# 1946 in American television

This is a list of American television-related events in 1946.

## Events

| Date | Event |
| February 4 | RCA demonstrates an all-electronic color television system. |
| February 18 | The First Washington, D.C.-to-New York City telecast through AT&T Corporation's coaxial cable is termed as a success by engineers. This broadcast was images of General Dwight Eisenhower placing a wreath at the base of the statue in the Lincoln Memorial, with others making brief speeches. Time magazine, however, called it 'as blurred as an early Chaplin movie.' |
| February 25 | The 18-channel VHF allocation, introduced before World War II, is officially ended in favor of a new 13-channel VHF allocation due to the appropriation of some frequencies by the United States Armed Forces, and the relocation of FM radio on the broadcast spectrum. Only five of the old channels are the same as the new channels in terms of frequency and none have the same number as before. |
| April 12 | The Columbia Broadcasting System transmits a Technicolor short film and color slides for 332 kilometres (206 mi) in distance via coaxial cable, from Manhattan to Washington, and back. |
| June 19 | The first televised heavyweight boxing title fight between Joe Louis and Billy Conn is broadcast from Yankee Stadium. The fight was seen by 141,000 people, the largest television audience to see a boxing match to that date. |
| August 15 | The DuMont Television Network officially begins operations as a second television network to compete with NBC. New York City's WABD serves as the network's flagship. DuMont's broadcast schedule consisted of a Western film on Sunday night for an hour, other programming for an hour on Tuesday, and half hours on Wednesday and Thursday nights. |
| October 2 | The DuMont network telecasts the first-ever television network soap opera, Faraway Hill. |
| December 24 | WABD broadcasts the first-ever televised church service from Grace Episcopal Church in New York City. |

### Other notable events

* RCA, DuMont, Crosley, and Belmont, have all released the first post-war television sets.
* Zoomar introduces the first professional zoom lens for television cameras.
* The FCC begins to reserve channel 1 for low-powered Community television stations. Channel 1 would be decommissioned from broadcasting use two years later.

## Television stations
### Station launches

| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
| September 6 | Chicago, Illinois | WBKB | 4 (later 2) | Independent | First television station to be established in the Central Time Zone, and the first station outside the Eastern Time Zone; Now CBS O&O WBBM-TV since 1953 |

### Network affiliation changes this year

| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
| August 15 | New York City | WABD | 5 | Independent | DuMont Television Network | |

## Television programs
### Debuts

| Date | Debut | Network |
| January | See What You Know | CBS |
| May 9 | Hour Glass | NBC |
| May 13 | You Are an Artist | NBC |
| May 23 | Let's Play Reporter | DuMont Television Network |
| June 9 | Face to Face | NBC |
| June 9 | Geographically Speaking | NBC |
| June 20 | Cash and Carry | DuMont Television Network |
| August 30 | I Love to Eat | NBC |
| September 24 | Play the Game | DuMont Television Network |
| October 2 | Faraway Hill | DuMont Television Network |
| Unknown | Boxing From Jamaica Arena | DuMont Television Network |