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Prior to electric televisions, we had mechanical televisions.

They involved mechanically scanning images then transmitting those images onto a screen. Compared to electronic televisions, they were extremely rudimentary.

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Two inventors – Russian Boris Rosing and English A.A. Campbell-Swinton – combined a cathode ray tube with a mechanical scanning system to create a totally new television system.

Ultimately, the early efforts of these inventors would lead to the world’s first electrical television a few years later.

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Mechanical television inventors continued to tweak and test their creations. However, they were all doomed to be obsolete in comparison to modern electrical televisions: by 1934, all TVs had been converted into the electronic system.

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The first "television" system broadcast was a straight-line by Philo Farnsworth on September 7th, 1927. The press was presented with this scientific breakthrough on January 13, 1928 and it even headlined a few major nationwide papers. Needless to say, a straight line was not mass marketable, hence by the end of the 1920s there were only a few dozen televisions in the world. All of these were in research labs.

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RCA demonstrates an all- electronic, 343 line/30 frames per second, television broadcast signaling the arrival of a completely functional television system.

That summer lead to the first major broadcast using this new medium, the Berlin Summer Olympic Games, which were televised by Telefunken using RCA equipment. Another major broadcaster rises to prominence as the BBC starts the "world's first public, regular, high-definition Television station."

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England's BBC led the forefront of television consumption in the late 30s, with broadcasts of the coronation of King George VI and Wimbledon leading to 9,000 television sets being sold. During the late 30s, the US had 18 experimental stations running.

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During the 1939 World's Fair, David Sarnoff, president of RCA, unveiled the first commercial publicly accessible television broadcast. In Flushing NY, he proclaimed "Now we add sight to sound" and during the opening ceremonies of the fair on April 30th, FDR became the first president to ever be televised.

TV sets went on sale to the public the very next day, and RCA/NBC began regular broadcasts on a daily basis. By the end of the 30s, there were a few hundred televisions in America.

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The FCC authorized commercial broadcasting. NBC had the first commercial ever with a 10 second watch commercial which made them $7.00. On December 7th, Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan, which became the first major news story broken by television.

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All television production is banned for the war, and NBC cancels their commercial television schedule and begins to broadcast on a limited basis. England does away with all television when broadcasting stops until June 7th, 1946.

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Television production begins to grow greatly. By July of 1948, there are 350,000 TV sets in the USA. Notably 3/4 of them are in eastern network cities, and half of them are around New York City. This was the case because without a signal, the television was useless and very few cities outside of the northeast had a clear signal to original programming.

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After the war ends, television sales become much more popular in the US with the 630-TS model by RCA selling over 43,000 units.

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Televisions were still mostly found in cities simply because the television stations were only found in cities (especially New York.)

However, in the late 1940s a resident in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania named John Walson came up with the idea of building a transmitter on top of the mountain between Philadelphia and his town. After this transmitter was purchased, he began to offer television through coaxial cable to his town members. This proved to be so effective that the Governor of Pennsylvania spearheaded a master cable system that allowed signals from New York and Washington to be "imported" to his entire state.

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On September 4th, 1951 the first coast-to-coast telecast was aired as President Truman spoke to 13 million television sets.

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RCA introduced a color television set. It initially failed to be popular with only 5,000 selling in the first year.
Following this production landmark, NBC announces that all but two prime time shows will be broadcast in color.

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Television continued its meteoric growth. Cable television became more popular as the concept of pay-service-cable debuted with the introduction of the Home Box Office, HBO.

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The television has exploded at a greater than exponential growth rate from 1950 to the 1970s. This growth has propelled the television to almost 1 billion units in the late 90s.