Society in colour: Italian television and the switch to colour

Abstract

While Italy was proudly celebrating the advent of its own television system on 3 January 1954 and the first official broadcasts were starting to go out, at around the same time, the United States saw the arrival of colour television. Indeed, in December 1953, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the standard for colour television set out by the National Television System Committee (the same one that established the 525 line standard in 1941). The NTSC colour television standard was chosen for its versatility over other similar experiments, including its CBS rival, since its broadcasts were perfectly compatible with the black-and-white receivers which were widespread at the time. While Italy stood out for black and white, in mid- January 1954, colour television was authorised to operate commercially in the United States, and the analogue colour standard made its entrance on screen. It was then quick to be adopted in Canada, South Korea, Japan and many other countries, and would remain in place up until the arrival of the ATSC Digital system in 2009.  [...]