Timeline of the introduction of television in countries - wikipedia Timeline of the introduction of television in countries This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia 's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can. ( April 2012 ) This film, television or video - related list is incomplete ; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions. A map showing when television was introduced in each country. 1928 - 1939 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990 - 2000 2001 - No television No data This is a list of when the first publicly announced television broadcasts occurred in the mentioned countries. Non-public field tests and closed circuit demonstrations are not included. This list should not be interpreted to mean the whole of a country had television service by the specified date. For example, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and the former Soviet Union all had operational television stations and a limited number of viewers by the year 1939. However, in those countries, only very few cities in each country had television service. Television broadcasts were not yet available in most places. Year Countries 1928 United States ( Mechanical television ) 1929 United Kingdom ( Mechanical ), Germany ( Mechanical ), Australia ( Mechanical, experimental, after hours on two existing Melbourne radio stations ), Netherlands ( Experimental ; in Scheveningen ) 1931 France ( Mechanical ), Canada ( Quebec only ), Soviet Union ( Mechanical ) 1934 Australia ( Electronic, experimental, Brisbane ) 1935 Germany ( Intermediate film ; semi-electronic ), Mexico ( Electronic ), Netherlands ( Experimental ; in Eindhoven by Philips ) 1936 United Kingdom ( Electronic - BBC Television Service ), Germany ( Electronic television - Deutscher Fernseh Rundfunk ), United States ( Electronic ; experimental and non-commercial until 1941 - NBC ) 1937 Free City of Danzig ( Electronic ), France ( Electronic ), Poland ( Mechanical ) 1938 Soviet Union ( electronic ) Turkey ( Experimental ) 1939 Empire of Japan ( Electronic ) ( Experimental ), Italy ( Electronic ), Poland ( Electronic ) 1941 United States ( New York ) Regular Commercial telecasts, Pennsylvania ). 1942 Occupied France 1944 France ( Returned ) 1945 Soviet Union ( returned ) 1946 United Kingdom ( Returned ), Philippines ( Experimental ) 1947 United States ( California, Washington, D.C., Maryland ). Missouri ) 1948 Czechoslovakia ( Experimental ), Chile ( Experimental ), United States ( Ohio ), Washington ), Minnesota, Texas, Tennessee ), Canada ( Experimental ) 1949 United States ( Iowa, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Florida ) 1950 United States ( Iowa ( Des Moines ), Tennessee ( Nashville ) ), Cuba, Brazil, Switzerland, West Germany ( experimental ), Mexico ( Experimental ), Japan ( Experimental ) 1951 Argentina, Denmark, Netherlands 1952 Turkey, Canada, United States ( Spokane, Colorado ), Chile ( Sporadically until 1956 ), Dominican Republic, West Germany ( full service ), East Germany ( experimental ), Poland ( Returned ), Thailand ( Experimental ), Hawaii, United Kingdom ( Scotland ), Venezuela 1953 Japan ( Returned ), Canada, ( Ottawa, Vancouver ), United States ( California ( Fresno ), Las Vegas ) Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Philippines ( thru ABS, now ABS - CBN ), United Kingdom ( Northern Ireland ) 1954 Colombia, United States ( New Hampshire, Vermont, Wyoming ), Canada, ( Alberta, Manitoba ), Australia ( experimental ), Italy, Latvian SSR, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Monaco, Norway ( experimental ) 1955 Mexico ( Returned ), Estonian SSR, Guatemala, Luxembourg, Romania ( experimental ), Thailand ( Official ) 1956 Australia, French Algeria, Armenian SSR, Austria, Azerbaijan SSR, Byelorussian SSR, Cyprus, East Germany ( full service ), Guam, Georgian SSR, Iraq, Nicaragua, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Philippines, Panama, Portugal ( experimental ), Sweden, Ukrainian SSR ( regular programming ), Uruguay, Uzbek SSR, Yugoslavia 1957 Chile ( full - service ), Finland ( test programming ), Hong Kong, Hungary, Kuwait, Lithuanian SSR, Portugal ( full service ) 1958 Bermuda, China, Finland ( regular programming ), Kazakh SSR, Moldavian SSR, El Salvador, Iran, Peru, United Kingdom ( Wales ) 1959 Bulgaria, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Kirghiz SSR ( regular programming ), Lebanon, Nigeria, Ryukyu Islands, Tajik SSR, Turkmen SSR 1960 Albania, Costa Rica, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Norway ( full service ), Southern Rhodesia, United Arab Republic 1961 Ireland, Northern Rhodesia, U.S. Virgin Islands 1962 Ivory Coast, Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malta, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Republic of China, Trinidad and Tobago, Gibraltar, Sudan 1963 Bolivia, North Korea, French Polynesia, Gabon, Malaysia, Singapore, Jamaica, Uganda, Upper Volta 1964 American Samoa Barbados, Bangladesh, Ethiopia Guadeloupe, Liberia, Martinique, Mauritius, North Yemen, West Pakistan, Réunion, Saudi Arabia 1965 Dutch Guiana ( trial and regular programming ), Ghana, New Caledonia, Paraguay, Senegal 1966 Cambodia, Congo - Kinshasa, Greece, Tunisia, Iceland, Israel, South Vietnam 1967 Djibouti, French Guiana, Mongolia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Madagascar, Saint Lucia 1968 Jordan, Equatorial Guinea, Libya 1969 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Abu Dhabi ( now part of United Arab Emirates ) 1970 Qatar, North Vietnam 1972 Saint Christopher - Nevis - Anguilla 1973 Bahrain, Niger, Tanzania, Togo, British Virgin Islands Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Grenada, Oman Angola, Dominica, Brunei, Kosovo ( RTV Priština ), Tuvalu ( foreign - owned launching ), South Yemen, Wallis and Futuna Islands 1976 South Africa 1977 Bahamas, Guinea, East Timor 1978 Benin, Lesotho, Maldives, Swaziland 1979 Burma, Sri Lanka 1980 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1981 Belize, Macau, Mozambique, South West Africa 1982 Greenland, Mauritania Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Cambodia ( as Kampuchea ; re-established ), Cameroon, Mali, Nepal, Seychelles, Somalia, Vatican City, Laos 1984 Burundi, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Faroe Islands 1986 Mayotte, Niue Papua New Guinea ( foreign - owned launching ) Cook Islands, Guinea - Bissau, San Marino, Western Samoa 1991 Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Fiji Guyana, Nauru, Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Botswana, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu Eritrea, 1995 Gambia, Kiribati, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Turks and Caicos Islands Malawi, Palau 1998 Bhutan 2000 Tonga 2002 Kiribati ( native - closed in 2013 ), Western Sahara 2006 Åland 2008 Liechtenstein, Papua New Guinea ( state - owned launching ) Contents 1 Countries without television 2 See also 3 Notes and citations 4 External links Countries without television Solomon Islands ( planning to re-launch in 2017 ) Kiribati ( suspended in 2013 ) Tuvalu ( no native service ) See also Prewar television stations Timeline of the introduction of color television in countries Timeline of the introduction of radio in countries Notes and citations ^ See WRGB History, How Television Came to Boston : The Forgotten Story of W1XAY, W3XK : America 's first television station, and `` WRNY to Start Daily Television Broadcasts, '' The New York Times, August 13, 1928, p. 13. ^ See J.L. Baird : Television in 1932. ^ See Museum of Broadcast Communications : Germany and Berlin 1936 : Television in Germany. ^ Australian TV -- The First 25 Years by Peter Bielby, page 173. ISBN 0 - 17 - 005998 - 7 ^ Linking a Nation -- Chap 9 -- Australian Heritage Council ^ Peter Luck, 50 Years of Australian Television ISBN 1 - 74110 - 367 - 3 p. 15 ^ See Eerste NTS journaal op de Nederlandse televisie. ^ `` Birth of Our Nation ''. Brisbane Courier Mail. Archived from the original on February 15, 2008. ^ See The Birth of Live Entertainment and Music on Television, November 6, 1936, and 1937 RCA Publicity Photographs. `` Eighty - seven video programs were telecast by NBC last year, '' `` Where Is Television Now ? Archived 2008 - 09 - 13 at the Wayback Machine. '', Popular Mechanics, August 1938, p. 178. Regularly scheduled electronic broadcasts began in April 1938 in New York ( to the second week of June, and resuming in August ) and Los Angeles. `` Telecasts Here and Abroad, '' The New York Times, April 24, 1938, Drama - Screen - Radio section, p. 10 ; `` Early Birds, '' Time, June 13, 1938 ; `` Telecasts to Be Resumed, '' The New York Times, Aug. 21, 1938, Drama - Screen - Radio section, p. 10 ; Robert L. Pickering, `` Eight Years of Television in California, '' California -- Magazine of the Pacific, June 1939. Also note that many rural areas of the Southern United States did n't receive television until the late 1950s and early 1960s. ^ Although 180 - line cathode ray tube receivers were manufactured in France in 1936, a mechanical scanning camera was still used at the transmitter in Paris until 1937. ^ See The Warsaw Voice : What 's On ? and Historia Przemysłowego Instytutu Telekomunikacji przed II wojną światową at the Wayback Machine ( archived September 28, 2007 ) ( in Polish ). ^ See The Evolution of TV : A Brief History of TV Technology in Japan : `` Can you see me clearly ? '' Archived 2013 - 01 - 01 at the Wayback Machine. ; Public TV Image Experiments Archived 2016 - 05 - 26 at the Wayback Machine... ^ See Early Television in Italy ^ Off from 1939 to 1945 for the Second World War. ^ Off from 1939 to 1946 for the Second World War. ^ See ( 1 ) ; Czechoslovakia became two separate states, namely the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in 1993. ^ ( `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 2013 - 09 - 21. Retrieved 2013 - 10 - 24. Latin America 's first experimental television station ( in Spanish ) ^ See History of DR. ^ Dutch - language BRT used the Belgian 625 - line standard and French - language RTB used the Belgian 819 - line standard ( abandoned in 1963 ). Early Belgian sets were very expensive because they could receive 4 different standards : Belgian 625, European 625, Belgian 819, French 819. Later a 5th standard was added with the French 625 - line standard. ^ Cheurfi, Achour ( September 2010 ). Radio et télévision : histoire d'un monopole. La presse algérienne : génèse, conflits et défis ( in French ). Algiers : Casbah Éditions. p. 88 -- p. 148. ^ The date refers to the launch of the TV channel in republics and autonomuous provinces of Yugoslavia. There were RTV Zagreb, in Croatia ( 1956 ), RTV Ljubljana in Slovenia ( 1958 ), RTV Belgrade in Serbia ( 1958 ), RTV Skopje in Macedonia ( 1964 ), RTV Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina ( 1969 ), and RTV Titograd ( Podgorica ) in Montenegro ( 1971 ). In Kosovo ( RTV Priština ) and Vojvodina ( RTV Novi Sad ), it was introduced in 1975. ^ Television was introduced in Hong Kong when it was a British crown colony. ^ http://www.lrt.lt/en/about/history ^ Wales had received broadcasts from England since 1952. ^ Television was introduced in the Ryukyu Islands ( now part of Japan ) when they were under U.S. administration, ^ The United Arab Republic was a short - lived political union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union. ^ Ireland had received broadcasts from the United Kingdom since 1949. ^ Previously received television broadcasts from Italy. ^ This is the year when television was introduced in territories under its administration. After the Chinese Civil War, the government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan and other islands, and Mainland China was controlled by the People 's Republic of China. ^ Gibraltar had previously received television broadcasts from Spain. ^ The Israeli Ministry of Education in cooperation with the Rothschild Fund started limited broadcasts to schools in March 1966. A public state - owned TV channel started broadcasting in May 1968. Broadcasts were black and white ( with a few exceptions ) until the early 1980s. ^ The Bahamas had previously received broadcasts from the United States. ^ Test service available only in Yangon in 1979. Formal launch in 1981. See `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 2013 - 12 - 03. Retrieved 2009 - 01 - 04... ^ http://knr.gl/en ^ http://tvm.mr/ar/%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D8%B3%D8%B3%D8%A9/ ^ ) https://books.google.cl/books?id=egV-LkASXCgC&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&dq=Somalia+Television+introduced+1983&source=bl&ots=CO7rBgwr1U&sig=tY63DorxhpzRGPgJkUw2VjMuphk&hl=es&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwih2ofF59HSAhWFEZAKHeEoA3gQ6AEISDAG#v=onepage&q=Somalia%20Television%20introduced%201983&f=false Mass Media in Sub-Saharan Africa ) ^ Although the Vatican did not have a television service of its own until 1983, broadcasts from Italy had been received since 1954. ^ Television available from Nong Khai city in Thailand since mid-1970s ) ) ^ `` Guiné - Bissau : Televisão celebra 17o aniversário com 14 horas de emissão ''. Agência Angola Press. 15 Novembro 2006, 10h38. Retrieved 9 Outubro 2015. Check date values in : accessdate =, date = ( help ) ^ LUSA ( Agência de Notícias de Portugal, S.A. ) ( 14 Novembro 2007, 15h23 ). `` Único canal de televisão da Guiné - Bissau comemora 18 anos ''. Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. Retrieved 9 Outubro 2015. Check date values in : accessdate =, date = ( help ) ^ Television broadcasts had also been received from Argentina. ^ Television came to Fiji part - time for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. It arrived full - time in 1994. ^ `` Bhutan TV Follows Cyber Launch ''. BBC News. 2 June 1999. ^ `` Sahrawis launch national television ''. Afrol News. 2009 - 05 - 21. Retrieved 2012 - 06 - 03. ^ http://www.radiotv.ax/om-alands-radio ( Swedish ). ^ https://publicmediaalliance.org/new-public-television-service-solomon-islands/ External links Telecommunications History Beacon Broadcasting Cable protection system Cable TV Communications satellite Computer network Drums Electrical telegraph Fax Heliographs Hydraulic telegraph Internet Mass media Mobile phone Optical telecommunication Optical telegraphy Pager Photophone Prepay mobile phone Radio Radiotelephone Satellite communications Semaphore Smartphone Smoke signals Telecommunications history Telautograph Telegraphy Teleprinter ( teletype ) Telephone The Telephone Cases Television Timeline of communication technology Undersea telegraph line Videoconferencing Videophone Videotelephony Whistled language Pioneers Edwin Howard Armstrong John Logie Baird Paul Baran Alexander Graham Bell Tim Berners - Lee Jagadish Chandra Bose Vint Cerf Claude Chappe Donald Davies Lee de Forest Philo Farnsworth Reginald Fessenden Elisha Gray Erna Schneider Hoover Charles K. 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Question: when was television introduced to the general public
Answer: 1928