October 10…A Big Day For Color in 1950 And 1964

On this date in 1950, the FCC approved the CBS Field Sequential Color system effective November 20. CBS had promised 20 hours of color programs a week within two months. This was the opening round of a long hard fight that RCA would eventually win with their Dot Sequential Color system.

On this date in 1964, NBC aired the opening ceremonies of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in color. It was the first live color TV program to be transmitted to the U.S. by satellite. Only the opening ceremonies were in color, the events were all telecast in black and white to the US using Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite. This was also the first time that Olympic games could be televised live to all parts of the world. As a side note, Ikegami debuted their first color cameras at these games on Japan’s NHK network. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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