 (championed by James Cameron) has been used to film a number of major movies such as Titanic, Legally Blonde, Austin Powers, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (see also: Films shot in Super 35). This process results in a camera-negative which can then be used to create both wide-screen theatrical prints, and standard "full screen" releases for television/VHS/DVD which avoid the need for either "letterboxing" or the severe loss of information caused by conventional "pan-and-scan" cropping.

Sound

Data

The end of analog television broadcasting

NTSC

In North America, the basic signal standards since 1941 have been compatible enough that even the oldest monochrome televisions can still receive color broadcasts in 2007. However, the United States Congress has passed a law which requires the cessation of all conventional television broadcast signals by February 2009. If the law is not changed again, then after that date all NTSC standard televisions, with analog-only tuners, will go dark unless fitted with digital ATSC tuners, and the spectrum previously occupied by those analog channels will be auctioned off by the United States' Federal Communications Commission for other uses. The analog cut-off date has been changed by Congress in the past.

PAL and SECAM

PAL and SECAM are expected not to be broadcast in Europe and Eurasia by the mid-2020s. PAL-M may have a similar decommissioning timeline.

The European Union has recommended its members to have closed down analogue terrestrial television by 2012. Luxembourg and the Netherlands had already completed their closedowns in 2006, and Finland and Sweden will have closed down their analogue broadcasts in 2007. Meanwhile, some countries may have difficulties making the 2012 deadline.

Television add-ons

The television was the first consumer mass market for video displays. Today there are many television add-ons including video game consoles, VCRs, Set-top boxes for Cable, Satellite and DVB-T compliant Digital Television reception, DVD players, or Digital Video Recorders (including personal video recorders, PVRs). The add-on market continues to grow as new technologies are developed. Computers, the internet, and even pocket devices such as the iPod provide other ways to consume video content.

New developments

Exterior designs

In the early days of television, the cabinets were made of wood grain, however, they were phased out in the 1980s. There has been a modern comeback of the woodgrain.

Geographical usage

• Timeline of the introduction of television in countries

Content

Programming

Getting TV programming shown to the public can happen in many different ways. After production the next step is to market and deliver the product to whatever markets are open to using it. This typically happens on two levels:

1. Original Run or First Run – a producer creates a program of one or multiple episodes and shows it on a station or network which has either paid for the production itself or to which a license has been granted by the producers to do the same.
2. Syndication – this is the terminology rather broadly used to describe secondary programming usages (beyond original run). It includes secondary runs in the country of first issue, but also international usage which may or may not be managed by the originating producer. In many cases other companies, TV stations or individuals are engaged to do the syndication work, in other words to sell the product into the markets they are allowed to sell into by contract from the copyright holders, in most cases the producers.

In most countries, the first wave occurs primarily on free-to-air (FTA) television, while the second wave happens on subscription TV and in other countries. In the U.S., however, the first wave occurs on the FTA networks and subscription services, and the second wave travels via all means of distribution.

First run programming is increasing on subscription services outside the U.S., but few domestically produced programs are syndicated on domestic FTA elsewhere. This practice is increasing however, generally on digital-only FTA channels, or with subscriber-only first run material appearing on FTA.

Unlike the U.S., repeat FTA screenings of a FTA network program almost only occur on that network. Also, Affiliates rarely buy or produce non-network programming that isn't centred around local events.

Advertising

Since inception in the U.S. in 1940, TV commercials have become one of the most effective, most persuasive, and most popular methods of selling products of many sorts, especially consumer goods. U.S. advertising rates are determined primarily by Nielsen Ratings. The time of the day and popularity of the channel determine how much a television commercial can cost. For example, the highly popular American Idol can cost approximately $750,000 for a thirty second block of commercial time; while the same amount of time for the World Cup and the Super Bowl can cost several million dollars.

In recent years, the paid program or infomercial has become common, usually in lengths of 30 minutes or one hour. Some drug companies have even created "news" items for broadcast, paying program directors to use them.

Some TV programs also weave advertisements into their shows, a practise begun in film and known as product placement. For example, a character could be drinking a certain kind of soda, going to a particular chain restaurant, or driving a certain make of car. (This is sometimes very subtle, where shows have vehicles provided by manufacturers for low cost, rather than wrangling them.) Sometimes a specific brand or trade mark, or music from a certain artist or group, is used. (This excludes guest appearances by artists, who perform on the show.)

Television genres

Television genres include a broad range of programming types that entertain, inform, and educate viewers. The most expensive entertainment genres to produce are usually drama and dramatic miniseries. However, other genres such as historical Western genres may also have high production costs.

Popular entertainment genres include action-oriented shows such as police, crime, detective dramas, horror or thriller shows. As well, there are also other variants of the drama genre, such as medical dramas and daytime Soap Operas. Sci-fi (Science fiction) shows can fall into either the drama category or the action category, depending on whether they emphasize philosophical questions or explosive space battles. Comedy is a popular genre which includes sitcoms (Situation Comedy) and animated shows for the adult demographic such as South Park.

The least expensive forms of entertainment programming are game shows, talk shows, variety shows, and reality TV. Game shows show contestants answering questions and solving puzzles to win prizes. Talk shows feature interviews with film, television and music celebrities and public figures. Variety shows feature a range of musical performers and other entertainers such as comedians and magicians introduced by a host or Master of Ceremonies. There is some crossover between some talk shows and variety shows, because leading talk shows often feature performances by bands, singers, comedians, and other performers in between the interview segments.

Reality TV shows show "regular" people (i.e., not actors) who are facing unusual challenges or experiences, ranging from arrest by police officers (COPS) to weight loss (The Biggest Loser). A variant version of reality shows depicts celebrities doing mundane activities such as going about their everyday life (The Osbournes) or doing manual labour jobs (Simple Life).

One of the television genres, the children's and youth genre is defined by the audience, rather than by the content of the programming. Children's programming includes animated programs aimed at the child demographic, documentaries for children, and music/variety shows targeted at kids. There is overlap between the children's/youth genre and other genres, such as the educational genre.

Television genres that aim to educate and inform viewers include educational shows, DIY programs on cooking, gardening, or home renovation, history shows, performing arts programs, and documentaries. Other genres which inform viewers include news, sports, and public affairs programming.

Social aspects

Technology trends

In its infancy, television was an ephemeral medium. Fans of regular shows planned their schedules so that they could be available to watch their shows at their time of broadcast. The term appointment television was coined by marketers to describe this kind of attachment.

The viewership's dependence on schedule lessened with the invention of programmable video recorders, such as the Videocassette recorder and the Digital video recorder. Consumers could watch programs on their own schedule once they were broadcast and recorded. Television service providers also offer video on demand, a set of programs which could be watched at any time.

Both mobile phone networks and the Internet are capable of carrying video streams. There is already a fair amount of Internet TV available, either live or as downloadable programs, and video sharing websites have become greatly popular.

The Japanese manufacturer Scalar has developed a very small TV-system attached to the eyeglasses, called "Teleglass T3-F".

Suitability for audience

Almost since the medium's inception there have been charges that some programming is, in one way or another, inappropriate, offensive or indecent. Critics such as Jean Kilborne have claimed that television, as well as other mass media images, harm the self image of young girls. Other commentators such as Sut Jhally make the case that television advertisers in the U.S. deliberately try to equate happiness with the purchasing of products, despite studies which show that happiness for most people comes from non-material realms, such as warm friendships and feelings of connection to one's community. George Gerbner has presented evidence that the frequent portrayals of crime, especially minority crime, has led to the Mean World Syndrome, the view among frequent viewers of television that crime rates are much higher than the actual data would indicate. In addition, a lot of television has been charged with presenting propaganda, political or otherwise, and being pitched at a low intellectual level.

Alleged dangers

Paralleling television's growing primacy in family life and society, an increasingly vocal chorus of legislators, scientists and parents are raising objections to the uncritical acceptance of the medium. For example, the Swedish government imposed a total ban on advertising to children under twelve in 1991 (see advertising). Fifty years of research on the impact of television on children's emotional and social development demonstrate that there are clear connections between watching violence on television and engaging in aggressive or violent behavior. In a recent study published in the journal Media Psychology, the research team demonstrated that the brain activation patterns of children viewing violence show that children are aroused by the violence (increased heart rates), demonstrate fear (activation of the amygdala-the fight or flight sensor in the brain) in response to the video violence, and store the observed violence in an area of the brain (the posterior cingulate) that is reserved for long-term memory of traumatic events.

A 2002 article in Scientific American suggested that compulsive television watching, television addiction, was no different from any other addiction, a finding backed up by reports of withdrawal symptoms among families forced by circumstance to cease watching. A longitudinal study in New Zealand involving 1000 people (from childhood to 26 years of age) demonstrated that "television viewing in childhood and adolescence is associated with poor educational achievement by 12 years of age". In other words, the more the child watched television, the less likely he or she was to finish school and enroll in a university. A study published in the Journal of Sexuality Research and Social Policy concluded that parental television involvement was associated with greater body satisfaction among adolescent girls, less sexual experience amongst both male and female adolescents, and that parental television involvement may influence self-esteem and body image, in part by increasing parent-child closeness. Numerous studies have been done on the relationship between TV viewing and school grades.

One of the reasons people campaign against TV is because of the activities people are not doing during the time that they watch it. Many campaigners believe that using up 3.5 hours a day on TV (UK and American average) is not worthwhile. While only 3% of American minors own personal TV's, it is estimated that the daily viewing average among 12–17 yr olds exceeds 4 hours, with this figure being dramatically higher in parts of the United States.

Propaganda delivery

Audiovisual media, including television, is the second most effective means of communication available to the psychological operator. Effectiveness is based on seeing and hearing the persuasive message. These media are an excellent means of transmitting persuasive messages and eliciting a high degree of recall.

Propaganda can exist on news, current affairs or talk show segments, as advertising or public-service announce "spots" or as long-running advertorials.

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Educational advantages

Despite this research, many media scholars today dismiss such studies as flawed. For one example of this school of thought, see David Gauntlett's article "Ten Things Wrong With the Media 'Effects' Model." Dimitri Christakis cites studies in which those who watched "Sesame Street" and other educational programs as preschoolers had higher grades, were reading more books, placed more value on achievement and were more creative. Similar, while those exposed to negative role models suffered, those exposed to positive models behaved better. Modern children can be exposed to much more history, news and science than previous generations when information was only available from newspapers and books.

Environmental aspects

With high lead content in CRTs, and the rapid diffusion of new, flat-panel display technologies, some of which (LCDs) use lamps containing mercury, there is growing concern about electronic waste from discarded televisions. Related occupational health concerns exist, as well, for disassemblers removing copper wiring and other materials from CRTs. Further environmental concerns related to television design and use relate to the devices' increasing electrical energy requirements.

References

1. John Watkinson, Convergence in Broadcast and Communications Media: The Fundamentals of Audio, Video, Data, Focal Press, 2001, ISBN 0240515099
2. HANNSwood 10 inch LCD Television, HANNspree
3. Retro Thing: Video + TV
4. Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" was mock-outraged at this, saying, "That's what we do!", and calling it a new form of television, "infoganda".
5. "Watch TV anywhere on tiny set that fits on glasses". Reuters. May 22 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. Jhally, Sut (2000). "Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse". Critical Studies in Media Commercialism: 27–39. ISBN 0198742770. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
7. Pecora, Norma (June, 2006). hildren and Television (TV): 50 Years of Research. Erlbaum Pres. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
8. Murray, John P. (February, 2006). "Children's Brain Activations While Viewing Televised Violence Revealed by fMRI". Media Psychology. 8 (1): 25–37. doi:10.1207/S1532785XMEP0801_3. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
9. Kubey, Robert; Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (February 23, 2002), "Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor", Scientific American{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
10. Hancox, MD, Robert J. (2005). "Association of Television Viewing During Childhood With Poor Educational Achievement". Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 159 (7): 614–618. Retrieved 2007-06-18. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
11. Schooler, Deborah (December 2006). "Setting Rules or Sitting Down: Parental Mediation of Television Consumption and Adolescent Self-Esteem, Body Image, and Sexuality". Sexuality Research and Social Policy: Journal of NSRC. 3 (4). University of California Press: 49–62. doi:10.1525. Retrieved 2007-06-18. {{cite journal}}: Check |doi= value (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
12. Hershberger, Angela. "The ``Evils" of Television: The Amount of Television Viewing and School Performance Levels". Indiana University South Bend. Retrieved 2007-06-18. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
13. "Psychological Operations Field Manual No.33-1" published in August 1979 by Department of the Army Headquarters in Washington DC; and "Psychological Operations (PSYOP) Media Subcourse PO-0816" by The Army Institute for Professional Development, published in 1983
14. Propaganda#Techniques of propaganda transmission
15. Dimitri Christakis (February 22 2007). "Smarter kids through television: debunking myths old and new". Seattle Times Newspaper. Retrieved 2007-08-31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. "The Rise of the Machines: A Review of Energy Using Products in the Home from the 1970s to Today" (PDF). Energy Saving Trust. July 3 2006. Retrieved 2007-08-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Further reading

• Pierre Bourdieu, On Television, The New Press, 2001.
• Brooks, Tim and March, Earle, The Complete Guide to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, Ballantine, Eighth Edition, 2002.
• Jacques Derrida, Bernard Stiegler, Echographies of Television, Polity Press, 2002.
• Jerry Mander, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, Perennial, 1978.
• Jerry Mander, In the Absence of the Sacred, Sierra Club Books, 1992, ISBN 0-87156-509-9. Makes the case that television programming transmitted by communications satellites is destroying unique local cultures all over the world
• Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Penguin USA, 1985. ISBN 0-670-80454-1
• Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, Shaded Lives: African-American Women and Television, Rutgers University Press, 2002.
• Dr. Alan. Taylor,We, the media, Pedagogic Intrusions into US Film and Television News... ISBN 3631518528 Peter, Lang, Academic Book Publishers, 2005, pp. 418.
• David E. Fisher and Marshall J. Fisher, Tube: the Invention of Television, Counterpoint, Washington, D.C., USA, (1996) ISBN 1-887178-17-1
• Albert Abramson, The History of Television, 1942 to 2000, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, USA, and London (2003) ISBN 0-7864-1220-8
• Evan I. Schwartz, The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television

External links

• Early Television Foundation and Museum
• Television's History — The First 75 Years
• The Encyclopedia of Television at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
• MZTV Museum of Television Some of the rarest sets in America
• A History of Television at the Canada Science and Technology Museum