Colour TV's 50th Birthday

It was 50 years ago this month that the first colour television set was manufactured by RCA and the invention began its march to ubiquity in many countries.

The colour television is one of just a handful of electronic devices which have reached the 95% household penetration level - the telephone, the radio (first AM, then FM) and monochrome television having been its predecessors, and the video recorder and mobile telephone the only others to have since approached that mark (neither has yet attained it).

It's notable that very little has changed in the colour television technology in our homes since that point 50 years ago, and in the next 50 years all of the devices mentioned above will converge into a seamless communications and entertainment system for the home.

Happy birthday to the colour TV!