Page 18 - OB18 ELECTRONICA

FROM THE CHAIRMAN

The Evolution

of Television

n the early 1920s, around the globe, inventors were working on the
transmission of images over distance. The world’s first television
station, “WGY Television” broadcast in 1928 from the General Electric
I facility in Schenectady, NY. Reportedly, the first NBC Television
Network program was broadcast on January 12, 1940 when a play entitled Meet
The Wife was broadcast from Studio 3H at Rockefeller Center and rebroadcast
by W2XB (WRGB).

When the Second World War ended and prosperity in the U.S. returned, so did
people’s ability to purchase televisions. By the 1960s, millions of households
were captivated by the small box with big possibilities.

The 1970s through 80s saw the rise of analog video recording on tape cassettes,
the VHS (Video Home System) and with it, video stores started popping up
everywhere. By the turn of the twenty-first century, digital video discs (DVDs),
developed by Philips and Sony in 1995, made the VHS a relic of the past.

Around the same time, companies like Apple, Google and Roku built streaming
services units which allowed people to stream their favorite movies whenever
they wanted to. In 2012, people spent more than a billion dollars watching
videos and movies on demand through these services. However, it is Netflix
that has had the biggest impact on viewership. Netflix got its start in 1997 as a
DVD-by-mail service. However by 2007, with the evolution of computers, faster
internet speed, and digital TV technology, Netflix had blossomed into streaming
services and taken television viewing to its next level.

Much of Netflix’ success is credited to both its quantity and quality of original
content. Netflix’ extremely successful first production, House of Cards, debuted
in 2013 but was followed by many, including the Emmy-nominated Stranger
Things and Orange is the New Black. The estimated spending by Netflix on
content for 2018 will be around $13 billion to be spent on 82 movies and 700
television series, new or with exclusive rights, from more than 20 countries
around the world, as reported, by Dana Feldman in Forbes. While aiming to
appeal to the wide-ranging diversity found in its 130 million subscribers, Netflix’
cultural influence is affecting fashion, music, language, politics, art, advertising,
product branding and many other aspects of human expression and interaction
across the globe.

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