What is television 📺

Television (TV), the electronic delivery of moving images and sound from a source to a receiver. By extending the senses of vision and hearing beyond the limits of physical distance, television has had a considerable influence on society. Conceived in the early 20th century as a possible medium for education and interpersonal communication, it became by mid-century a vibrant broadcast medium, using the model of broadcast radio to bring news and entertainment to people all over the world. Television is now delivered in a variety of ways: “over the air” by terrestrial radio waves (traditional broadcast TV); along coaxial cables (cable TV); reflected off of satellites held in geostationary Earth orbit (direct broadcast satellite, or DBS, TV); streamed through the Internet; and recorded optically on digital video discs (DVDs) and Blu-ray discs.

The technical standards for modern television, both monochrome (black-and-white) and color, were first established in the middle of the 20th century. Improvements have been made continuously since that time, and television technology changed considerably in the early 21st century. Much attention was focused on increasing the picture resolution (high-definition television [HDTV]) and on changing the dimensions of the television, receiver to show wide-screen pictures. In addition, the transmission of digitally encoded television signals was instituted to provide interactive service and to broadcast multiple programs in the channel space previously occupied by one program.

Despite this continuous technical evolution, modern television, is best understood first by learning the history and principles of monochrome television and then by extending that learning to color. The emphasis of this article, therefore, is on first principles and major developments—basic knowledge that is needed to understand and appreciate future technological developments and enhancements.

The dream of seeing distant places is as old as the human imagination. Priests in Ancient Greece studied the entrails of birds, trying to see in them what the birds had seen when they flew over the horizon. They believed that their gods, sitting in comfort on Mount Olympus, were gifted with the ability to watch human activity all over the world. And the opening scene of William Shakespeare’s play Henry IV, Part 1 introduces the character Rumor, upon whom the other characters rely for news of what is happening in the far corners of England.

For ages, it remained a dream, and then television came along, beginning with an accidental discovery. In 1872, while investigating materials for use in the transatlantic cable, English telegraph worker Joseph May realized that a selenium wire was varying in its electrical conductivity. Further investigation showed that the change occurred when a beam of sunlight fell on the wire, which by chance had been placed on a table near the window. Although its importance was not realized at the time, this happenstance provided the basis for changing light into an electric signal.

In 1880 a French engineer, Maurice LeBlanc, published an article in the journal La Lumiere electric that formed the basis of all subsequent television. LeBlanc proposed a scanning mechanism that would take advantage of the retina’s temporary but finite detainment of a visual image. He envisaged a photoelectric cell that would look upon only one portion at a time of the picture to be transmitted. Starting in the upper left corner of the picture, the cell would proceed to the right-hand side and then jump back to the left-hand side, only one line lower. It would continue in this way, transmitting information on how much light was seen at each portion, until the entire picture was scanned, in a manner similar to the eye reading a page of text. A receiver would be synchronized with the transmitter, reconstructing the original image line by line.

The,he Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Tr ai), the regulator for both the telecom and broadcast sectors, has amended the new tariff order (N TO) 2.0 on Tuesday, restoring the price cap for a television channel, which is part of a bouquet, to Rs 19 from Rs 12 earlier.

The move comes nearly three years after the N TO 2.0 was first mooted by the regulatory body in January 2020, setting a price cap of Rs 12 per channel for those which were part of a bouquet. The directive had met with a wall of opposition from broadcasters as well as direct-to-home operators, resulting in multiple postponements of the order. N TO 2.0 will now be implemented in February 2023.

On Tuesday, K Madhavan, president, Indian Broadcasting & Digital Foundation (IBDF) welcomed the amendment notified by Trai, saying it was a result of constructive dialogue between the industry and regulator.

“N TO 2.0 is the outcome of the strong collaboration between industry and Tr ai. Rather than pursue a litigative approach to address pending demands, our approach of engaging in constructive dialogue has allowed us to make strong progress in creating a more conducive environment for the industry on the pricing front,” he said.

Tr ai also said on Tuesday that channel bundle discounts would be capped at 45 per cent while continuing with forbearance on the maximum retail price of TV channels. Simply put, forbearance allows broadcasters to freely price their a-la-carte or standalone channels.

Last week, Tr ai Chairman PD Vaghela while speaking at the CII Big Picture Summit in New Delhi had said that it would issue amendments to the new tariff order and interconnection regulations, in line with its stated policy of light-touch regulation.

On Tuesday, Trai said the amendments were notified to protect consumer interest. "In the present amendments, Tr ai has addressed only those critical issues, which were suggested by the Stakeholders’ Committee to avoid inconvenience to consumers while implementing the Tariff Amendment Order 2020,” it said.

Broadcasters will now have to submit details of changes in the MRP of their pay channels, bouquets and composition of bouquets to Trai by December 16. Similarly, DTH players and Multi-System Operators (MSOs) will need to submit amended Distributors Retail Price (DRPs) by January 1.

“All the distributors of television channels shall ensure that services to the subscribers, with effect from February 1 2023, are provided as per the bouquets of channels opted by them,” Trai said.