# Television **Television** transmits moving images and sound. Philo Farnsworth demonstrated an all-electronic image in San Francisco on September 7, 1927; RCA introduced TV to the public at the 1939 New York World's Fair; and the [[FCC]] authorized commercial broadcasting from July 1, 1941. Adoption was the fastest of any medium to that point: about 1% of U.S. households had a set in 1948 and 75% by 1955. The three-network era (roughly 1950–1980) gave Americans a shared national agenda under the [[Fairness Doctrine]], and made image a political asset, from the 1954 [[Edward R. Murrow]] broadcast on [[Joseph McCarthy]] to the 1960 Kennedy–Nixon debate. [[Cable Television]] and then streaming broke that shared audience apart. In May 2025 Nielsen measured streaming above broadcast and cable combined for the first time. > [!note] Stub > Minimum-viable page created to support the [[Media Timeline]]. Expand with the technology's development, its owners, and its political uses. ## See also - [[Media Timeline]] - [[Cable Television]] - [[Radio]] - [[Medium Theory]]