The Television Portal

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, 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 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 flat-panel, mainly LEDs. 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...)
Selected article -
"Favorite Son" is an episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. First broadcast on UPN on March 19, 1997, it was the 20th episode of the third season. Lisa Klink wrote and Marvin V. Rush directed the episode. Set in the 24th century, the show follows the adventures of the crew of the starship USS Voyager after they are stranded in the Delta Quadrant, far from the rest of the Federation.
In the episode, Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) experiences déjà vu and develops a rash when the Voyager enters a new sector of the Delta Quadrant. Mostly female aliens known as Taresians tell him that he is not human but is a member of their species. On discovering this is a ruse by the female aliens to attract and kill their men during reproduction, the crew rescues Kim and restores him to his original state. Deborah May and Kristanna Loken play two of the Taresians, Patrick Fabian portrays a man tricked by them and Irene Tsu appears as Kim's mother.
Selected image -

John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and others watching flight of Astronaut Alan Shepard on television. Shepard was the second person and the first American in space. He later commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was the fifth person to walk on the moon.
Did you know (auto-generated) -

- ... that WTVK in Knoxville, Tennessee, won a years-long battle to move from UHF to a VHF channel, only to be sent by new management to "that big TV station in the sky"?
- ... that the 1999 television film Down Will Come Baby aired two weeks after the Columbine High School massacre and was criticized for exploiting parental fears with its depiction of child violence?
- ... that New Mexico television station KIVA-TV received angry phone calls and a bomb threat after switching away from a tied football game?
- ... that a television station spent so little on programming that a media columnist called it the "IOUs of Cincinnati"?
- ... that DTK Computer was one of the first companies to have its computers sold via satellite television?
- ... that people were scammed on New Zealand television by the host of You've Been Scammed?
Selected quote -
More did you know

- ...that Richard Hanley's book South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating analyzes issues of applied ethics as presented in South Park?
- ...that the fight scene between Peter Griffin and a giant chicken on Family Guy episode Blind Ambition was originally created for the episode Cleveland Loretta Quagmire?
- ...that model Albert Reed, selected to appear in September 2007 on the United States television show Dancing with the Stars, admits that he cannot dance?
- ...that Melbourne rock band The Strangers appeared on weekly television for nine years straight?
- ...that Great American Country television host Nan Kelley (then Nan Sumrall) became Miss Mississippi in 1985 after her fellow Mississippian Susan Akin was crowned Miss America?
Selected biography -
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
Featured lists -
News

- December 28: US professional wrestler Jon Huber dies aged 41
- September 2: Tributes paid to recently deceased US actor Chadwick Boseman
- May 24: Japanese professional wrestler and Netflix star Hana Kimura dies aged 22
- January 16: BBC newsreader Alagiah to undergo treatment for bowel cancer
- Upcoming events
- Upcoming television series
Featured content
Main topics

History of television: Early television stations • Geographical usage of television • Golden Age of Television • List of experimental television stations • List of years in television • Mechanical television • Social aspects of television • Television systems before 1940 • Timeline of the introduction of television in countries • Timeline of the introduction of color television in countries
Inventors and pioneers: John Logie Baird • Alan Blumlein • Walter Bruch • Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton • Allen B. DuMont • Philo Taylor Farnsworth • Charles Francis Jenkins • Boris Grabovsky • Paul Gottlieb Nipkow • Constantin Perskyi • Boris Rosing • David Sarnoff • Kálmán Tihanyi • Vladimir Zworykin
Technology: Comparison of display technology • Digital television • Liquid crystal display television • Large-screen television technology • Technology of television
Terms: Broadcast television systems • Composite monitor • HDTV • Liquid crystal display television • PAL • Picture-in-picture • Pay-per-view • Plasma display • NICAM • NTSC • SECAM
Categories

WikiProjects
![]() |
You are invited to participate in WikiProject Television, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about Television. |
- Main projects
Entertainment • Television

- Sub-projects
Television Stations • American animation • American television • Australian television • British TV • BBC • Canadian TV shows • Television Game Shows • ITC Entertainment Productions • Digimon • Buffyverse • Doctor Who • Degrassi • EastEnders • Episode coverage • Firefly • Futurama • Grey's Anatomy • Indian television • Lost • Nickelodeon • The O.C. • Professional Wrestling • Reality TV • The Simpsons • Seinfeld • South Park • Stargate • Star Trek • Star Wars • Soap operas • Avatar: The Last Airbender • House
- Related projects
Animation • Anime and manga • Comedy • Comics • Fictional characters • Film • Media franchises
What are WikiProjects?
Things you can do

- Place the {{WikiProject Television}} project banner on the talk pages of all articles within the scope of the project.
- Write: Possible Possum
- Cleanup: color television, Alien Nation: Body and Soul, The Sopranos, Alien Nation: Dark Horizon, Alien Nation: The Enemy Within, Alien Nation: Millennium, Aang
- Expand: Timeline of the introduction of color television in countries
- Stubs: Flow (television), Just for Kicks (TV series), Play of the Month, Nova (Dutch TV series), More stubs...
Subportals
Related portals
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
-
List of all portalsList of all portals
-
The arts portal
-
Biography portal
-
Current events portal
-
Geography portal
-
History portal
-
Mathematics portal
-
Science portal
-
Society portal
-
Technology portal
-
Random portalRandom portal
-
WikiProject PortalsWikiProject Portals