Paul Gottlieb Nipkow of Germany invented the first mechanical television in 1884, with an 18-line resolution. His novel device could transmit pictures through wires via a revolving metal disk. Nipkow, on the other hand, never referred to his device as a television, but rather as an electronic telescope.¹⁾

The first live remote image transmission was performed in 1909 by Georges Rignoux and A. Fournier in Paris. With a resolution of 8×8 pixels, it was only possible to transmit simple symbols like a single. The first television station was W3XK, which started broadcasting in 1928. ²⁾

Twenty-nine of the 30 most-watched TV broadcasts in U.S. history, were Super Bowls, with up to 114,442,000 viewers. The only exception on the top list is the last episode of M*A*S*H, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen”, which gathered 105,970,000 viewers on February 28, 1983. In comparison, popular programs from the 2000s, like NBC's Sunday Night Football, American Idol, CSI, and Friends gathered up to 30,000,000 viewers. ³⁾