65 years of colored TV

On this day, September 10th, 1960, five TV stations broadcasted in color. Among the five were NHK, TBS and TV Asahi which are still in existence today. Reportedly, before September 10th 1960 NHK had run trial color television transmissions, with the very first one ever in December 1957. Japan was second only to America to have regular color transmissions.

Color television means a television broadcast with color on the image rather than black and white. But in order to see the colored broadcasts you had to have a color receiver television. Due to the cost of such a television set, the uptake was slow, with only restaurants, hotels and similar establishments investing in them. In addition, initially color broadcasts were only available for 30 minutes to two hours a day. So even if you had a colored TV, you couldn't watch all programs in color.

By all accounts, it wasn't until the 1964 Tokyo Olympics that they became more popular. In the lead up to the Olympics, television manufacturers improved their product and similarly colored broadcasts were improved and frequency increased. The costs of televisions eventually decreased and by the 1970s colored TV had replaced black and white broadcasts. You could still buy black and white television sets though, which were much cheaper and were popular as a portable option. 

How far we have come in 65 years!