First transmission of television signal
At the beginning of the 20th century, numerous scientists from the USSR, Germany, and the USA conducted research on transmitting images over distance.
At that time, there were two main types of television systems – electronic and mechanical. The first involved the use of cathode-ray tubes and other electronic devices for transmitting and receiving images; mechanical systems had moving parts – disks, drums, and screws.
The beginning of modern television history can be considered the patent obtained in 1907 by Boris Rosing, a professor at the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, for "A method of electrical image transmission."
The principles laid down by Rosing formed the basis for further developments in electronic television, which eventually replaced mechanical television due to its simpler and more reliable design, as well as high image quality.
By the end of the 1930s, regular television broadcasting began in the USSR, USA, UK, and Germany. People watched television collectively in special halls. Sessions were held several times a week; the broadcast consisted of news programs, musical shows, documentaries, and feature films.
First on-location broadcasts and mobile studios
At the dawn of television development, live broadcasts were mainly conducted from studios located in television centers - multi-story buildings with a large amount of equipment and support staff.
The first large-scale on-location broadcast was carried out at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. It was one of the most technologically advanced shoots of that time. Dozens of television cameras were used on the project, and aerial filming was carried out. Unique film-television cameras were used, placed on the roof of a mobile film laboratory van - filming was done on film, which was immediately developed and scanned for broadcast.
Thanks to this method of image transmission, it became possible to create slow-motion replays – an important part of modern sports broadcasts, and an innovation of that time that made the broadcasts of the Berlin Olympic Games more popular than the competitions themselves. People were more willing to go to the television salon than to the stadium, as the picture on the screen was more interesting than watching the competition from the stands.
A combined camera mounted on the roof of a mobile film laboratory, where instant scanning of the film and transmission of the image to the broadcast took place
Another innovation – the creation of auto-follow cameras, an incredible achievement for that time. According to the story of Leni Riefenstahl, director of the film "Olympia" dedicated to the Berlin Olympic Games, moving cameras were created for filming running competitions, moving along with the athletes. Unfortunately, the judge banned the use of these cameras.
World War II significantly slowed down the development of television in Europe, and the Olympic Games were not held until 1948. The first television broadcasts of the Olympic Games were conducted only on the national television of the host country, and in 1956 the first global broadcast of the Olympic Games in Italy was carried out to almost the entire territory of Europe.
Starting from the 1950s, almost every major sporting event was broadcast on television. Closer to the 1960s, most broadcasts became color, and television entered a phase of intensive development.
The organization of the broadcast of the 1980 Moscow Olympics is of great interest. Specially for the games, the latest television technology was developed: cameras, monitors, video recorders, sound recording equipment, assembled at enterprises throughout the Soviet Union. To ensure uninterrupted and high-quality broadcast, the Olympic television and radio complex was created in Ostankino.
Almost all television workers of the USSR were involved in the broadcasts of the games; more than 300 cameras and about 70 mobile television studios covered competitions at many sports venues, and more than 20 separate programs were created for different countries and continents at the television center.
Of course, viewers were interested not only in sports events but also in other events – concerts, theatrical productions. The first such broadcasts were made from the studio, as conducting an on-location broadcast from a concert hall was much more difficult than a studio one. In 1939, the first sound broadcast was conducted in the USSR – actor Ivan Moskvin read A.P. Chekhov's story "The Malefactor," then viewers saw a performance by an opera singer and a ballet pair.
In 1973, the largest televisionconcert broadcast– Elvis Presley's performance in the capital of Hawaii - Aloha from Hawaii. Broadcasting was conducted in about 40 countries, and the concert was watched by about one and a half billion viewers.
This record for the number of viewers of a concert broadcast was broken in 1985, when the BBC organized a live broadcast of the Live Aid festival – nearly two billion people from 150 countries watched the event live.
Work of the camera crew at the Aloha from Hawaii concert
Development of online broadcasts
Today, television is increasingly moving online – leading TV channels are broadcasting on the internet, and digital television signals are delivered via internet communication channels.
Now anyone with a webcam and internet access can start broadcasting to an unlimited audience. Professional equipment for online broadcasting is becoming more affordable, and even at home it is possible to build a full-fledged television studio.
The leader in internet video – YouTube – conducted its first online broadcast of a U2 concert in 2009, followed by several more experimental broadcasts. Since 2010, YouTube began creating its own technical infrastructure for live broadcasts, and in 2011 announced the YouTube Live service.
Online broadcasts became truly publicly available in May 2013, when YouTube allowed live broadcasts for users with at least 1000 subscribers. By the end of the year, any restrictions were lifted, and it became possible to conduct live broadcasts even for new users.
A little later, the functionality ofconducting online broadcastsappeared in major social networks and other video services. The wide possibilities of social networks for attracting audiences and conducting advertising campaigns were quickly appreciated by large advertisers and sponsors – thanks to their support, online streaming began to develop at a rapid pace, the quality of online broadcasts increased, and equipment manufacturers offered increasingly affordable professional solutions every year.
Currently, online broadcasts of computer game competitions – esports,broadcasts of sports events, and broadcasts of popular bloggers are widely popular.
New opportunities were also appreciated by the business community; since 2013, more and more business events can be attended remotely – by watchingan online broadcast of a conference. The functionality of live broadcasts allows online visitors to ask questions to speakers, participate in voting, and even speak at the event.
Today, almost no major business event is complete withouta live broadcast on the internet. After all, the average online audience is 2-3 times larger than the number of offline visitors. Online broadcast platforms allow selling tickets to events, collecting contacts and statistics, and a well-organized live broadcast is often more interesting to watch than attending the event.
