Timeline of the introduction of color television in countries

Introduction of color television in countries by decade.

This is a list of when the first color television broadcasts were transmitted to the general public. Non-public field tests, closed-circuit demonstrations and broadcasts available from other countries are not included, while including dates when the last black-and-white stations in the country switched to color or shutdown all black-and white television sets.

List in alphabetical order

Note: Asterisks (*) after locations below are for "Television in LOCATION" links.

Location	Year	Network or channel	Color system	Notes
Alaska	1966/1972	KENI-TV (now KTUU)	NTSC	First program in color, on Monday, September 19, 1966, was the premiere episode of That Girl , an ABC show. KENI was a primary affiliate of both NBC and ABC. Transitioned to full color service by 1972.
Albania *	1981	RTSH	PAL	Color broadcasts had been available from Yugoslavia since 1971 and Italy since 1977. Frequencies have been occasionally jammed due to censorship of some programs in Albania in that time.
Algeria *	1973	RTA	PAL	RTA transmitted in the older French 819-line standard System E, until 1973 when it started broadcasting in 625-line standard System B. [1]
American Samoa	1969	KVZK-2	NTSC	KVZK-2 was a National Educational Television affiliate.
Angola *	1983	TPA	PAL
Argentina *	1978/1980	LS 82 Canal 7	PAL	Introduced for the 1978 FIFA World Cup by A78TV (Argentina 78 TV), a purpose-built system that took over the signals of channels 7 and 13 for the telecast of the Cup's games, even though only the finals and several second-round matches were broadcast in color for the domestic market. LS 82 Canal 7 became ATC (Argentina Televisora Color) on May 3, 1979, with sporadic color telecasts, which were officially authorized to begin at midnight on Thursday, May 1, 1980 on both ATC and LS 85 Canal 13, the latter of which had carried out late-night tests for several months beforehand, and previously undertook non-public experimental transmissions under the NTSC system in 1969, but the project was cancelled due to lack of government approval. Full-time color transmissions by late 1980-early 1981. Uses the PAL-N system.
Armenia *. - Armenian SSR	1973/1978	Armenia 1	SECAM, PAL	First transmission was the 1973 May Day Parade in Yerevan. Full-time color transmissions since December 24, 1978 (Christmas Eve).
Australia *	1974/1975	ATV-0 (now ATV-10).	PAL	Permanent color telecasts since Saturday, 1 March 1975. First color test broadcast on Thursday, 15 June 1967, with live coverage of the Pakenham races. [2] Many television shows were produced and broadcast in color between 1972 and 1974, with limited color telecasts from mid-1974 on.
Austria *	1969/1975	ORF	PAL	First transmission was the Eurovision broadcast of the New Year Concert from Vienna on Wednesday, January 1, 1969. Full-time color transmissions since January 15, 1975.
Azerbaijan *. - Azerbaijan SSR	1973/1978	AzTV	SECAM, PAL	First color broadcasts in Azerbaijan started in 1973 using the SECAM standard. Full color service started in 1978.
Bahamas *	1977	ZNS-TV	NTSC	Color transmissions had been available from Miami since 1954 (WTVJ) and West Palm Beach since the late 1950s [3]
Bangladesh *	1980	BTV	PAL
Barbados *	1971	CBC	NTSC
Belarus *. - Byelorussian SSR	1974	Belteleradio	SECAM	Full-time color service came around 1974 with SECAM.
Belize	1984	Channel 7	NTSC	Color broadcasts have been available from Mexico since 1967.
Benin	1982	OTRB	PAL
Belgium *	1971	RTB, BRT	PAL	Color broadcasts from France (SECAM), Germany and The Netherlands (PAL) were available since 1967. Early receivers were very costly owing to multiple standards: PAL/SECAM/625 lines and monochrome/819 lines
Bermuda *	1968	ZBM-TV	NTSC	ZBM was an affiliate of the U.S. network CBS.
Bolivia	1978/1980	TV Boliviana	NTSC	Experimental color broadcasts began in 1977. Full-time color arrived in 1980. Color broadcasts have been available from Brazil since 1972, but were PAL-M.
Bosnia and Herzegovina *. - SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	1972/1973	Radiotelevizija Sarajevo (now BHT 1)	PAL	First color transmission came from Belgrade in 1971, local service began in 1972 and in 1973.
Brazil *	1962/1972/1978	Bandeirantes, Globo, Record	PAL-M	First transmissions (unofficial and just for specific programs) were made between 1962 and 1963 in the city of São Paulo by Rede Tupi and also by Rede Excelsior, both using NTSC. Tests for the regular PAL-M transmissions began in 1970 with the Mexico's FIFA World Cup, and the first official transmission was the coverage of the 12th Caxias do Sul Grape Festival on February 19, 1972. Limited color transmissions from 1973 to 1978. Full-time color transmissions since 1978.
Bulgaria *	1970/1977	BNT	SECAM	Full color transmissions achieved by 1977.
Burkina Faso. - Republic of Upper Volta	1976	Volta Vision	SECAM	This country is now known as Burkina Faso since 1984.
Burma *	1980	BBS	PAL, NTSC	Color broadcasts began on November 1, 1980 [4]
Burundi *	1983	RTNB	SECAM
Cambodia * - People's Republic of Kampuchea	1986	National Television of Kampuchea	SECAM, PAL	Color transmissions started in 1986, switched to PAL from 1991. Last independent country in the world to receive color television.
Canada *	1966/1978	(CBC, SRC), CTV	NTSC	Officially launched in both English and French at 12:01 a.m. on July 1, 1966, at the beginning of Canada's 100th year as a nation. Color broadcasts from the United States had been available since the mid-1950s. A mandatory transition to color for all transmitters took place between 1969 and 1976 on all English and French channels. CBC began full-time color broadcasts in 1974. Full-time color officially achieved in 1978 on most major market TV Flagship stations but there was a small amount of transmitter chains (Repeaters) and privately owned television stations with low funding that continued to broadcast in black and white until at least the early 1980s when color broadcasting equipment became more readily available and affordable.
Central African Republic	1982	RTC	SECAM
Chad *	1982	Télé Tchad	SECAM
Chile *	1974/1977/1978/1979	TVN, Televisión Universidad Católica de Chile (TVUC) now Canal 13	NTSC	The first demonstration of color television in Chile was carried out in March 1974 in the State Technical University (Universidad Técnica del Estado, now known as Universidad de Santiago) with equipment supplied by the Embassy of the United States which was then acquired by state-owned network TVN, which broadcast several games from the 1974 FIFA World Cup in color through closed-circuit systems, also transmitting the Viña del Mar Festival in color, but only for export between the 16th and 18th editions. The network eventually rolled out test colorcasts in late 1977 and early 1978. First nationwide color show transmitted was Esta noche fiesta of Canal 13 on Monday, April 10, 1978. [5] First news report in color was shown at Teletrece on April 12, 1978. [6] Full-time color transmissions since mid-1979. Regional network Red Norte made several tests with the PAL system in 1976-77.
People's Republic of China *	1960	BTV Channel 2 (now CCTV-1, not BRTV)	NTSC (or possibly OSKM [note 1] )	Plans to introduce NTSC began in 1958, [7] Internal tests launched in May 1960, [8] and over-the-air experimental broadcasts were conducted in October 1960, [9] but were canceled a few months later due to economic difficulties. [9]
People's Republic of China *	1970/1973/1984	BTV Channel 8 (now CCTV-2, not BRTV)	PAL	In 1969, the government began to urge the relevant research institutes to carry out research on color television. [10] After that, in 1970, institutes throughout China started the "Color Television Collaborative Research Project"("彩色电视攻关大会战"). [11] [12] [10] Between 1970 [13] and 1975, many experimental broadcasts were conducted, including PAL, [9] SECAM, [9] [14] as well as a variety of self-developed standards (e.g., HXZ [note 2] , 1035-line line-sequential color system [note 3] , etc.). In 1971, PAL was set as a temporary standard. [16] In August 1972, PAL inventor Walter Bruch traveled to Shanghai to give an academic lecture. [17] Trial broadcasts since April 1973, and regular full-time color broadcasts since October 1973. full-time color transmissions for all two channels, including Channel 2 (now CCTV-1) since 1977. Microwave relay color transmissions since 1975, but however, full-time color transmissions throughout China using satellites were in 1984. [18] Color broadcasts from Taiwan Kinmen relay transmitter (NTSC) (which had been available in some coastal areas of Fujian since 1978 [19] ), Hong Kong (PAL) (which had been available in most parts of Guangdong since 1967) and the Soviet Union (SECAM) (which had been available in a few border areas of Heilongjiang since 1967 [20] ).
Taiwan *. - Republic of China	1969/1975	CTV	NTSC	Full-time color transmissions since 1975. Color broadcasts from Fujian had been available in Matsu Islands since 1976, [21] and Kinmen since 1982 [22] in PAL.
Colombia *	1979/1981	Cenpro Televisión, Inravisión	NTSC	Test broadcasts in SECAM were held in 1966. [23] Tests for the regular transmissions began in 1971 with the coverage of that year's Pan American Games held in Cali. In October 1973, the programadora[ clarification needed ] Cenpro Televisión made a color broadcast during an education seminar with Japanese-made equipment. Color broadcasts from Panama and Venezuela had been available since 1972, while telecasts from Ecuador had been available beginning in 1973. In 1974, the inauguration of West Germany's FIFA World Cup was shown in color in closed circuit at two colosseums in Bogota and Cali. [24] Regular color transmissions since Saturday, December 1, 1979. [25] Full-time color transmissions since 1981.
DR Congo * - Zaire	1980	OZRT	SECAM
Congo. - Congo (Brazzaville)	1975	Télé Congo	SECAM
Costa Rica	1969/1974	Televictoria, Telecentro, TICA-TV	NTSC	Full-time color broadcasts since 1974.
Croatia *. - SR Croatia, SFRJ, Yugoslavia	1971	Radiotelevizija Zagreb (now HRT 1)	PAL	Color broadcasts from Belgrade had been available since 1971.
Cuba *	1958/1975/1985	Tele-Color, S.A., Tele Rebelde (1975)	NTSC	Started in 1958 as the second country in the world to have color telecasts in Havana's channel 4. Ended in 1959 as a result of the Cuban Revolution under Fidel Castro; returned in 1975 this time starting with Tele Rebelde and Havana's channel 2 (which would later become part of Tele Rebelde in April 1979), to broadcast the 1st Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. Full-time color broadcasts since 1985. [26]
Cyprus *	1976	CyBC	SECAM
Czech Republic *. - Czech Socialist Republic	1973	ČST	SECAM, PAL	Regular color broadcasts started on May 9, 1973, on second channel and on May 9, 1975, on first channel. Full color transition in late 1970s, switched to PAL broadcasting in 1993. ČST started color experiments in the late 1960s for PAL. After the Soviet invasion in 1968, SECAM was chosen for broadcasting, but not for production. Television studios worked in PAL and than it was transcoded for SECAM broadcasting until 1993. Color telecasts from East Germany were available since 1969.
Denmark *	1968/1970	Danmarks Radio	PAL	First introduced for the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. [27] The national broadcaster's programming transitioned to color throughout 1969 and "color tests" were officially ended on Wednesday, April 1, 1970. [27] Color broadcasts had been available from West Germany since 1967.
Djibouti. - French Territory of the Afars and the Issas	1974	RTD	SECAM	The country became independent in 1977.
Dominican Republic	1969	Color Visión	NTSC
Ecuador *	1973/1974/1980	Ecuavisa, Teleamazonas	NTSC	Teleamazonas was founded in 1973, broadcasting several color programs from its start. However, these would only be officially authorized in 1980, when full-time transmission began.
Egypt *	1973	ETV	PAL
Equatorial Guinea	1976	RNGE	SECAM
El Salvador *	1973	Canal 4 (Part-time) Canal 6 (Full-time) Currently, both channels are part of TCS since 1985.	NTSC	First color transmissions have available from Guatemala in the west of the country since 1970. The first broadcast in color was on Saturday, March 3, 1973 at 8:30 pm on channel 4 using the NTSC system, provided by RCA color cameras with the program "La Danza de los Colores", the channel was later adopted full-color transmissions during the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany. Channel 6 returned as a full-color service transmission on April 6, as YSLA-TV. Later that decade, Channel 2 and Televisión Educativa (Channels 8 and 10) adopted full-time color service.
Estonia *. - Estonian SSR	1967/1972	ETV	SECAM, PAL	First color broadcasts came from Moscow; first local color program was transmitted on Saturday, December 30, 1972. Transitioned from SECAM to PAL 1992–1999.
Ethiopia *	1979/1984	ETV	PAL	The first color broadcasts starting in 1979. Full color broadcasts in 1984.
Finland *	1969/1970/1976/1979	YLE, MTV	PAL	The first broadcast in color was the President Urho Kekkonen's New Year speech in 1969, [28] and color television licenses were introduced the same year. [29] Color was introduced gradually; most programs were in color by the end of the 1970s. Some news broadcasts remained in black-and-white until May 1979. [30] MTV's first color broadcast was in 1970, [31] with color production beginning in 1976.
France *	1967/1975/1983	ORTF	SECAM	Tested from 1964 to 1966 and introduced on La deuxième chaîne at 2:15pm (14:15) on Sunday, October 1, 1967. The first channel (later TF1) remained in black and white for years due to being transmitted in the older 819-line standard: its transition to color 625-line began on Saturday, December 20, 1975, and the full nationwide color coverage was only achieved on July 19, 1983. [32]
French Polynesia	1972	RFO (Télé Tahiti, now Polynésie la Première)	SECAM
French Guiana *	1974	RFO (Guyane RFO TV)	SECAM
Gabon	1973	RTG	SECAM
Gambia	1973/1976/1979	GTN, GRTS, Kerewan TV	SECAM	Color broadcasts from Guinea have been available since 1971. Test color broadcasts began in 1972. Limited color broadcasts from 1973 to 1976 and full time color broadcasts from 1977 to 1979. GTN switched to PAL in 1996.
Georgia *. Georgian SSR	1980/1984	GPB	SECAM	First experimental broadcast in 1980 for the Summer Olympics in Moscow. In 1984, Georgia became the last post-Soviet country to introduce color television during an episode of an unidentified program on a full time basis.
East Germany	1969	DFF	SECAM	Introduced on Friday, October 3, 1969, on the new second television channel launched for that purpose with a symbolic launch button pressed by Walter Ulbricht on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic on Tuesday, October 7. The television tower in East Berlin was also opened that day. Switchover on December 31, 1991, because of German reunification. Color broadcasts from West Germany had been available since 1967.
West Germany	1967	ARD, ZDF	PAL	First country in Europe to introduce color on two television channels simultaneously, at 9:30am on Friday, August 25, 1967, with a symbolic launch button pressed by Willy Brandt on the International Radio and Television Fair in West Berlin. Full-time color service began in 1970.
Ghana *	1985	GTV	PAL	Last country in Africa to introduce color television.
Gibraltar *	1980	GBC	PAL	Color broadcasts have been available from Spain and Morocco since 1972.
Greece *	1977/1981	ERT	SECAM, PAL	Test color broadcasts began in 1976. Partial color broadcasts started from 1977 to 1981. Full color transmissions since 1981. ERT switched to PAL in 1992.
Greenland *	1984/1987	KNR	NTSC, PAL	Color broadcasts from Canada had been available since 1966, but were NTSC. Private transmitters were built to receive television signals from Canada long before Greenland had their native television service which came into broadcast in 1982. Full-time color service came in 1984, remote areas continued to broadcast in black and white until c. 1987–1990.
Guadeloupe *	1972	RFO (Guadeloupe 1ère)	SECAM
Guinea	1971	RTG	PAL	Color broadcasts from the Ivory Coast had been available since 1970, but were SECAM.
Guatemala	1970	RTG	NTSC	First Central American country to introduce color television; color broadcasts available from Mexico since 1967.
Guam	1970	KUAM-TV	NTSC	KUAM was a primary NBC affiliate that also carried some programming from ABC and CBS.
Guyana	1979	GBC	NTSC
Haiti *	1971	Télé Haïti [33]	NTSC
Hawaii	1957/1961	KONA-TV (now KHON-TV), KHVH-TV (now KITV), KGMB	NTSC	KHVH-TV (independent) began color broadcasting on May 5, 1957. [34] After purchasing the ABC affiliate station in July 1958, [35] however, color shows stopped by the end of that year. [36] KONA-TV (NBC) started test color shows in September 1961 [37] and began regular color programming on October 1, 1961. [38] KHVH-TV (ABC) returned to color after a nearly 4-year hiatus on July 14, 1962. [39] The last American commercial network affiliate station in Hawaii, KGMB-TV (CBS), started its color showings on December 22, 1965. [40]
Honduras *	1973	Canal 3 Honduras	NTSC
Hong Kong * - British Hong Kong	1971/1973/1975	TVB, RTV	PAL	The first country in Greater China to introduce color television in 1967. The first experimental color broadcast was at the 1969 Hong Kong Festival. TVB introduced color broadcasts in 1971, and RTV in 1973. Full-time color broadcasts since 1975.
Hungary *	1971/1975	Magyar Televízió	SECAM, PAL	Full color broadcasts introduced in 1975.
Iceland *	1974/1978	RÚV (Sjónvarpið)	PAL	Full-time color broadcasts since 1974 to 1978.
India *	1978/1982	Doordarshan	PAL	Experimental color broadcasts began in 1978. Full color broadcasts were introduced on 25 April 1982.
Indonesia *	1979/1982	TVRI	PAL	Full-time color broadcasts began on Tuesday, August 24, 1982.
Iran *	1973	NIRT	SECAM
Iraq *	1968	RTI	SECAM	First Muslim country to introduce color television.
Ireland *	1968/1970/1972/1978	RTÉ	PAL	First color broadcast was in 1968, however, an error in standards conversion may have transmitted the 1968 Wimbledon Men's Finals in color. First original color produced programme was John Hume's Derry shown under the 7 Days banner, first transmitted in 1969. First outside color broadcast were the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 held in Dublin on Saturday, 3 April 1972. Color broadcasts from the United Kingdom available since 1967. Full-time color broadcasts began with RTE 2 launched on 1 November 1978.
Israel *	1977/1979/1983	IBA, IETV	PAL	Introduced for the coverage of the Egyptian president's visit to Israel in November 1977, then reintroduced for the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 in Jerusalem on Saturday, March 31, 1979. Gradual transition to full-time color transmissions from 1982 to 1984. Full-time color transmissions since February 16, 1983. [41] Color broadcasts from Jordan and Egypt had been available since 1974 and Lebanon since 1976. Since color TVs were considered more expensive, the government ordered removing the color signals, in the name of public equality. Engineers developed a device that extrapolates the colors from programs that were originally shot in color, and thousands of such devices were sold. Major television networks in Israel have been filming programs in color for foreign audiences since at least 1974.
Italy *	1972/1977/1979	RAI	PAL	Introduction temporarily stalled by political turmoil. Color broadcasts from France (SECAM) had been available since 1967, from Austria (PAL) since 1969, and from Yugoslavia (PAL) since 1971. Privately operated transmitter chains made these signals available as far as Rome. The first color test was in 1972 Summer Olympic Games. The Sanremo Music Festival began to be broadcast in color in 1973, as well as, in the same year, the Jeux Sans Frontières. Partial color transmissions started on Tuesday, February 1, 1977. Full time since 1979.
Ivory Coast	1970	RTI	SECAM	First African country to introduce color television.
Jamaica *	1975	JBC	NTSC	Color broadcasts have been available from Haiti since 1971.
Japan *	1960/1971	Fuji TV, NHK, NTV, TBS, YTV, ABC	NTSC	The first Asian country to introduce color television, beginning telecasts on Saturday, September 10, 1960, through the Fuji network, which had carried tests from 1959. Full-time color service introduced in 1971, when Fukushima Central Television introduced color TV. Uses the NTSC-J system.
Jordan *	1974	JTV	PAL
Kazakhstan *. - Kazakh SSR	1977	Kazakhstan	SECAM, PAL	Full color transmissions introduced in the 1980s.
Kenya *	1978	KBC	PAL
North Korea *	1974/1980	KCTV	PAL	Full color broadcasts were introduced from 1977 to 1980.
South Korea *	1980/1981	KBS, MBC	NTSC	Regular test color broadcasts began in the late 1970s, with the first color TV sets being built in 1975. Regular color broadcasts began in 1980, with full-time color broadcasts beginning in 1981. Color broadcasts have been available from Japan since 1961 and North Korea since 1974.
Kosovo *. - SAP Kosovo	1982	RTP	PAL
Kuwait *	1974	KTV	PAL
Kyrgyzstan *. - Kirghiz SSR	1981	KTRK	SECAM	Experimental color broadcast for the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Latvia *. - Latvian SSR	1968/1974	LTV	SECAM, PAL	First color broadcasts came from Moscow. First local color program was transmitted on Monday, January 28, 1974. Switched from SECAM to PAL on February 2, 1998.
Lebanon *	1967	CLT/Télé Liban	SECAM	In 1967, CLT became the third television station in the world after the Soviet Union and France to broadcast in color, utilizing the French SECAM technology. [42]
Liberia *	1975	LBS	PAL
Libya *	1976	Al-Libyah TV	PAL
Lithuania *. - Lithuanian SSR	1968	LRT	SECAM, PAL	Used SECAM as part of the USSR from 1968–1989 and again from 1990 to 1996. PAL has been in use since 1997.
Luxembourg *	1967/1972	Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion	PAL, SECAM	The then only channel for audiences in Luxembourg, France and Belgium originally used the French/Belgian 819-line black and white standard. After Belgium and France opted for different color systems, Luxembourg broadcast two versions of the same channel. All later RTL channels aimed at French, German and Dutch-speaking audiences in Europe adopted the standards of their target markets. Full color telecasts began in 1972.
North Macedonia *. - SR Macedonia	1974	Televizija Skopje (now MRT 1)	PAL
Madagascar *.	1977	MBS	SECAM
Malaysia *	1978/1980/1982	RTM	PAL	Color broadcasts was introduced as a test transmission beginning in late 1977. Introduced in Peninsular Malaysia on beginning 28 December 1978 and in full service by New Year's Day 1979, but was not introduced in Sabah and Sarawak until 31 August 1980 (23rd Merdeka Day). Color broadcasts had been available from Southern Thailand since 1972, the Philippines since 1966, and Singapore since 1974. Full-time color broadcasts began from 1979 to 1981 and became fully operational with effect from Friday, 1 January 1982 (New Year's Day).
Maldives	1984	TVM	PAL	Color had been available from India since 1982.
Mali *	1984	ORTM	SECAM
Malta *	1978/1981	TVM	PAL	Color broadcasts from Italy had been available since 1978, regular test transmissions from Wednesday, 1 January 1975. Full-time color transmissions began in 1981.
Martinique *	1969	RFO (Martinique 1ère)	SECAM
Mauritania *	1984	TV de Mauritanie	SECAM
Mauritius	1975	MBC	SECAM	Color television arrived on a full-time schedule in 1978.
Mexico *	1963/1968/1970	Canal 5 Telesistema Mexicano (now Televisa)	NTSC	Launched Friday, February 8, 1963, with the program Paraiso Infantil. Color had been available previously in a few border cities from the United States, on a limited basis. Regular color transmissions started with the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, with full service by late 1970. Curiously, Mexico had its own system of color television, invented by Guillermo González, prior to NTSC adoption, which would be used for the 1964 Summer Olympic Games.
Moldova *. - Moldavian SSR	1978	TeleRadio-Moldova	SECAM, PAL
Monaco *	1973	TMC	PAL, SECAM	Color broadcasts from France had been available since 1967, but the first TV's color broadcasts from Monaco begins in December 1973 on the national TV Channel TMC.
Mongolia *	1975	MNB	SECAM, PAL
Montenegro *. - SR Montenegro	1974	Radiotelevizija Titograd (now TVCG 1)	PAL
Morocco *	1972	RTM	SECAM	First test transmission was in 1972.
Mozambique *	1984	TVM	PAL
Netherlands *	1967	NPO	PAL	Introduced on both national channels (Nederland 1 and Nederland 2) on Thursday, September 21, 1967.
Netherlands Antilles	1973	TeleCuraçao	NTSC
New Caledonia	1972	RFO (France Ô - Nouvelle Calédonie)	SECAM	New Caledonia began to broadcast in color for the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, full color broadcasts became official in 1978.[ citation needed ]
New Zealand *	1973/1975	NZBC	PAL	Introduced on 31 October 1973, as part of preparations for the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, held in Christchurch in February 1974. [43] Full-time colour started 1 April 1975 coinciding with the move to the new Avalon studios and launch of Television One. [44]
Nicaragua *	1973	Televicentro Canal 2	NTSC
Niger *	1979	Télé Sahel	SECAM	Color broadcasts had been available from Nigeria from 1974, but were PAL.
Nigeria *	1974	WNTV (now called the NTA)	PAL
Norway *	1972/1975	NRK	PAL	Experimental color broadcasts introduced for the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. Regular test transmissions from Saturday, January 1, 1972. Full-time color broadcasts since Wednesday, January 1, 1975. Color broadcasts had been available from Sweden since 1970, in parts of Norway and Finland since 1969.
Oman *	1975	Oman TV	PAL	Introduced in the New Year's Day in 1975. Color broadcasts has been available from Saudi Arabia since 1973 & United Arab Emirates from 1974.
Pakistan *	1976/1982	PTV	PAL	Full-time color transmissions since 1982.
Panama	1972 [45]	TVN	NTSC
Paraguay *	1979	TV Cerro Corá	PAL	Uses the PAL-N system.
Peru *	1978/1980	TV Perú, América Televisión, Panamericana Televisión	NTSC	First color test transmission was done in 1967 by Panamericana Televisión for a soap opera but for economic and political reasons the project was canceled. Color broadcasts from Ecuador had been available since 1973. Channel 7 made test broadcasts with their own content since 1974, using the three existing standards (NTSC, PAL and SECAM), later mostly using NTSC since late-1976/1977. In Thursday January 17, 1978, the Peruvian government approved the NTSC color television standard and official broadcasts were authorised. The first official color broadcast was the 20th anniversary of Lima's Channel 7 on January 17, 1978, [46] the same day the Peruvian government approved color broadcasts. The coverage of the 1978 election was probably the first official color broadcast in the 2 main networks (América Televisión and Panamericana Televisión). América Televisión and Panamericana Televisión began their regular color broadcasting with the broadcast of the 1978 Argentina's FIFA World Cup; however, most main programming still aired in black-and-white until April 1980, after the now-private stations announced their new full-color programming in February 1980. Also, color receivers were not widely available before late 1979 due to import restrictions. [47] Transition completed on October 1, 1980.
Philippines	1966/1969/1971	ABS-CBN, Kanlaon Broadcasting System (later RPN)	NTSC	First color test transmission was in 1963. Commercial launch in June 12, 1966 using RCA color from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. A special newscast was broadcast in color when Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon. Full-time color transmissions began in 1971 when color sets became more widespread in the Manila area and suburbs within RBS 7 and ABC 5. KBS-9 was the first Philippine TV station to launch in color (1969), funded in part by ABS-CBN. It was the second Asian country to broadcast in color.
Poland *	1971	TVP	SECAM, PAL	First time color program was broadcast on March 16, 1971 & regular broadcasting began on December 6, 1971, for 6th PUWP congress. The 1972 Olympic Games in Munich used color in SECAM. Transitioned to PAL on January 1, 1994, for all TVP channels except for TVP1 which transitioned on January 1, 1995.
Portugal *	1979/1980	RTP	PAL	First experimental broadcasts for the coverage of the 1976 election and the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. Introduced for the Portuguese-language version of Jeux Sans Frontières on Wednesday, September 5, 1979; color broadcasts from Spain available since 1972. Full-color transmissions started March 7, 1980. [48]
Qatar *	1973	QBS	PAL	Color broadcasts from Bahrain had been available since 1972.
Réunion	1972	RFO (1ère Réunion)	SECAM	Introduced for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
Romania *	1983/1990	TVR	PAL	Introduced for the 39th anniversary of King Michael's Coup in 1983. Unlike the other Warsaw Pact countries, Romania chose to adopt PAL rather than SECAM. Full-time color broadcasts introduced between 1984 and 1990.
Russia *. - Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic	1967/1975	Soviet Central Television (now Channel One)	OSKM, SECAM	Test color broadcasting started in Moscow as early as January 1960 using the OSKM system (based on NTSC, which was adapted to the European 625 lines standard, using a 4.43 MHz color subcarrier) from the Moscow Experimental TV Studio at Shabolovka street, but lasted only a few months as this system was rejected. Only about 4000 television sets were built for this system (Raduga, Temp 22, Izumrud 201/203). SECAM broadcasting was introduced specifically for the 50th Golden Jubilee Anniversary of the October Revolution in 1967. Full-time colorcasts began with the Revolution's 58th anniversary, in 1975. Some parts of the USSR received color from Alaska since 1966 in some circumstances when signals were not jammed in some parts and were received by contraband receivers to pick up signals[ citation needed ].
Rwanda *	1982	ORINFOR	SECAM
Saint Kitts and Nevis. - Saint Christopher, Nevis, and Anguilla	1972	ZIZ-TV	NTSC	This former British colony is the current Saint Kitts and Nevis. Color broadcasts have been available from Guadeloupe since 1972, but were SECAM.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon *	1967	RFO (1ère SPM TV; Previously known as ORTF)	SECAM	Color transmissions had been available from Newfoundland and Labrador since 1967, but were NTSC. There are transmitters in SPM that can carry a signal from Newfoundland and Labrador which converts it to SECAM from NTSC and in some cases, In Fortune, Newfoundland, 1ère is converted to NTSC by a transmitter that is placed there.
Saudi Arabia *	1973	SAGTS	SECAM
Senegal *	1975	RTS	SECAM
Serbia *. - SR Serbia	1971/1979	Televizija Beograd (now RTS1)	PAL	Introduced on the launch of the second TVB channel (TVB 2), as it was the first Yugoslav channel to start in color. From the late 1970s, TVB 1 switched to color, thus making all channels broadcast in color. (both TVB 1 and TVB 2, as they were only the channels available in that time) Full-time color broadcasts in SR Serbia began on May 25, 1979. Color broadcasts had been available from Italy since 1972.
Sierra Leone *	1978	SLBS	PAL	[49]
Singapore *	1974/1975/1976/1977	Radio Television Singapore (RTS)	PAL	Test transmissions began for the 1974 Asian Games and officially introduced on July 8 for the 1974 World Cup Final. Full-time color broadcasts began on November 1, 1975, and from 1976 to 1977.
Slovakia *. - Slovak Socialist Republic.	1973	ČST	SECAM, PAL	First color transmission in 1970 during World Ski Championship which was broadcast in PAL. Adopted SECAM in 1973 with full color transition in the late 1970s. Switched to PAL from 1993.
Slovenia *. - SR Slovenia	1974	Radiotelevizija Ljubljana (now TV Slovenija 1)	PAL
Spain *	1972/1973/1978	RTVE	SECAM, PAL	Color broadcasts had been available from France since 1967, but were SECAM. The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 in Madrid was produced in color, but it was televised in black and white to the local audience. First color tests were carried out in 1972. Regular color broadcasts were introduced between 1973 and 1977, although monochrome commercials continued to be made until 1978.
Sudan *	1976	Sudan TV	PAL
Suriname	1977	STVS	NTSC
Sweden *	1970	Sveriges Radio TV	PAL	Test transmissions started on Wednesday, December 14, 1966. Regular color service and color license fee introduced on Wednesday, April 1, 1970.
Switzerland *	1968	SBC	PAL	Switzerland used PAL to broadcast the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, color transmissions had been available from France and West Germany since 1967.
Syria *	1976/1980	STV	PAL
Tajikistan. - Tajik SSR	1982	TVT	SECAM	Experimental color broadcast for the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Thailand *	1967/1975	Channel 7	PAL	Although television in Thailand originally employed a 525-line screen (System M, US standard at the time), the country opted for PAL color, which necessitated a conversion to system B (625 lines), starting with Channel 7 in November 1967. Regional stations converted between 1972 and 1975.
Togo	1979	TVT	SECAM
Trinidad and Tobago *	1977	TTT	NTSC
Tunisia *	1972	RTT	SECAM	Color broadcasts have been available from Italy since 1977 and Malta since at least 1975.
Turkey *	1981/1984	TRT	PAL	Test transmissions started with the New Year's Eve celebrations on Thursday, December 31, 1981, and Friday, January 1, 1982; full color television did not start until Thursday, March 16, 1984. Color broadcasts from Greece had been available since 1976 and Bulgaria since at least 1971. [50]
Turkmenistan * - Turkmen SSR	1970	Turkmen Television	SECAM	First Central Asian country to introduce color television. Introduced on Saturday, October 31, 1970, in preparation for the start of Ramadan.
Uganda *	1975	UTV	PAL
Ukraine *. - Ukrainian SSR	1967	UT-1	SECAM, PAL	First transmission came from Moscow in 1967, Ukraine uses SECAM in for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. Local color broadcasts began in 1967 and from 1969 to 1975.
United Arab Emirates	1974	UAE-TV	PAL
United Kingdom *	1967/1969/1976/1985	BBC2 (1967), BBC1 and ITV (1969)	PAL	First experimental 405 line broadcasts using a variation of the NTSC system in 1955 [51] and later showcased during the 1961 National Radio Show at Earls Court as an experiment. [52] In Early 1966, the PAL system was adopted and introduced on BBC2 for Wimbledon coverage on Saturday, July 1, 1967. The launch of the BBC2 "full" color service took place on December 2, 1967. Some British television programmes, however, had been produced in color even before the introduction of color television in 1967, for the purpose of sales to American, Canadian, and Filipino networks. Full-time color broadcasts on BBC and the ITV network started November 15, 1969. [53] BBC Schools programming didn't begin color broadcasting until 1974 and full nationwide color broadcasting was achieved in 1976, when BBC East (Norwich) became the last region to adopt color for regional broadcasts and locally produced programmes. Monochrome 405-line Televisions ended transmissions in January 1985, thus ending black-and-white television in the UK forever. [54]
United States *	1950	CBS	FSC	Field-sequential color system (FSC); [55] experimental; ended 1951. [56] The first country with black and white transmission to introduce color television.
United States *	1953/1972/1986	NBC, CBS	NTSC	Dot sequential system. [57] The US began a gradual transition to color in late 1953. The first color TV sets were very expensive and the audience for color was accordingly very small, so only specials and a handful of regularly scheduled shows aired in color during the 1950s. Market penetration slowly increased as more affordable sets and more color programming became available. A tipping point came in 1965, when the commercial networks first aired the majority of their prime-time shows in color. By the end of 1966, prime-time was all-color, but an ever-dwindling number of daytime, local and educational programs continued in black-and-white for a few more years. The percentage of color TV users crossed the 50% mark by 1972, and the last station to introduce color was WQEX-TV (A low power repeater of WQED-TV in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in 1986.
Uruguay *	1980/1981	CXB-10	PAL	Introduced for the 1980 Mundialito but locally broadcast in black and white. Local color broadcasting started in 1981. Uses the PAL-N system.
Uzbekistan *. Uzbek SSR	1984	MTRK	SECAM	Experimental color broadcast for the 1980 Summer Olympics. The last Central Asian country to introduce color television in 1984.
Venezuela *	1974/1975/1979/1980	RCTV, Venevision	NTSC	The first color transmission took place in 1970 with that year's FIFA World Cup aired by Radio Caracas Televisión. In 1972, Venezolana de Televisión broadcast Renny Ottolina's documentary Churun Meru in color through a closed-circuit system installed in a number of hotels. That year, both RCTV and Venevisión began the production of color programs, mostly for foreign sales, but also for the transmission of special events and some programs. In 1974, President Carlos Andrés Pérez banned the transmission of color programs until all Venezuelans could acquire any television with color reception capacity. However, by 1975 both private broadcasters had color-ready technical facilities and beginning in June 1978 several programs were clandestinely broadcast in color. On December 1, 1979, public broadcaster TVN Canal 5 aired the country's first officially-authorized color telecast, followed just one week later on December 8 with the broadcast of the OTI 1979 Festival, produced by the two private channels with President Luis Herrera Campins finally decreeing permission for color television on June 1, 1980, already full-time on all television stations.
Vietnam *	1977/1986	VTV	SECAM, PAL	The first color television program aired on Tết 1977. [58] Color televisions were available only in big cities until 1986. Switched to PAL from 1990.
U.S. Virgin Islands	1968	WBNB-TV	NTSC	WBNB was a CBS affiliate whose first color broadcasts took place during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. This station was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo on September 18, 1989.
North Yemen	1979	NYRTC	PAL
South Yemen	1980	SYRTC	PAL	Color broadcasts had been available from North Yemen since 1979.
Zambia *	1977	ZNBC	PAL
Zimbabwe *	1982/1984	ZBC	PAL	Nevertheless, in October 1982 they began experimental broadcasts. [59] [60] Color broadcasts have been available from Zambia since 1977 and South Africa since 1976. [61] Full-time color broadcast in 1984. [61]

List of territories that never had black and white television

Countries and territories that never had black and white television (i.e., their first broadcasts were in color) are not included in the table above.

•   Afghanistan
•   Andorra
•   Antigua and Barbuda
•   Bahrain
•   Bhutan
•   Botswana (Bechuanaland)
•   British Virgin Islands
•   Brunei
•   Cameroon
•   Cayman Islands
•   Cape Verde
•   Dominica
•   Eswatini (Swaziland)
•   Faroe Islands
•   Fiji
•   Grenada
•   Guinea-Bissau
•   Kiribati
•   Laos
•   Liechtenstein
•   Macau
•   Malawi (Nyasaland)
•   Marshall Islands
•   Namibia (South West Africa)
•   Nauru
•     Nepal
•   Palestine
•   Palau
•   Papua New Guinea
•   Saint Lucia
•   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
•   Samoa
•   San Marino
•   São Tomé and Príncipe
•   Solomon Islands
•   Somalia
•   South Africa
•   Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
•   Tanzania (Tanganyika)
•   Tonga
•   Tuvalu
•   Vanuatu
•   Wallis and Futuna
• Zanzibar

See also

• Geographical usage of television
• Timeline of the introduction of television in countries

Notes

1. It also could have been the OSKM system, but all the references available say "American NTSC standard". ^{[7] [8] [9]} At that time, it was only 2 years since the first black-and-white TV broadcasting in China at 1958, and only about a dozen cities had TV stations. ^[8] Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that the standard of the experimental color broadcast was different from OSKM (e.g., it might not use YUV, but used YIQ like the original NTSC), or that it might have used System M, which was incompatible with System D, the de-facto standard for black-and-white TVs of China at that time.
2. one of standards developed by Tianjin team, bases on PAL, swaps U component's phase and V component's phase with each other by each line. ^[15]
3. one of standards developed by Chengdu team. ^[11]

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