Early History

Television in Czechoslovakia started to take its first steps before World War II. However, before visible results could be achieved, all activities were interrupted by the war. Research continued after the war.

The first trial television broadcast was shown in 1948 at the MEVRO International Radio Exhibition in Prague.

A trial television broadcast from Studio Prague, based in the Měšťanská Beseda building in Vladislavova street, started on May 1, 1953, and on February 25, 1954 it was declared regular. For installation of the first television transmitter in 1953, the Petřín lookout tower in Prague was adapted. At first, television was only broadcast three days a week (in summer, only 2 days), in November 1953 the number of broadcast days was increased to four, in 1955 to six days a week, and on December 29, 1958 television started to broadcast programs all week long.

Soon, additional studios were established: in Ostrava on December 31, 1955, in Bratislava on November 3, 1956, in Brno on July 6, 1961, and in Košice on February 25, 1962.

The number of viewers grew as television developed. In 1962 there were one million paying viewers, in March 1965 2 million subscribers were reported, in December 1969 the 3 million mark was reached, and in 1978 the number of reported TV sets exceeded 4 million.

In the 1960s, construction was started on new television centers in Prague and Bratislava, and the government decided to create a second channel (government resolutions in 1965 and 1967). This formed suitable conditions for further technical and program changes in the 1970s.

In October 1970, the initial phases of the construction were completed and the first operation units were handed over at the new television centers at Kavčí hory in Prague (October 17, 1970), and at Mlynská dolina in Bratislava (October 26, 1970). Subsequent construction phases continued until the late 1970s, and the gradual enlargement of the production and technical capacities allowed television to extend the broadcasting scope.

On May 10, 1970 the broadcasting of Czechoslovak Television was enhanced by a second channel. On May 9, 1973, this channel started to broadcast regularly in color. On the first channel, viewers had to wait for regular color broadcasting until May 9, 1975. In 1979, new facilities for television news programs were commissioned at Kavčí hory.