Jump to content

Portal:Television

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Television Portal

Flat-screen television receivers on display for sale at a consumer electronics store in 2008

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, entertainment, news, and sports. The medium is capable of more than "radio broadcasting," which refers to an audio signal sent to radio receivers.

Television became available in crude experimental forms in the 1920s, but only after several years of further development was the new technology marketed to consumers. After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white television broadcasting became popular in the United Kingdom and the 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 U.S. and most other developed countries.

In 2013, 79% of the world's households owned a television set. The replacement of earlier cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen displays with compact, energy-efficient, flat-panel alternative technologies such as LCDs (both fluorescent-backlit and LED), OLED displays, and plasma displays was a hardware revolution that began with computer monitors in the late 1990s. Most television sets sold in the 2000s were still CRT, it was only in early 2010s that flat-screen TVs decisively overtook CRT. Major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, Digital Light Processing (DLP), plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. LEDs are being gradually replaced by OLEDs. Also, major manufacturers have started increasingly producing smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s. (Full article...)

Actor Jorge Gracia plays Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in ABC's Lost
"The Beginning of the End" is the fourth season premiere, and seventieth episode overall, of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost. It was aired on ABC in the United States and CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008. Co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse wrote the premiere in late July 2007, with most of the episode directed on location in Oahu, Hawaii in August and September by executive producer Jack Bender. With this premiere, Jeff Pinkner no longer serves as an executive producer and staff writer. The episode was watched by 16 million Americans, bringing in the best ratings for Lost in seventeen episodes. According to Metacritic, "The Beginning of the End" garnered "universal acclaim". The narrative takes place 93 days after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, on December 23, 2004. The stranded crash survivors make contact with Naomi Dorrit's (played by Marsha Thomason) associates on a nearby freighter, but the survivors divide when they hear that those on the freighter may not be coming to rescue the survivors. Flashforwards show the post-island lives of Hurley Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox). They are lying to the public about their time on the island. In flashforwards, Hurley has visions of his deceased friend Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan); in the present, Hurley grieves over Charlie's death on the island. Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) makes his first appearance in "The Beginning of the End".

Selected image - show another

WRAL-TV reporter Adam Owens in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
WRAL-TV reporter Adam Owens in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Credit: Caroline Culler

A newscast typically consists of the coverage of various news events and other information, either produced locally in a radio or television station newsroom, or by a broadcast network. It may also include such additional material as sports coverage, weather forecasts, traffic reports, commentary and other material that the broadcaster feels is relevant to their audience.

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

  • ... that the day employees of Boston television station WLVI received new business cards, they learned the station would be sold and they would lose their jobs?
  • ... that Mike Gorman spent 43 consecutive years as the television play-by-play commentator for the Boston Celtics?
  • ... that DTK Computer was one of the first companies to have its computers sold via satellite television?
  • ... that after his movement's victory in the Cuban Revolution, television broadcasts showed Camilo Cienfuegos freeing parrots from birdcages, declaring that the birds had "a right to liberty"?
  • ... that television production companies working in Bhadun, Bangladesh, can hire a local woman as an extra for ৳500 (US$5.30) per day?
  • ... that in 1982, a news anchor for Phoenix television station KOOL-TV was held hostage on set for five hours?

Selected quote - show another

Orson Welles
I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts.

More did you know

Did you know?


Selected biography - show another

Sorkin in 2016

Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. As a writer for stage, television, and film, Sorkin is recognized for his trademark fast-paced dialogue and extended monologues, complemented by frequent use of the storytelling technique called the "walk and talk". Sorkin has earned numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globes.

Sorkin rose to prominence as a writer-creator and showrunner of the television series Sports Night (1998–2000), The West Wing (1999–2006), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–07), and The Newsroom (2012–14). He is also known for his work on Broadway including the plays A Few Good Men (1989), The Farnsworth Invention (2007), To Kill a Mockingbird (2018), and the revival of Lerner and Loewe's musical Camelot (2023). (Full article...)

General images

The following are images from various television-related articles on Wikipedia.
Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

News

Extended content

Good topics


Main topics

Main topics

History of television: Early television stationsGeographical usage of televisionGolden Age of TelevisionList of experimental television stationsList of years in televisionMechanical televisionSocial aspects of televisionTelevision systems before 1940Timeline of the introduction of television in countriesTimeline of the introduction of color television in countries

Inventors and pioneers: John Logie BairdAlan BlumleinWalter BruchAlan Archibald Campbell-SwintonAllen B. DuMontPhilo Taylor FarnsworthCharles Francis JenkinsBoris GrabovskyPaul Gottlieb NipkowConstantin PerskyiBoris RosingDavid SarnoffKálmán TihanyiVladimir Zworykin

Technology: Comparison of display technologyDigital televisionLiquid crystal display televisionLarge-screen television technologyTechnology of television

Terms: Broadcast television systemsComposite monitorHDTVLiquid crystal display televisionPALPicture-in-picturePay-per-viewPlasma displayNICAMNTSCSECAM

Categories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories

WikiProjects

You are invited to participate in WikiProject Television, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about Television.
Main projects

EntertainmentTelevision

WikiProjects
Sub-projects

Television StationsAmerican animationAmerican televisionAustralian televisionBritish TVBBCCanadian TV showsTelevision Game ShowsITC Entertainment ProductionsDigimonBuffyverseDoctor WhoDegrassiEastEndersEpisode coverageFireflyFuturamaGrey's AnatomyIndian televisionLostNickelodeonThe O.C.Professional WrestlingReality TVThe SimpsonsSeinfeldSouth ParkStargateStar TrekStar WarsSoap operasAvatar: The Last AirbenderHouse

Related projects

AnimationAnime and mangaComedyComicsFictional charactersFilmMedia franchises

What are WikiProjects?

Things you can do

Subportals

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals