The communication philosopher Marshall McLuhan told us the content of a new medium usually is built on and expands from the content of an older medium...
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MOVIES BEFORE TELEVISION
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1727
Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that silver nitrate darkened upon exposure to light beginning the photographic technology that would be essential for movies.
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1870s
Rise of a middle class with discretionary time for amusement.
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1888
Edison Lab invented movie cameras and projectors.
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1912
Paramount began to form the first Hollywood studio system.
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1922
Fox introduced sound in newsreels.
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1927
Jazz Singer was the first "talkie," distributed by Warner.
Black Pirate was the first color movie.
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TELEVISION BEGINS
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1927
Philo Farnsworth invented a tube to capture and transmit moving images.
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1941
FCC adopts standards for U.S. television broadcasting.
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1946
U.S. movie box office peaked at 90 million a week.
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1948
First network television feeds.
U.S. Supreme Court breaks Hollywood's vertical integration.
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1949
Cable television is introduced.
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1950s
Network television reduces attendance at movies.
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1961
FCC chair Newton Minow characterizes television as a "vast wasteland."
The communications satellite Telstar is sent to orbit.
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1967
Congress establishes the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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1969
The Internet is invented.
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1970s
Multiscreen multiplex movie theaters are introduced in an attempt to rebuild the movie audience.
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1975
HBO sends the first satellite-delivered programming to cable systems.
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THE INTERNET INTERVENES
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1990s
The Internet emerges as a commercial medium.
Streaming media starts on the Internet.
VHS and home movie rentals further reduces attendance at movies.
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1990
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) started providing information about movies, television shows and other visual entertainment media.
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1994
Direct-to-home satellite broadcasting begins.
University of North Carolina's college station WXYC becomes the first radio station in the world to broadcast its signal over the Internet.
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1996
The FCC started to phase in digital broadcast television standards.
WRAL-TV at Raleigh, North Carolina, became the first U.S. television station to broadcast a digital television signal.
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1997
Netflix began offering video rental by mail and eventually on-demand video streaming over the Internet.
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2001
The Kazaa file-sharing service is founded.
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2003
Apple introduces the online music service iTunes.
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2005
YouTube video-sharing website was launched.
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2006
Movie theaters began a 10-year plan to convert to digital projection.
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2007
Hulu inaugurated a website offering ad-supported streaming video of TV shows and movies from many networks and studios.
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2009
All U.S. television stations were converted to broadcasting in a digital format.
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2010
More than 2300 online TV stations listed at the World Wide Internet TV website enabled access to streaming live on-demand television broadcasts.
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