Television Broadcasting History Films MP4 Video Download DVD Set
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The Creation, Innovation And Expansion Of The Televisual Medium! 6 Full Hours Of Vintage Historical Footage -- All Presented In The Highest DVD Quality MPG Video Format Of 9.1 MBPS In An MP4 Video Download Or Archival Quality 3 Disc All Regions Format DVD Set!
*August 8, 2024: Updated With Four New Titles: 1) 25 YEARS OF TELEVISION; THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, 2) SUBURBAN CABLEVISION'S ANTI-CABLE BILL AD, JULY 23, 1993, 3) MARA WOLYNSKI GIVES MIDDLE FINGER ON LIVE TV, WABC-TV CHANNEL 7 EYEWITNESS NEWS NEW YORK, FEB. 24, 1983, And 4) WNYC-TV SIGN OFF, JUNE 30, 1996 MIDNIGHT!
Contents:
A WELCOME GUEST IN THE HOUSE (Black/White, 1957, 23:29)
The National Association of Broadcasters sponsored this film as a testimonial to the power of television in its service to the citizenry during the Cold War.
AN RCA PRESENTATION: TELEVISION (Black/White, 1939, 9:03)
Vintage footage of one of the earliest filmed promotions for the use of television, filled with footage of primitive TV studios at NBC's Rockefeller Center facilities, thought to have been produced to coincide with regularly scheduled coverage of the New York World's fair that same year.
UNIVERSAL NEWSREEL: KENNEDY ON TELSTAR - EUROPE SEES NEWS CONFERENCE (Black/White, JULY 23RD 1962, 1:18)
National prestige soars as the U.S. orbits the fist modern communications satellite into orbit and uses it to broadcast a presidential press conference to Europe.
MAGIC IN THE AIR (Black/White, 1941, 7:58)
Widely considered the most classic of OTR films, this extraordinary document chronicles the birth and growth of the world's first commercial radio network with a behind-the-scenes tour of their Radio City & Rockefeller Center facilities in New York City and recourse to many time honored film clips of all things radiophonic.
MAGIC IN THE AIR (Black/White, 1955, 8:12)
GMC so liked the 1941 version of this film that it had its Public Relations department re-release it with update modifications fourteen years later!
NEW SEVEN FUNCTION REMOTE CONTROL FOR COLOR (Color, Silent, 1959, 3:24)
Silent piece on a very early version of the tv remote.
PROGRAMMER WITH MAGIC MEMORY: ANOTHER NEWSMAKER (Color, Silent, 1959, 4:00)
Another silent piece, this one on the "Magic Memory" tv autotuner.
RADIO AND TELEVISION (Black/White, 1940, 10:30)
Vocational Guidance Films sponsored this effort to help educate its audience about the wide variety of technical jobs that were available not only in the now time-honored field of radio broadcasting & receiving but also the fledgling vocation of television. Though it's intended to instruct its viewers about employment opportunities contemporary to its time, it teaches us in our day a great deal about communications operations in its day.
TELEVISION REMOTE CONTROL (Color, 1961, 5:46)
Today, the remote we use to channel surf is as much a part of life in the first world as any other appliance we lay our hands on - for some, much more. But in 1961, this was something new & big - and RCA Victor wanted everyone to know about it, and this film is the result.
ARMY/NAVY SCREEN MAGAZINE: TELEVISION TOMORROW (Black/White, 1945, 12:17)
Excellent primer on the future of technology and employment opportunities in television broadcasting, as shown to military servicemen returning from wartime duty, as seen from the vantage point of the beginning of the television age.
UNIVERSAL NEWSREEL: TELSTAR BRINGS WORLD CLOSER (Black/White, 1962, B&W, 3:17)
The world's first commercial "comsat" (communications satellite) is sent into orbit, transmits the first television picture to and from space, and becomes the vanguard of many other such telstars which enabled continuous global telephone, data, television and other communications.
THE HILLSBOROUGH WITH NEW HIDEAWAY STYLING (Color, 1959, 2:30)
A concluding silent piece on a console television that folded into a piece of furniture that disguised its real purpose.
THE REASONS WHY (Color, 1959, 26:45)
Lovely color film entertainingly and informatively demonstrating the television manufacturing process at RCA's plant in Camden, New Jersey.
THE STORY OF TELEVISION (Black/White, 1956, 14:50)
RCA's attempt to tell the history of this new medium at a point itself rather early in its history, and it shows - in all the right ways. Of course, RCA is responsible for it all - at least, that's what this film tends to try to say. It did have something to say besides all this, though - the era of color television had arrived - and yes, RCA was responsible for that, too. Features a discussion between radio and television pioneer David Sarnoff and pioneer of television technology Vladimir K. Zworykin. Filled with education about and demonstration of historical firsts, it's a treat for media history buff and baby-boomer viewer alike.
TOMORROW ALWAYS COMES (Color, 1941, 28:53)
The intention of this film, made as it was by the Manhattan Undergarment Company, was to sell rayon lingerie. In the process, it also unintentionally resulted in the documentation of live television broadcasting in its very infancy, CBS style, in the form of a fashion show featuring rayon lingerie products!
THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES (Color, 1991, 48 Minutes)
An insightful analysis and criticism of the state of television programming from its beginnings as an advertising model based medium through its unique development as a cultural broadcast outlet up to the early 1990s, where it was asserted that if nothing was to change (and it did within a few years with the advent of the internet) that this medium would continue on as a projection of the lifestyles of a small amount of people whose lives and values did not truly represent either themselves or their audience.
25 YEARS OF TELEVISION; THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW (Color, 1991, 4 Minutes)
A segment of Entertainment Tonight where Carl Reiner, the producer of The Dick Van Dyke Show, explains that the CBS network brass, who accepted his show but not with him as the star, made the best possible decision by having Dick Van Dyke takes his place!
SUBURBAN CABLEVISION'S ANTI-CABLE BILL AD, JULY 23, 1993 (Color, 6 Minutes)
Cablevision's Pay-Per-View channel was pre-empted from July 23 to August 2, 1993 in order to air this 6-minute clip, non-stop for the duration, to encourage its viewers to oppose The Cable Act Of 1992 and its retransmission consent rules, which required cable television providers to obtain consent and/or pay for the analog broadcast signal transmissions they were rebroadcasting on their cable networks. Cablevision offered free a/b switches for its subscribers to access analog television transmissions from stations that they could not reach a retransmission agreement with, then gives the addresses and phone numbers of representatives and senators in congress, as well as the FCC, for viewers to write to and call to voice their opposition to the bill.
SUBURBAN CABLEVISION'S ANTI-CABLE BILL AD, JULY 23, 1993 (Color, 6 Minutes)
MARA WOLYNSKI GIVES MIDDLE FINGER ON LIVE TV, WABC-TV CHANNEL 7 EYEWITNESS NEWS NEW YORK (Color, February 24, 1983, 1 Minute)
It took just a moment, but Mara Wolynski got fired for flipping the bird at a cameraman without realizing she did so live on-air. With the usual comic aplomb for which co-anchor Roger Grimsby was famous, he declares at the end of the broadcast "Well, as Mara Wolynski would say, we're number one"! WNYC-TV Signs Off Forever (Color, Midnight June 30, 1996, 3 Minutes)
New York City's venerable and beloved public television station WNYC-TV signs off for the final time. Twelve hours later, at noon on July 1, channel 31 reappeared as WBIS (branded as S+), carrying programming from the Classic Sports Network most of the day, and infomercials in overnights. The City of New York, which was one of the United States' first municipalities to enter into broadcasting with the 1924 sign-on of WNYC radio, was granted a construction permit to build a new commercial television station in 1954. Seven years later, on November 5, 1961, WUHF took to the air for the first time. Through the Municipal Broadcasting System, which held the channel 31 license, the city (led by then-mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr.) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) used WUHF as an experiment to determine the viability of UHF broadcasts within an urban environment. Some of the early programming on WUHF included simulcasts of New York's existing commercial VHF stations; educational films produced by WNYC's Television Film Unit, established in 1949; college-level distance education telecourses; and, reportedly, a nightly rundown of the New York City Police Department's "wanted" criminals list. The experiment was carried out through the installation of UHF receivers in several hundred test homes, public schools and businesses, with reception monitored by FCC and City engineers. After a year of test broadcasting was deemed successful, full control of WUHF was then transferred to the city. The station became a full-time operation on November 5, 1962, with new call letters WNYC-TV to match its sister radio stations WNYC (then at 830 AM and now at 820 AM) and WNYC-FM (93.9 MHz). Though the channel 31 license was classified as commercial, WNYC-TV was operated as a non-commercial educational station. Some of the programming from the experimental period continued, and now included live broadcasts of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. As a municipally-owned station, WNYC-TV also devoted airtime to shows focused on civic affairs, along with other public-interest programs. The station also carried some programming from National Educational Television (NET) and its successor, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), but later increasingly ran more independent educational television programs. For many years, WNYC-TV ran a 15-minute newscast on weekdays, called News from City Hall (later called News City and expanded to 30 minutes), highlighting the day's events in municipal government. In 1979, Mayor Ed Koch considered selling the WNYC stations to other interests due to a municipal fiscal crisis. Instead, the WNYC Foundation was established as an outlet to raise operating capital for the stations. Though there were twice-yearly fundraising appeals made by the WNYC stations, WNYC-TV did not run on-air pledge drives in a manner similar to other PBS stations, mostly because it was a commercial licensee. It would not, however, have faced any problems had it done so, as WNED-TV in Buffalo, New York operated for decades as a non-commercial broadcaster under a commercial license. Channel 31 also leased blocks of airtime to foreign-language broadcasters. In the 1980s, among the largest providers of foreign programming were Japan's Fujisankei Communications Group, which aired a morning show on weekdays, and RAI, the Italian public broadcaster which programmed two hours on weeknights, and five hours on Sunday mornings, a period which included airings of Italian soccer games. Also during this era, WNYC-TV joined the music video phenomenon - and in the process contributed to the growth of hip hop culture and rap music. In the summer of 1983, channel 31 premiered the hour-long Video Music Box, created by station employee Ralph McDaniels. The program started off with an eclectic selection of videos from pop, rock, and rhythm-and-blues artists. Rap music was also included, but eventually the program became exclusive to the rap and R & B genres. Video Music Box served as a launching pad for many rap music artists, and was said to have been the basis behind MTV creating Yo! MTV Raps several years later. Video Music Box would remain prominently on WNYC-TV's schedule for the next decade (the show now airs on WNYE-TV, channel 25). Shortly after becoming mayor in 1994, Rudy Giuliani said that he was considering selling the WNYC stations. Giuliani said that broadcasting was no longer essential as a municipal entity, and that any financial compensation would be used to help the City cover budget shortfalls. The final decision was made in March 1995: the WNYC radio stations would be sold to the WNYC Foundation, while the city opted to solicit separate bids for WNYC-TV through a blind auction. In August 1995, a partnership of Dow Jones and Company and ITT Corporation (licensed as ITT-Dow Jones Television LLC) was declared the winner of the WNYC-TV auction with a bid of 207M USD, which at the time was the largest price ever paid for a UHF television station. The sale of channel 31 to commercial interests had many detractors. Foreign broadcasters complained, as they now found themselves without an outlet for their programming, and individual financial contributors criticized the Giuliani administration for selling the station to the highest commercial bidder, rather than to the WNYC Foundation. The foreign producers found new outlets through WNYE-TV, Newton, New Jersey-based WMBC-TV, and the City-owned Crosswalks cable TV network (now NYC Media), and eventually dispersed among the many low power television stations launched in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and currently through various digital subchannels both on full and low-power stations in the Tri-State. The sale took nearly a year to become official, as licensing troubles with the FCC and the aforementioned complaints from foreign broadcasters would ultimately delay the transaction. Eventually, at midnight, June 30, 1996, WNYC-TV signed off for the final time. Twelve hours later, at noon on July 1, channel 31 reappeared as WBIS (branded as S+), carrying programming from the Classic Sports Network most of the day, and infomercials in overnights. Meanwhile, Dow Jones and ITT worked on their planned permanent format for WBIS, which would offer business news during the day and professional sports news and games at night. The S+ name was designed to mean "sports, stocks, style, and success", as a nod to the format being worked by both partners. Former WNYW general manager Carolyn Wall was brought on board to supervise the launch of the station in the same capacity. The launch of the new format was beset by many difficulties: initially planned for that fall, it would be ultimately delayed, as business, editorial and creative differences between both partners concerned many station employees.
Television (TV), sometimes shortened to tele or telly, is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome (black and white), or in color, and in two or three dimensions and sound. The term can refer to a television set, a television show, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports.Television became available in crude experimental forms in the late 1920s, but it would still be several years before the new technology would be marketed to consumers. After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white TV broadcasting became popular in the United Kingdom and United States, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses, and institutions. During the 1950s, television was the primary medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the US and most other developed countries. The availability of multiple types of archival storage media such as Betamax and VHS tapes, high-capacity hard disk drives, DVDs, flash drives, high-definition Blu-ray Discs, and cloud digital video recorders has enabled viewers to watch pre-recorded material-such as movies-at home on their own time schedule. Television signals were initially distributed only as terrestrial television using high-powered radio-frequency television transmitters to broadcast the signal to individual television receivers. Alternatively television signals were distributed by coaxial cable or optical fiber and satellite systems. A standard television set is composed of multiple internal electronic circuits, including a tuner for receiving and decoding broadcast signals. A visual display device which lacks a tuner is correctly called a video monitor rather than a television.
The Creation, Innovation And Expansion Of The Televisual Medium! 6 Full Hours Of Vintage Historical Footage -- All Presented In The Highest DVD Quality MPG Video Format Of 9.1 MBPS In An MP4 Video Download Or Archival Quality 3 Disc All Regions Format DVD Set!
*August 8, 2024: Updated With Four New Titles: 1) 25 YEARS OF TELEVISION; THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, 2) SUBURBAN CABLEVISION'S ANTI-CABLE BILL AD, JULY 23, 1993, 3) MARA WOLYNSKI GIVES MIDDLE FINGER ON LIVE TV, WABC-TV CHANNEL 7 EYEWITNESS NEWS NEW YORK, FEB. 24, 1983, And 4) WNYC-TV SIGN OFF, JUNE 30, 1996 MIDNIGHT!
Contents:
A WELCOME GUEST IN THE HOUSE (Black/White, 1957, 23:29)
The National Association of Broadcasters sponsored this film as a testimonial to the power of television in its service to the citizenry during the Cold War.
AN RCA PRESENTATION: TELEVISION (Black/White, 1939, 9:03)
Vintage footage of one of the earliest filmed promotions for the use of television, filled with footage of primitive TV studios at NBC's Rockefeller Center facilities, thought to have been produced to coincide with regularly scheduled coverage of the New York World's fair that same year.
UNIVERSAL NEWSREEL: KENNEDY ON TELSTAR - EUROPE SEES NEWS CONFERENCE (Black/White, JULY 23RD 1962, 1:18)
National prestige soars as the U.S. orbits the fist modern communications satellite into orbit and uses it to broadcast a presidential press conference to Europe.
MAGIC IN THE AIR (Black/White, 1941, 7:58)
Widely considered the most classic of OTR films, this extraordinary document chronicles the birth and growth of the world's first commercial radio network with a behind-the-scenes tour of their Radio City & Rockefeller Center facilities in New York City and recourse to many time honored film clips of all things radiophonic.
MAGIC IN THE AIR (Black/White, 1955, 8:12)
GMC so liked the 1941 version of this film that it had its Public Relations department re-release it with update modifications fourteen years later!
NEW SEVEN FUNCTION REMOTE CONTROL FOR COLOR (Color, Silent, 1959, 3:24)
Silent piece on a very early version of the tv remote.
PROGRAMMER WITH MAGIC MEMORY: ANOTHER NEWSMAKER (Color, Silent, 1959, 4:00)
Another silent piece, this one on the "Magic Memory" tv autotuner.
RADIO AND TELEVISION (Black/White, 1940, 10:30)
Vocational Guidance Films sponsored this effort to help educate its audience about the wide variety of technical jobs that were available not only in the now time-honored field of radio broadcasting & receiving but also the fledgling vocation of television. Though it's intended to instruct its viewers about employment opportunities contemporary to its time, it teaches us in our day a great deal about communications operations in its day.
TELEVISION REMOTE CONTROL (Color, 1961, 5:46)
Today, the remote we use to channel surf is as much a part of life in the first world as any other appliance we lay our hands on - for some, much more. But in 1961, this was something new & big - and RCA Victor wanted everyone to know about it, and this film is the result.
ARMY/NAVY SCREEN MAGAZINE: TELEVISION TOMORROW (Black/White, 1945, 12:17)
Excellent primer on the future of technology and employment opportunities in television broadcasting, as shown to military servicemen returning from wartime duty, as seen from the vantage point of the beginning of the television age.
UNIVERSAL NEWSREEL: TELSTAR BRINGS WORLD CLOSER (Black/White, 1962, B&W, 3:17)
The world's first commercial "comsat" (communications satellite) is sent into orbit, transmits the first television picture to and from space, and becomes the vanguard of many other such telstars which enabled continuous global telephone, data, television and other communications.
THE HILLSBOROUGH WITH NEW HIDEAWAY STYLING (Color, 1959, 2:30)
A concluding silent piece on a console television that folded into a piece of furniture that disguised its real purpose.
THE REASONS WHY (Color, 1959, 26:45)
Lovely color film entertainingly and informatively demonstrating the television manufacturing process at RCA's plant in Camden, New Jersey.
THE STORY OF TELEVISION (Black/White, 1956, 14:50)
RCA's attempt to tell the history of this new medium at a point itself rather early in its history, and it shows - in all the right ways. Of course, RCA is responsible for it all - at least, that's what this film tends to try to say. It did have something to say besides all this, though - the era of color television had arrived - and yes, RCA was responsible for that, too. Features a discussion between radio and television pioneer David Sarnoff and pioneer of television technology Vladimir K. Zworykin. Filled with education about and demonstration of historical firsts, it's a treat for media history buff and baby-boomer viewer alike.
TOMORROW ALWAYS COMES (Color, 1941, 28:53)
The intention of this film, made as it was by the Manhattan Undergarment Company, was to sell rayon lingerie. In the process, it also unintentionally resulted in the documentation of live television broadcasting in its very infancy, CBS style, in the form of a fashion show featuring rayon lingerie products!
THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES (Color, 1991, 48 Minutes)
An insightful analysis and criticism of the state of television programming from its beginnings as an advertising model based medium through its unique development as a cultural broadcast outlet up to the early 1990s, where it was asserted that if nothing was to change (and it did within a few years with the advent of the internet) that this medium would continue on as a projection of the lifestyles of a small amount of people whose lives and values did not truly represent either themselves or their audience.
25 YEARS OF TELEVISION; THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW (Color, 1991, 4 Minutes)
A segment of Entertainment Tonight where Carl Reiner, the producer of The Dick Van Dyke Show, explains that the CBS network brass, who accepted his show but not with him as the star, made the best possible decision by having Dick Van Dyke takes his place!
SUBURBAN CABLEVISION'S ANTI-CABLE BILL AD, JULY 23, 1993 (Color, 6 Minutes)
Cablevision's Pay-Per-View channel was pre-empted from July 23 to August 2, 1993 in order to air this 6-minute clip, non-stop for the duration, to encourage its viewers to oppose The Cable Act Of 1992 and its retransmission consent rules, which required cable television providers to obtain consent and/or pay for the analog broadcast signal transmissions they were rebroadcasting on their cable networks. Cablevision offered free a/b switches for its subscribers to access analog television transmissions from stations that they could not reach a retransmission agreement with, then gives the addresses and phone numbers of representatives and senators in congress, as well as the FCC, for viewers to write to and call to voice their opposition to the bill.
SUBURBAN CABLEVISION'S ANTI-CABLE BILL AD, JULY 23, 1993 (Color, 6 Minutes)
MARA WOLYNSKI GIVES MIDDLE FINGER ON LIVE TV, WABC-TV CHANNEL 7 EYEWITNESS NEWS NEW YORK (Color, February 24, 1983, 1 Minute)
It took just a moment, but Mara Wolynski got fired for flipping the bird at a cameraman without realizing she did so live on-air. With the usual comic aplomb for which co-anchor Roger Grimsby was famous, he declares at the end of the broadcast "Well, as Mara Wolynski would say, we're number one"! WNYC-TV Signs Off Forever (Color, Midnight June 30, 1996, 3 Minutes)
New York City's venerable and beloved public television station WNYC-TV signs off for the final time. Twelve hours later, at noon on July 1, channel 31 reappeared as WBIS (branded as S+), carrying programming from the Classic Sports Network most of the day, and infomercials in overnights. The City of New York, which was one of the United States' first municipalities to enter into broadcasting with the 1924 sign-on of WNYC radio, was granted a construction permit to build a new commercial television station in 1954. Seven years later, on November 5, 1961, WUHF took to the air for the first time. Through the Municipal Broadcasting System, which held the channel 31 license, the city (led by then-mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr.) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) used WUHF as an experiment to determine the viability of UHF broadcasts within an urban environment. Some of the early programming on WUHF included simulcasts of New York's existing commercial VHF stations; educational films produced by WNYC's Television Film Unit, established in 1949; college-level distance education telecourses; and, reportedly, a nightly rundown of the New York City Police Department's "wanted" criminals list. The experiment was carried out through the installation of UHF receivers in several hundred test homes, public schools and businesses, with reception monitored by FCC and City engineers. After a year of test broadcasting was deemed successful, full control of WUHF was then transferred to the city. The station became a full-time operation on November 5, 1962, with new call letters WNYC-TV to match its sister radio stations WNYC (then at 830 AM and now at 820 AM) and WNYC-FM (93.9 MHz). Though the channel 31 license was classified as commercial, WNYC-TV was operated as a non-commercial educational station. Some of the programming from the experimental period continued, and now included live broadcasts of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. As a municipally-owned station, WNYC-TV also devoted airtime to shows focused on civic affairs, along with other public-interest programs. The station also carried some programming from National Educational Television (NET) and its successor, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), but later increasingly ran more independent educational television programs. For many years, WNYC-TV ran a 15-minute newscast on weekdays, called News from City Hall (later called News City and expanded to 30 minutes), highlighting the day's events in municipal government. In 1979, Mayor Ed Koch considered selling the WNYC stations to other interests due to a municipal fiscal crisis. Instead, the WNYC Foundation was established as an outlet to raise operating capital for the stations. Though there were twice-yearly fundraising appeals made by the WNYC stations, WNYC-TV did not run on-air pledge drives in a manner similar to other PBS stations, mostly because it was a commercial licensee. It would not, however, have faced any problems had it done so, as WNED-TV in Buffalo, New York operated for decades as a non-commercial broadcaster under a commercial license. Channel 31 also leased blocks of airtime to foreign-language broadcasters. In the 1980s, among the largest providers of foreign programming were Japan's Fujisankei Communications Group, which aired a morning show on weekdays, and RAI, the Italian public broadcaster which programmed two hours on weeknights, and five hours on Sunday mornings, a period which included airings of Italian soccer games. Also during this era, WNYC-TV joined the music video phenomenon - and in the process contributed to the growth of hip hop culture and rap music. In the summer of 1983, channel 31 premiered the hour-long Video Music Box, created by station employee Ralph McDaniels. The program started off with an eclectic selection of videos from pop, rock, and rhythm-and-blues artists. Rap music was also included, but eventually the program became exclusive to the rap and R & B genres. Video Music Box served as a launching pad for many rap music artists, and was said to have been the basis behind MTV creating Yo! MTV Raps several years later. Video Music Box would remain prominently on WNYC-TV's schedule for the next decade (the show now airs on WNYE-TV, channel 25). Shortly after becoming mayor in 1994, Rudy Giuliani said that he was considering selling the WNYC stations. Giuliani said that broadcasting was no longer essential as a municipal entity, and that any financial compensation would be used to help the City cover budget shortfalls. The final decision was made in March 1995: the WNYC radio stations would be sold to the WNYC Foundation, while the city opted to solicit separate bids for WNYC-TV through a blind auction. In August 1995, a partnership of Dow Jones and Company and ITT Corporation (licensed as ITT-Dow Jones Television LLC) was declared the winner of the WNYC-TV auction with a bid of 207M USD, which at the time was the largest price ever paid for a UHF television station. The sale of channel 31 to commercial interests had many detractors. Foreign broadcasters complained, as they now found themselves without an outlet for their programming, and individual financial contributors criticized the Giuliani administration for selling the station to the highest commercial bidder, rather than to the WNYC Foundation. The foreign producers found new outlets through WNYE-TV, Newton, New Jersey-based WMBC-TV, and the City-owned Crosswalks cable TV network (now NYC Media), and eventually dispersed among the many low power television stations launched in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and currently through various digital subchannels both on full and low-power stations in the Tri-State. The sale took nearly a year to become official, as licensing troubles with the FCC and the aforementioned complaints from foreign broadcasters would ultimately delay the transaction. Eventually, at midnight, June 30, 1996, WNYC-TV signed off for the final time. Twelve hours later, at noon on July 1, channel 31 reappeared as WBIS (branded as S+), carrying programming from the Classic Sports Network most of the day, and infomercials in overnights. Meanwhile, Dow Jones and ITT worked on their planned permanent format for WBIS, which would offer business news during the day and professional sports news and games at night. The S+ name was designed to mean "sports, stocks, style, and success", as a nod to the format being worked by both partners. Former WNYW general manager Carolyn Wall was brought on board to supervise the launch of the station in the same capacity. The launch of the new format was beset by many difficulties: initially planned for that fall, it would be ultimately delayed, as business, editorial and creative differences between both partners concerned many station employees.
Television (TV), sometimes shortened to tele or telly, is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome (black and white), or in color, and in two or three dimensions and sound. The term can refer to a television set, a television show, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports.Television became available in crude experimental forms in the late 1920s, but it would still be several years before the new technology would be marketed to consumers. After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white TV broadcasting became popular in the United Kingdom and United States, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses, and institutions. During the 1950s, television was the primary medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the US and most other developed countries. The availability of multiple types of archival storage media such as Betamax and VHS tapes, high-capacity hard disk drives, DVDs, flash drives, high-definition Blu-ray Discs, and cloud digital video recorders has enabled viewers to watch pre-recorded material-such as movies-at home on their own time schedule. Television signals were initially distributed only as terrestrial television using high-powered radio-frequency television transmitters to broadcast the signal to individual television receivers. Alternatively television signals were distributed by coaxial cable or optical fiber and satellite systems. A standard television set is composed of multiple internal electronic circuits, including a tuner for receiving and decoding broadcast signals. A visual display device which lacks a tuner is correctly called a video monitor rather than a television.