1880 | Paul Nipkow patents the first mechanical television scanning system. |
1895 | Marconi transmits Morse code by radio. |
1897 | Karl Ferdinand Braun invents the first cathode-ray tube. |
1900 | Reginald Fessenden (a Canadian) makes the first radio transmission of voice. |
1906 | Lee Deforest develops a vacuum tube that can amplify a signal. |
1919 | The Marconi Company of Canada is awarded Canada's first radio broadcasting licence in Montreal (WXA which later became CFCF). |
1924 | John Logie Baird transmits a moving image by using a system similar to that developed by Paul Nipkow. |
1926 | Baird publicly demonstrates mechanical television; an all electronic television system is also demonstrated in the United States. |
1928 | Baird uses the Nipkow process to obtain a colour television picture; RCA establishes a television station in New York. |
1931 | Canada's first television station (CKAC) starts broadcasting in Montreal; Ted Rogers Sr. receives a licence to broadcast experimental television from his radio station in Toronto; RCA begins experimental electronic transmissions from the Empire State Building. |
1932 | The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC) is created. |
1933 | A mechanical television system is demonstrated in Eaton's stores in major Canadian cities. |
1936 | The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is created, replacing the CRBC. |
1938 | Manufacture of the first all electronic television set. |
1939 | Display of electronic television at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, the first televised baseball game. |
1950 | Cable television begins in United States. |
1951 | First video tape recording is publicly demonstrated. |
1952 | Cable TV systems begin in Canada. On September 6, CBC broadcasts from Montreal and from September 8 from Toronto. |
1953 | A microwave network connects CBC stations in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Private television begins in Toronto and Sudbury. |
1957 | The Soviet Union launches Sputnik. Herbert Kroemer publishes first papers on heterostructures (heterostructures are useful for fibre optic communications, CDs and DVDs). This and related work will later win him the Nobel Prize in physics in 2000. First modern transmission of light through fibre. |
1958 | CBC microwave network is extended from Victoria to Halifax, becoming the longest in the world. |
1959 | Bonanza, with Canadian Lorne Greene, debuts. By the end of the 1950s most Canadians in large cities can receive between 2 and 5 television stations. |
1961 | The Canadian Television Network (CTV) begins operations. |
1962 | The United States launches a television satellite, TELSTAR. |
1966 | First transmission of colour television signals by Canadian stations. |
1969 | First television transmission is received from the moon by NASA. By the end of the 1960s Canadians in large cities can receive up to 12 television signals via cable. |
1972 | Canada's Anik 1, the first domestic geo-synchronous communications satellite is launched. |
1975 | The first personal computer, Altair, goes on sale. |
1980 | Development of high definition television (HDTV). By the end of the 1980s Canadians in large cities can receive about 35 television stations via cable. |
1982 | Canada completes field trial of direct to home television broadcast via satellite (DBS). |
1989 | Japan initiates the world's first broadcast of 1,125 scanline HDTV programs. |
1994 | In the United States, DirecTV and USSB begin digitally compressed home satellite services, using an 18-inch dish. The technology becomes the fastest-growing consumer electronic item in history, with 1.1 million subscribers signing up the 1st year. |
1995 | Sony, Philips, and Toshiba agree on a compromise standard for the next-generation consumer video-playback device, the CD-sized Digital Video Disc. DVD offers picture quality superior to broadcast TV. |
1997 | Two Canadian direct-to-home (DTH) satellite services, Bell ExpressVu and StarChoice, are launched. |
1999 | Researchers at Bell Laboratories demonstrate that it is possible to send 160 billion gigabits per second down 300 kilometres of optical fibre using only one wavelength, or colour, of light. They then demonstrate that it is possible to send 1,022 colours of light down a single optic fibre. By the end of the 1990s almost all Canadians can obtain more than 200 televison stations via cable or satellite. |
2001 | CRTC approves licences for digital radio and television stations. |
2002 | Citytv becomes Canada's first HDTV broadcaster. |