Television broadcasts make it into the homes of millions of Americans at any given time.  There are currently several means of receiving broadcasts, including cable and satellite, but this was not always the case.  Prior to technology allowing for television broadcasts to be sent anywhere in the world, sending images across any significant distance was a challenge.  In fact, it was not until the late 1920s,that a live long distance television transmission was successful.

On this day, March 2nd, in 1927, live television is created for the first time when AT&T completes the first long distance television transmission.  AT&T’s first  transmission was of then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and took place over telephone lines from Washington, D.C. to New York.  Since the picture tube had not been invented yet, images of Herbert Hoover were displayed in New York as tiny dots of light on the face of a neon glow lamp, which only measured 2×2.5 inches.

AT&T would continue to make many early innovations in television technology.  The company was responsible for the first “two-way television” in 1930 as well as being able to transmit motion pictures over a cable from New York to Philadelphia in 1937.  AT&T’s commitment to television culminated in the first transcontinental broadband-communications network in 1951.