First TV Broadcast: W1XAV Shows Video History
Experimental television station W1XAV in Boston broadcast what is considered the first American television commercial on December 7, 1930, a spot for I.J. Fox Furriers that aired alongside the CBS radio orchestra program The Fox Trappers. The broadcast reached a tiny audience; there were only a few dozen experimental television sets in the Boston area capable of receiving it. The image was a crude, flickering 48-line scan. Commercial television wouldn't become viable for another decade: NBC launched regular commercial broadcasting in 1941, and the FCC authorized commercial television on July 1, 1941. The first legal TV commercial was a Bulova watch ad that aired on WNBT before a Brooklyn Dodgers game. That ad cost $9. Today, a 30-second Super Bowl spot costs over $7 million. The advertising-funded model born in these early experiments still drives the television industry.
December 7, 1930
96 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on December 7
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