| 1973 |
 Chronomedia index
Numbers after entries link to the list of references. |
links and notes |
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| January 3 |
CBS sells the New York Yankees baseball team for $10m. |
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| January 11 |
First degrees are awarded by UK's Open University, partly
earned by study with television and radio programmes. |
â June 23 |
| January 28 |
First screening of the detective series Barnaby
Jones, produced by Quinn Martin for CBS and starring Buddy Ebsen, previously
the star of The Beverly Hillbillies. |
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| early |
By now Time Inc's equity and accumulated convertible
debentures give it control of 80 per cent of Sterling Communications. Time sells its interests
in Sterling’s Long Island cable systems to Sterling Communications’ former head, Charles
Dolan for $900,000—to become Cablevision Systems Corporation—but keeps Manhattan Cable and
Home Box Office (HBO), following collapse of a deal to sell all Sterling’s assets to Warner
Bros for $20m. HBO has to get 20,000 subscribers by June 1974 or face closure. [Around this
time, Time also closes Life magazine and sells other ‘non-core’ assets.] |
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| February 5 |
High Court of England rejects an application by Norris
McWhirter for an injunction banning the IBA from transmitting a film made by ATV about American
artist Andy Warhol on the grounds that the courts should not interfere in the IBA’s lawful
and considered decisions about programme content. |
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| February 5 |
Construction begins of the CN Tower in Toronto, the
largest self-supporting structure in the world, to carry a variety of communications links. |
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| February 5 |
Anik communications satellite officially
begins to carry television broadcasts to the north of the country. |
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| March 12 |
Test transmissions of BBC’s Ceefax teletext system begin. |
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| March |
General Instrument, whose Jerrold Electronics Division is
the leading supplier of cable systems hardware, forms GI Credit Corporation with a $25m line
of credit from Chase Manhattan Bank to make loans to cable operators for system construction. |
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| April 30 |
First criminal trial using entirely pre-recorded
videotape evidence is Ohio v. McMillion at the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio. |
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| April |
Development of ORACLE (Optional Reception of Announcements
by Coded Line Electronics) teletext system is announced in UK by IBA engineers. |
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| May 17 |
 Bristol
Channel community cable television experiment begins on the local
Rediffusion cable network.
[Click on the image for more about the experiments.]
|
à 1975 |
| May |
JVC unveils a U-format videocassette recorder with integral tuner for off-air reception. |
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| May |
New broadcasting tower in Kiev, Ukraine, carrying five channels, comes into operation. |
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| June 23 |
First 903 Open
University students receive their degrees at Alexandra Palace, London. |
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| June 30 |
Australian federal Tariff Board concludes its report
on the film and television industry with recommendations for extensive restructuring of the industry in all
sectors. Only changes to the Australian Film Development Corporation are implemented. |
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| August 29 |
Sheffield Cablevision community cable television experiment begins operations on the
British Relay network at Sheffield, Yorkshire. |
à 1977 |
| August |
Kodak announces VP-1 videoplayer for showing Super 8 film on television receivers. |
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| September 11 |
 Swindon Viewpoint community cable television experiment starts with EMI
finance on the Radio Rentals cable network in Swindon, Wiltshire, England.
[Click on the image for more about the experiments.] |
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| September |
Television service starts in Niger. |
Television start dates |
| October 8 |
London Broadcasting Company, with a news and talk
format, is the first UK Independent Local Radio (ILR) station on the air. |
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| October 9 |
Capital Radio ILR station begins commercial radio transmissions in the London area. |
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| October |
Australian government introduces a points system
for television programmes to improve the quality of production. |
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| November |
Television service starts in British Virgin Islands. |
Television start dates |
| November |
After a year of operations, US pay TV service Home
Box Office (HBO) has about 8,000 subscribers, having peaked at 12,000. |
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| December 31 |
First broadcast by Radio Clyde, Glasgow area ILR station. |
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| l |
MGM withdraws from film distribution; its remaining releases are transferred to United Artists. |
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| l |
MGM withdraws from EMI-MGM Elstree Studios, which revert
to full EMI control and extensive cost-cutting measures. |
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| l |
Australia’s Commonwealth Film Unit is transferred to the
newly created Department of the Media and renamed Film Australia. |
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| l |
UK’s National Film School becomes the National Film and Television School. |
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| l |
Australian Film and Television School is opened with federal funding. |
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| l |
Watergate hearings are given 112 hours’ live coverage on NBC network. |
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| l |
US ban on broadcast advertising of cigarettes is extended to small cigars. |
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| l |
Programming for Canada’s Frontier Coverage Packages (FCPs)
starts to be delivered via the Anik satellite system. |
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| l |
Television services start in Sierra Leone and Togo; colour television is introduced in Bahrain. |
Television start dates |
| l |
First feature films made
• in Republic of the Congo: La Rançon d'une Alliance, directed by
Sébastien Kamba.
• in Andorra: La Perversa Caricia de Satan (The Perverse Caress of Satan), a
Spanish co-production and only Andorran film to date. |
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