...to a most unusual web site (Latest update 18-October-2007; NEXT update December 7, 2007).
NEW October 17: "Perspective 1,
2, 3" and "Classic Video" and "C-Band Reunion" - a brand new "C-Band
Remembered" pioneer story! Television's evolution has been constant from the first all-electronic images of 1934-1935; RCA (Radio Corporation of America) and the BBC with the help of British EMI (a licensee of RCA technology) are generally given credit for "creating television." In a similar way, Henry Ford is tagged as the creator of mass production automobiles. The RCA version of television, adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in May 1941, and put into "commercial service" on July 1 of that year, was Henry Ford's Model 'A'. Today's television, whether you view it through rabbit or rooftop antenna, cable, satellite or even Internet is the product of thousands of small improvements in RCA's Model 'A' version.
"Television's Pirates: Hiding behind your picture
tube" is the story of individual creators who began with RCA's
foundation and turned television into today's globe-circling monster. In many
cases, these improvements were labeled as 'piracy' - cable TV for example began
as a 'piracy business' and the 1980's development of home satellite TV was built
totally upon a piracy foundation. If there is one thread of continuity running through the 68 years since RCA's 1938 Model 'A' it would be 'amateur' or 'ham radio' operators. Behind virtually every new creation, improvement, challenge there was a ham; a ham built the first cable TV system (Oregon - 1948), others created the first home satellite receiving systems (1976). Now, a ham has perfected the first high-quality live television via Internet technology. From 1938 until 2006, those who would control television's reception and use have deliberately worked to quash the next level of development. New technology, improving old, has routinely been labelled as 'piracy' and those who create it 'pirates'. "Television's Pirates" traces these developments and with great depth the people (hams) behind 'piracy' in 928 pages of fascinating reading.
Welcome to the 'real world' of television's development from Model 'A' to 2006's TV on your cell phone technology, proudly done by pirates one and all!
UPDATING? This web site is typically "turned" (new material in Perspective 1, 2, 3 and Video Classics) between the 14th and 22nd of each month so as to be "monthly-fresh" with new material from our archives (next update is to be around December 7, 2007). Between monthly updates, "Your Feedback" and "C-Band Reunion" is updated on a more frequent basis.