Editing Television (section)

===Terrestrial television===
{{main|Terrestrial television}}
{{see also|Timeline of the introduction of television in countries}}

[[File:UHF TV Antenna 001.JPG|thumb|upright=1.35|A modern high gain UHF Yagi [[television antenna]]. It has 17 directors and one reflector (made of 4 rods) shaped as a [[corner reflector antenna|corner reflector]].]]
Programming is [[Broadcasting|broadcast]] by television stations, sometimes called "channels," as stations are [[Frequency allocation|licensed]] by their governments to broadcast only over assigned [[Channel (broadcasting)|channels]] in the television [[band (radio)|band]]. At first, [[Terrestrial television|terrestrial broadcasting]] was the only way television could be widely distributed, and because [[Bandwidth (signal processing)|bandwidth]] was limited, i.e., there were only a small number of [[Television channel|channels]] available, government regulation was the norm. In the U.S., the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) allowed stations to broadcast advertisements beginning in July 1941 but required public service programming commitments as a requirement for a license. By contrast, the United Kingdom chose a different route, imposing a [[television license]] fee on owners of television reception equipment to fund the [[British Broadcasting Corporation]] (BBC), which had public service as part of its [[Royal Charter]].

[[WRGB]] claims to be the world's oldest television station, tracing its roots to an experimental station founded on 13 January 1928, broadcasting from the [[General Electric]] factory in [[Schenectady, NY]], under the call letters '''W2XB'''.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iuIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Popular+Science+1930+plane+%22Popular+Mechanics%22&pg=PA177| title = "The First Television Show" ''Popular Mechanics'', August 1930, pp. 177–79| date = August 1930| publisher = Hearst Magazines}}</ref> It was popularly known as "WGY Television" after its sister radio station. Later, in 1928, General Electric started a second facility, this one in New York City, which had the call letters [[W2XBS]] and which today is known as [[WNBC]]. The two stations were experimental and had no regular programming, as receivers were operated by engineers within the company. The image of a [[Felix the Cat]] doll rotating on a turntable was broadcast for 2 hours every day for several years as engineers tested new technology. On 2 November 1936, the [[BBC]] began transmitting the world's first public regular high-definition service from the Victorian [[Alexandra Palace]] in north London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teletronic.co.uk/tvera.htm|title=The History of the BBC: The First TV Era|author=Laurence Marcus|access-date=22 March 2015|archive-date=13 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813233820/http://www.teletronic.co.uk/tvera.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> It therefore claims to be the birthplace of television broadcasting as we now know it.

With the widespread adoption of cable across the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, terrestrial television broadcasts have been in decline; in 2013 it was estimated that about 7% of US households used an antenna.<ref>[http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/cea-study-says-seven-percent-of-tv-households-use-antennas-/220585 "CEA Study Says Seven Percent of TV Households Use Antennas"], ''TVTechnology'', 30 July 2013 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217104116/http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/cea-study-says-seven-percent-of-tv-households-use-antennas-/220585 |date=17 December 2014 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/nielsen-broadcast-reliance-grew-in--/217217 "Nielsen: Broadcast Reliance Grew in 2012"], ''TVTechnology'', 14 January 2013 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218160139/http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/nielsen-broadcast-reliance-grew-in--/217217 |date=18 December 2014 }}</ref> A slight increase in use began around 2010 due to switchover to [[digital terrestrial television]] broadcasts, which offered pristine image quality over very large areas, and offered an alternative to cable television (CATV) for [[cord cutters]]. All other countries around the world are also in the process of either shutting down analog terrestrial television or switching over to digital terrestrial television.