The first scheduled, high-definition (as then defined; meaning 240-line)

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

programmes were broadcast on 2 November 1936 by the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

. They had been preceded by a number of low-definition BBC test broadcasts, as well as a 180-line

Deutscher Fernseh Rundfunk Deutscher Fernseh-Rundfunk (''German Television Broadcasting'') was a German television service that first aired on 22 March 1935. It used an early electro-mechanical system, based around the intermediate film technique and the Nipkow disk, at a re ...

service, from Berlin, since March 1935.

Background

The

, already an established radio broadcaster, began making low definition (30-line) test television transmissions under government licence in August 1936. These included short ad-hoc performances by musicians, with the duration limited as "lookers in" (as viewers were called) were found to experience eye strain through looking at the small screens then in use. The first regular electronic television service in Germany began in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

on 22 March 1935, as

. Broadcasting from the Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow, it used a 180-line system, and was on air for 90 minutes, three times a week.

Line-up

The

BBC Television Service BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

officially launched on 2 November 1936. The BBC's official publication, '' The Radio Times'', listed the opening one-hour schedule – the first ever, on a dedicated TV channel – starting at 3 pm, as: * 3:00 – Opening of the BBC Television Service * 3:15 – Interval; time, weather * 3:20 – British Movietone News * 3:30 – Variety * 4:00 – Close From 9 pm to 10 pm, pre-recorded films and more news were screened. The films included ''Television Comes to London'', a pre-made fifteen-minute documentary about the launch, shot on 35mm film. It was the BBC's first

television documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called ...

Opening

The first person heard and seen was the announcer, Leslie Mitchell. According to advance publicity in ''The Radio Times'', the opening was then to be:

Variety

''The Radio Times'' billed the ''Variety'' performers as: * Adele Dixon – Musical Comedy Star * Buck and Bubbles – Comedians and Dancers * The Lai Founs – Chinese Jugglers however, in the event The Lai Founs did not appear. Dixon performed a specially commissioned song, "Television", written by James Dyrenforth and Kenneth Leslie-Smith. The event made Buck and Bubbles ( Buck Washington and John W. Bubbles) the first black people to appear on television. The musicians were billed as The BBC Television Orchestra, led by Boris Pecker and conducted by

Hyam Greenbaum Hyam 'Bumps' Greenbaum (12 May 1901 – 13 May 1942) was an English conductor, violinist and composer, who, in 1936, became the world's first conductor of a television orchestra. He was friendly with many of his English music contemporaries, incl ...

. The producer was listed as Dallas Bower.

Technology

The broadcast was made from a converted wing of

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Orig ...

("Ally Pally") in London, using the 240-line Baird intermediate film system, on the

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

band. BBC television initially used two systems on alternate weeks: the Baird system and the 405-line Marconi-EMI system. The decision to use the Baird system for the first week was made on a coin toss. The use of the two formats made the BBC's service the world's first regular high-definition television service; it broadcast from Monday to Saturday between 15:00 and 16:00, and 21:00 and 22:00. Alexandra Palace housed two studios (one for each system), various scenery stores, make-up areas, dressing rooms, offices, and the transmitter itself.

References

External links

First regular hi-definition television service
– BBC page. {{BBC History of television in the United Kingdom November 1936 events 1936 in television 1936 in London BBC Television