The year 1946 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1946. The number of television programming was increasing after World War II.
Events
February 4 – RCA demonstrates an all-electronic color television system. February 18 – The first Washington, D.C. – New York City telecast through AT&T corporation's coaxial cable, in which General Dwight Eisenhower places a wreath at the base of the statue in the Lincoln Memorial and others make brief speeches, is termed a success by engineers, although Time magazine calls it "as blurred as an early Chaplin movie." February 25 – The prewar U.S. 18-channel VHF allocation is officially ended in favor of a new 13-channel VHF allocation due to the appropriation of some frequencies by the military and the relocation of FM radio. Only five of the old channels are the same as new channels in terms of frequency and none have the same number as before. April 22 – CBS transmits a Technicolor movie short and color slides by coaxial cable from Manhattan to Washington (332 kilometers) and return. June 7 – The BBC Television Service begins broadcasting again for the first time since 1939. The first words heard are "Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?". Twenty minutes later, the Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Gala Premiere, last programme transmitted seven years earlier at the start of World War II, is reshown. June 19 – The first televised heavyweight boxing title fight between Joe Louis and Billy Conn is broadcast from Yankee Stadium. The fight is seen by 141,000 people, the largest television audience to see a boxing match to this date. July 7 – Broadcasting of the BBC's children's programme For The Children is resumed, one of the few pre-war programmes to resume after reintroduction of the service. August 4 – Children's puppet "Muffin the Mule" debuts in an episode of the series For the Children. He is so popular he is given his own show later that same year. September 6 – Chicago's WBKB-TV (now WBBM-TV) commences broadcasting as the first U.S. television station outside the Eastern Time Zone. September 15 – DuMont Television Network begins broadcasting regularly in the United States. October 2 – The first television network soap opera, Faraway Hill, is broadcast by DuMont. October 22 – Telecrime, the first television crime series from the 1930s, is resumed by the BBC, retitled Telecrimes. December 24 – The first Christmas church service is telecast, Grace Episcopal Church in New York, on WABD. Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo founds a company, which would later become Sony. Zoomar introduces the first professional zoom lens for television cameras. The first postwar television sets are released by the companies RCA, DuMont, Crosley, and Belmont.
Debuts
January 4 - You Be the Judge premieres on CBS
May 9 – The first regularly scheduled American variety show, Hour Glass, premieres on NBC (1946–1947). May 23 - Let's Play Reporter premieres on WABD-TV, but produced by ABC June 9 - Face to Face premieres on NBC (1946–1947). June 9 - Geographically Speaking premieres on NBC (1946-1947) June 20 - Cash and Carry premieres on the DuMont network (1946–1947). August 30 - I Love to Eat premieres on NBC (1946–1947). September 24 – Play the Game (1946), a US game show. October 2 - Faraway Hill, the first network-televised soap opera, debuts on DuMont. November 2 – Kaleidoscope (UK) (1946–1953). November 15 - Let's Rhumba premieres on NBC (1946–1947). November 17 - Television Screen Magazine premieres on NBC (1946–1949). November 29 – Pinwright's Progress (UK), British television's first situation comedy, debuts on the BBC Television Service (1946–1947). December 27 - Campus Hoopla premieres (1946–1947). Boxing From St. Nicholas Arena (1946-1948) See What You Know (1946-1949) You Are an Artist premieres on NBC (1946–1950). Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (1946–1960). Paging You premieres (1946–1948). Muffin the Mule (UK) premieres (1946–1955).
