| 1982 |
 Chronomedia index
Numbers after entries link to the list of references. |
links and notes |
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| January 1 |
CNN2, later renamed Headline News, is launched by Turner Broadcasting. |
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| January |
Two Italian television networks are formed: Italia 1 (Rusconi publishing group—but
see September) and Rete 4 (Mondadori-Perrone-Carciolo publishing group). |
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| January |
British Telecom starts to install master telephone sockets rather than hard-wired
connections and begins to sell rather than rent telephone equipment. |
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| 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. |
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| 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). |
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| 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. |
à 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 |
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. |
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| June 21 |
Coca-Cola Company acquires Columbia Pictures Industries. |
|
| June |
CNN becomes available in Japan. |
|
| July 29 |
French state broadcasting monopoly is abolished and an independent regulatory body,
the Haute Authorité de l'Audiovisuel, is announced. |
à 1986 |
| July |
UK government publishes a White Paper policy document 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). |
à 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. |
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| September |
Silvio Berlusconi buys Italia 1 television network from Ruscone. |
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| 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. |
|
| 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. First programme is the quiz show Countdown, made
by Yorkshire Television (still running and achieving the channel's highest ratings). |
|
| December 1 |
UK government publishes a White Paper with its proposals for the
future of broadband cable development. |
|
| 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 |
| l |
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. |
à 1993 |
| l |
British Board of Film Censors introduces the PG, 15 and 18 certificates. |
 British Film Censorship and Classification |
| l |
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. |
|
| l |
First three custom-made UK interactive video disc projects. |
|
| l |
 Vidmax interactive mystery game Murder, Anyone? is released in the US on LaserVision. |
|
| l |
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. |
|
| l |
All UK communities of more than 500 people are now served by television transmitters. |
|
| l |
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. |
|
| l |
Japanese television begins regular transmissions with multiplex (stereo) sound. |
|
| l |
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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