22 August 1932: BBC starts early TV broadcasts

On this day in 1932, John Logie Baird, the inventor of television, began to conduct experimental broadcasts on the BBC, using his new technology.

John Logie Baird © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
John Logie Baird
(Image credit: © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

In October 1922, the British Broadcasting Corporation was set up to provide radio broadcasts to the UK. The new technology proved so successful that by 1930 half of all households had a radio licence.

By 1932, the BBC had turned its attention to a new technology: it gave John Logie Baird, the inventor of television, studio space to conduct experimental broadcasts.

Within two years of the tests starting, extended trials of both Baird's system and one developed by EMI and Marconi were commissioned, with EMI/Marconi's ending up being chosen. From August 1936, a regular TV service ran until it was shut down on the eve of World War II (due to fears it could inadvertently help German bombers to navigate).

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In 1946, the TV service resumed. Despite post-war austerity the number of viewers rocketed, with 20 million people watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

However, there were fears that the BBC's monopoly on TV would stifle debate and innovation. So the Television Act of 1954 set up the Independent Television Authority to allocate regional franchises for a commercial television channel, funded by advertising.

The first of these stations began broadcasting in 1955, and by 1962 the whole of the UK was covered. Channel 4 was introduced in 1982 and Channel 5 began in 1997.

Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

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