| 1975 |
 Chronomedia index
Numbers after entries link to the list of references. |
links and notes |
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Cultural highlights | Predictions made this year |
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| January 1 |
BBC Radio Ulster begins transmissions. |
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| January 6 |
In US, ABC launches AM America early morning television show. After 10 months it is replaced by Good Morning America. |
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| January 22, 06:00 |
First transmission by Radio Forth, Independent Local Radio (ILR) station for the East Central Scotland (Edinburgh) area. |
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| January |
 Altair 8800 'personal' computer is introduced in the USA by a company called Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The bright blue box incorporates a 2 MHz Intel 8080 microprocessor with a 256-byte RAM and a front panel octal display to show results. It has no keyboard, video display or output device and costs $495, or $395 in self-assembly kit form. Featuring on the cover of this month's Popular Electronics magazine, it sells 4,000 within three months. |
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| March 14 |
Last transmission by Bristol Channel, one of the UK local community cable television experiments. |
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| March 17 |
TeD video disc system is launched commercially in West Germany. |
 The Quest for Home Video: TeD |
| March 31 |
Lady Plowden succeeds Lord Aylestone as chairman of UK’s Independent Broadcasting Authority. |
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| April 1 |
UK television licence fee is increased from £7 to £8 for monochrome but from £12 to £18 for colour; it is argued that many people watching in black and white are less able to afford an increase. |
> 1977 |
| April 10 |
Australian Broadcasting Control Board receives 11 applications for a community broadcasting licence in Melbourne |
> May 14 |
| April 16 |
Sony announces the launch of the Betamax videocassette recorder format in Japan. Using half-inch tape cassettes, the format is launched in the US in November/December. |
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| April 21 |
Canadian House of Commons passes an Act to replace the Canadian Radio-Television Commission (CRTC) with a new body, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). |
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| April |
CN Tower for Communications opens at Metro Centre, Toronto, Canada—the fourth tallest structure in the world at 553m. |
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| April |
Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry is set up in Ontario, Canada. |
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| May 7 |
Telesat 3 geostationary satellite is launched. |
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| May 14 |
Australian Broadcasting Control Board receives five applications for a commercial radio licence in Melbourne, less than half the number for a community station |
< April 10 |
| May 19 |
First Indian satellite, Aryabhata, is launched. |
> August 1, > 1980 |
| May 19 |
First transmission by Plymouth Sound, the West Country Independent Local Radio (ILR) station. |
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| June 9 |
First live radio broadcast from the House of Commons in the UK parliament. |
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| June 24 |
First transmission by Radio Tees, Teesside area ILR station in north-east England. |
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| July 3 |
First broadcast of Radio Trent, Nottingham area ILR station. |
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| July 31 |
First of the new transmitters in Canada’s Accelerated Coverage Plan (ACP) goes into operation at La Ronge, Saskatchewan. |
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| July |
Oracle (Optional Reception of Announcements by Coded Line Electronics) teletext service, using standards harmonised with BBC's Ceefax, begins on ITV. |
> 1992 December 31 |
| August 1 |
Satellite Instruction Television Experiment (SITE) begins in India, using satellite to beam basic educational programmes to communal receivers in remote villages. |
< May 19 |
| August 1 |
UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson appoints a Working Party on the Future of the British Film Industry (chairman: John Terry). |
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| August 18 |
BBC Nine O’Clock News includes the first female newsreader, Angela Rippon. |
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| August 27 |
Symphonie 2 geostationary satellite is launched. |
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| • |
UK community cable television experiments at Bristol and Wellingborough close. |
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| September 1 |
Surviving UK community cable television experiments at Sheffield and Greenwich transmit advertising for the first time. |
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| September 16 |
Pennine Radio, the Bradford area ILR station, goes on the air. |
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| September 26 |
Intelsat IV-F1 geostationary satellite is launched. |
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| September |
Television service starts in Yemen Arab Republic. |
Television service start dates |
| September |
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation removes all commercials from programmes aimed at children aged 12 and under; pre-school programmes are already free of advertising. |
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| September |
World’s first regular operational optical fibre link installed in the UK by ITT for the Dorset police to connect their computer and control room video display units. |
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| October 14 |
Radio Victory begins transmissions as the Portsmouth area ILR station. |
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| October 28 |
Radio Orwell begins transmissions as Ipswich area ILR station. |
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| November 3 |
FM stereo radio transmissions begin on the CBC English-language network from stations in Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, St John's, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. |
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| December 13 |
RCA Satcom I satellite is launched. |
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| December 22 |
Soviet Union’s Statsionar I geostationary satellite is launched. |
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| December 23 |
Working Party on the Future of the British Film Industry reports, recommending creation of a British Film Authority with overall responsibility for the industry. |
 Official British media reports |
| December 28 |
Classical music station Radio Hilversum IV goes on air in the Netherlands. |
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| December |
Home Box Office (HBO), Time Inc’s premium movie channel hitherto delivered to cable operators on videotape, achieves nationwide US availability via Satcom 3-R, starting the trend to satellite-delivered cable channels. |
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| December |
Television service in Gabon converts to SECAM colour. |
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| • |
Colour television broadcasting starts in Australia, using the PAL standard. |
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| • |
Australian Broadcasting Control Board increases Australian television drama screen quota from 72 to 104 hours a year. |
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| • |
Charter of African Film-makers promulgated after second congress of FEPACI in Algiers. |
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| • |
First dramatic feature film made in
• Cameroon: Pousse-pousse, directed by Daniel Karawa.
• Guyana: Aggro Seizeman, directed by James Mannas and Brian Stuart-Young (the only Guyanan film to date). |
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| • |
Australian Film Commission is established; it takes over control of Film Australia. |
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| • |
Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. |
> 1981 |
| • |
Philips acquires American electronics company Signetics. |
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| • |
Japanese companies Mitsubishi and Nintendo collaborate on the development of a video game application for the EVR video format. |
The Quest for Home Video: EVR |
| • |
Television services start in Angola, Mozambique and the Ellice Islands (soon to be Tuvalu). |
Television service start dates |
| • |
IBM introduces the Model 5100 'personal computer'. It incorporates a proprietary microprocessor and has between 16k and 64k RAM, with a tape drive for data storage. It sells for $8,975-$19,975, depending on the specifications. |
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