Wenslus Murape
IT’S almost 100 years since television was invented and, in the years since this 1928 creation, the medium has developed in leaps and bounds.
On Thursday, it was World TV Day.
“World TV Day on November 21 gave us all a chance to reflect on the massive impact of this development and what it means to people across the world,” said Charity Njanji, corporate affairs and public relations manager of MultiChoice Zimbabwe.
The United Nations this year said that even in the digital age, television remains the single largest source of information, education and entertainment in the world.
“The humble TV is still the most popular way to consume video content and it’s a medium that unites people around the common desire to be informed, educated and entertained,” said Njanji.
She said that in Sub-Saharan Africa, pay-TV remained the most popular way of accessing video entertainment.
“Findings released by Digital TV Research earlier this year show that 12 million pay-TV subscribers will come online in Africa between 2023 and 2029, pointing to the ongoing potential of satellite-TV to connect African viewers to the latest in entertainment, whether through existing satellite channels or new streaming products,” she said.
“As convenient as it is for viewers to have a TV in their pockets, streaming on digital devices is unlikely to replace the joy of sharing entertainment together from a TV set in the heart of the family home any time soon.”
Television was invented in 1928 but it was only in 1938 that people started buying TV sets to see the pioneering broadcasts of the first TV shows, which the few people able to do so could enjoy together as a family in their homes.
TV revolutionised the world of entertainment, which until then had been all about live theatre or shows, as well as films in cinemas.
Television was the first opportunity to bring this whole world of entertainment into the home environment. Later, satellite television transformed the way in which people watched TV, starting with access to international events and then the arrival of satellite TV broadcasts.
The first TV programmes to be broadcast via satellite came on the airwaves in 1976 and the first satellite-TV service for viewers arrived in 1990.
“It took 50 years for people to go from watching a single TV station in black and white and in limited time periods, to being able to access hundreds of channels of 24/7 programming by way of satellite broadcasts,” said Njanji.
Because of public demand, the size of TV screens in homes became bigger and bigger, while in recent years small screens have also become in popular demand as people got used to mobile devices.
In 2003 the world was introduced to the first mobile TV in America through a service capable of streaming a limited number of live video and audio feeds.
The service used the internet to do this, paving the way for the streaming services so ubiquitous today.
Digital streaming has given TV as a medium a new lease on life, as satellite-TV providers — the original trailblazers of modern TV — have embraced streaming to offer next-generation TV. — Multichoice.
Online Reporter