The year 1940 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1940.
January – The FCC has public hearings concerning television.
February 25 – The first ice hockey game is televised in the United States, the New York Rangers vs Montreal Canadiens, from Madison Square Garden on W2XBS-TV.
February 28 – The first basketball game is televised, from Madison Square Garden; Fordham University vs the University of Pittsburgh.
March 10 – The Metropolitan Opera broadcast for the first time from NBC studios at Rockefeller Center an abridged performance of the first act of Pagliacci, along with excerpts from four other operas.
March 15 – RCA reduces the price of television sets.
May 21 – Bell Telephone Laboratories transmits a 441-line video signal, with a bandwidth of 2.7 MHz, by coaxial cable from New York to Philadelphia and back.
June – W2XBS in New York (NBC) covers the Republican National Convention from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for 33 hours, during a five-day period. The signal is transmitted via coaxial cable.
August 29 – Peter Carl Goldmark of CBS announces his invention of a color television system.
September 3 – CBS resumes its television transmissions with the first demonstration of high definition color TV, by W2XAB, transmitting from the Chrysler Building.
January 19 – Mike Reid, English actor and comedian (died 2007)
January 22 – John Hurt, English actor (died 2017)
January 27 – James Cromwell, actor
February 2 – David Jason, English actor
February 12 – Ralph Bates, English actor (died 1991)
February 22 – Judy Cornwell, English actress
February 27 – Howard Hesseman, actor
March 7 – Daniel J. Travanti, actor
March 8 – Susan Clark, actress
March 10 – Chuck Norris, actor
April 17 – Chuck Menville, American television animator and writer (died 1992)
May 5 – Lance Henriksen, actor
June 1 – Rene Auberjonois, actor
June 20 – John Mahoney, English-born actor
June 21 – Mariette Hartley, actress
July 13 – Patrick Stewart, English actor
July 18 – James Brolin, actor
July 22 – Alex Trebek, game show host, Jeopardy!
August 3 – Martin Sheen, actor
August 19 – Jill St. John, actress
August 22 – Valerie Harper, actress
September 5 – Raquel Welch, actress
September 12 – Linda Gray, actress
October 19 – Michael Gambon, Irish-born British actor
December 11 – Donna Mills, actress
1940 in television Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA