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 single letters¹⁾. The first television station was W3XK, which started broadcasting in 1928²⁾.

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, 1983³⁾. 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.