Chronomedia: 1982

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1982	Chronomedia index Numbers after entries link to the list of references.	links and notes
	Cultural highlights \| Predictions made this year
January 1	CNN2, later renamed Headline News, is launched by Turner Broadcasting.
January	Two Italian television networks are formed: Italia 1 (Rusconi publishing group—but see September) and Rete 4 (Mondadori-Perrone-Carciolo publishing group).
January	British Telecom starts to install master telephone sockets rather than hard-wired connections and begins to sell rather than rent telephone equipment.	< 1980 July > 1983 February
February 11	In London, Greenwich Cablevision begins the Screentown pay TV experiment on its 10-channel coaxial network. The subscription rate is £9.20 a month in addition to the £2.15 basic cable fee.
February 26	Thorn EMI extends its UK pay TV trial, Cinematel, to the Radio Rentals cable networks in the Medway towns of Kent (Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester).
February	UK Cabinet Office Information Technology Advisory Panel’s Report on Cable Systems is published, recommending early start for DBS services and licensing of broadband cable systems by a new authority.
February	Mercury Communications, a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless, is licensed to build a UK national telephony network and offer competitive services.	> 1983
March 4	UK Home Secretary announces approval in principal for a two-channel DBS service to start in 1986.
March	Sony introduces the Watchman 'pocket' television receiver, costing ¥50,000(£135).
April 12	Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins hearings on home recording of copyrighted works.	Evidence of Jack Valenti, MPAA President Quotations from Valenti
April 26	CBS launches a US radio network, Radio Radio, aimed at the youth market.
April 26	Satellite Television, transmitting two hours of mainly British programmes each night to 200,000 homes in Norway, Finland, Switzerland and Malta from UK.
April	Sylvester Stallone signs a $500,000 contract to be seen smoking B&W cigarettes in five films: Rhinestone Cowboy, Godfather III, Rambo, 50/50 and Rocky IV. The effect on sales is disappointing. By November B&W is arguing that the placement is not brand-specific but merely promotes smoking generically.
May 24	A pan-European experimental public service satellite television channel, Eurikon, is launched by members of the European Broadcasting Union. Five countries take turns to organise programming for a week at a time, beginning with UK’s Independent Broadcasting Authority. The first week includes the Queen visiting Coronation Street, a mass from Brussels Cathedral, an Irish documentary on James Joyce and the Italian version of It’s a Knockout.
May	Philips launches the VLP (LaserVision) video disc system on the UK consumer market.
June 1	JVC unveils VHS-C compact videocassette format, with separate camera and portable recorder, at New York’s Playboy Club prior to Consumer Electronics Show at Chicago later in the week.
June 21	Coca-Cola Company acquires Columbia Pictures Industries.
June	CNN becomes available in Japan.
July 23	US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorises AM stereo broadcasts. KTSA in San Antonio, Texas is the first on air.
July 29	French state broadcasting monopoly is abolished and an independent regulatory body, the Haute Authorité de l'Audiovisuel, is announced.	> 1986
July	UK government publishes a White Paper policy document (Cmnd 8610) proposing sale of 51 per cent of shares in British Telecom and creation of a regulatory body for the industry, the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel).	> 1984
July	Feature film Tron mixes live action, drawn animation and computer-generated imagery (CGI) sequences.
September 2	SelecTV experimental pay TV service opens in Wellingborough.
September	Silvio Berlusconi buys Italia 1 television network from Ruscone.
October 12	Hunt Report on the future of cable television in the UK is published. It recommends development of a system of broadband networks.
October	Digital audio disc (the compact disc, CD) is launched in Japan; IEC standards proposals for the format are published.
October	British Approvals Board for Telecommunications (BABT) is established and the first five standards for consumer telecommunications equipment are approved.
November 1	Welsh fourth television channel, Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C), begins transmissions. Programmes are in Welsh and English.
November 2	Channel Four Television begins transmissions in UK, except from Welsh transmitters, which carry S4C. First programme is the quiz show Countdown, made by Yorkshire Television (still running and achieving the channel's highest ratings).
December 10	United Nations General Assembly adopts a Resolution on the 'Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for International Direct Television Broadcasting', culminating a process that had begun at least 10 years earlier.	UN resolution
•	Director Stephen Spielberg films ET—The Extraterrestrial in non-anamorphic 35mm format for screening in an aspect ratio not exceeding 1.85:1. It becomes the highest grossing film of all time.	> 1993
•	British Board of Film Censors introduces the PG, 15 and 18 certificates.	British Film Censorship and Classification
•	Twentieth Century-Fox share in Australian Hoyts cinema and distribution business is bought out by local Melbourne businessmen, including Leon Fink, who becomes sole owner in 1985 by buying out his partners.
•	First three custom-made UK interactive video disc projects.
•	Vidmax interactive mystery game Murder, Anyone? is released in the US on LaserVision.
•	Lucasfilm launches its THX cinema audio noise reduction system. As well as being a reference to George Lucas’s film school graduation work, THX 1138, the system's name is said to stand for Tomlinson Holman’s eXperiment, after the engineer responsible.
•	All UK communities of more than 500 people are now served by television transmitters.
•	Minitel network and Electronic Directory information service is launched nationwide across France around the turn of the year. Terminals are supplied free to telephone subscribers who take out a subscription.
•	Doordarshan establishes a national television service for India, although it is not available throughout the country.
•	Japanese television begins regular transmissions with multiplex (stereo) sound.
•	Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) opens next to Disney World in Florida to display ideas about scientific and technological developments.

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