International TV broadcasts in the Americas before satellite?

[BMR]

The history of international TV within Europe is fairly well documented. The 1953 British Coronation was broadcast across several European countries, and the official Eurovision network, a web of microwave and rebroadcast links, opened the following year. By the mid to late fifties, live international broadcasts within Europe were fairly routine.

What about within the Americas? Presumably the American networks shared live broadcasts with the CBC, but what about Mexico? Or further afield? Pre Castro Cuba? Or even further south?

 

[rnigma1]

As for Queen Elizabeth's coronation, either NBC or CBS chartered a plane, removed the seats and replaced them with film editing and developing equipment. They filmed the coronation, developed and edited the footage literally on the fly, and rushed it to New York for broadcast... only to find that ABC scooped them by taking the CBC feed.

 

[davideduardo]

The history of international TV within Europe is fairly well documented. The 1953 British Coronation was broadcast across several European countries, and the official Eurovision network, a web of microwave and rebroadcast links, opened the following year. By the mid to late fifties, live international broadcasts within Europe were fairly routine.

What about within the Americas? Presumably the American networks shared live broadcasts with the CBC, but what about Mexico? Or further afield? Pre Castro Cuba? Or even further south?

TV developed in much of Latin America rather later than in the US. The early to mid 50's marked the first stations in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Some locations such as Ecuador did not have commercial TV until around 1964.

Distribution of product was all done by physical deliver of film and, later, tape. The distribution system was not unlike that used by the motion picture industry.

Locally, national networks used microwave or, even in some cases, over the air capture and rebroadcast.

Cuba had one of the most robust TV industries up till Castro took over; its product was distributed by film to nearly all of Latin America. When Castro nationalized media, the Cuban broadcasters became pioneers in places like Venezuela and Argentina, and were very involved in Mexico, Puerto Rico and other parts of Latin America.

When I first began working in Puerto Rico in 1970, there were infrequent broadcasts of live events using the giant satellite dish in Cayey. The cost was very high, and advertisers would pay the high cost only for very special events. It would be nearly a decade before satellites made live rebroadcasts of important news and sports and the like practical and efficient. This was the case all over Latin America. Satellites also made national networks much easier to link.

 

[EddieTheRapFan]

Some locations such as Ecuador did not have commercial TV until around 1964.

And Bolivia didn't have any TV until 1969!
In the case of Argentina, up to 1991 (when Telefe and Artear started broadcasting via satellite), network programming was sent to the affiliates in other provinces either on tapes or via coax lines (but only for events which required live broadcasting, like news or sports). It was normal for cable systems outside the capital to broadcast the Buenos Aires channels on a 24-hour delay.

 

[BMR]

.

When I first began working in Puerto Rico in 1970, there were infrequent broadcasts of live events using the giant satellite dish in Cayey. The cost was very high, and advertisers would pay the high cost only for very special events. It would be nearly a decade before satellites made live rebroadcasts of important news and sports and the like practical and efficient. This was the case all over Latin America. Satellites also made national networks much easier to link.

Ok, thank you. So there was never a microwave link down through the Bahamas and Turks and the Dominican Republic to bring live TV to PR?

 

[davideduardo]

Ok, thank you. So there was never a microwave link down through the Bahamas and Turks and the Dominican Republic to bring live TV to PR?

Nope. Way to far for microwave hops. You can't even get from one end of PR to the other with a single MW hop.

It was film and tape until the cost of satellite time came down.

Add in the fact that, other than sports, there really was no live TV from the mainland that was appealing in PR or in the right language. Sports could have local narration in PR Spanish added by suppressing the audio, but most other programs could not run that way. Entertainment shows were considerably delayed while the dubbing process was done; in fact, PR was a major center for the dubbing of US shows into "neutral" Spanish in that era.

 

[BMR]

OK, thanks. On Google maps it does look theoretically possible, with 60 to 80 mile hops between islands, and even all the way down to Venezuela.

A microwave link of that sort of distance was used to send British TV to the channel islands until the early 21st century. But that was just a single link, chaining so many together would probably have been impractical and certainly expensive.

So apart from the odd CBC relay, there was no American equivalent of the Eurovision network?

 

[FreddyE1977]

CBS and, I think, NBC had affiliates in Havana before the revolution.

 

[BMR]

CBS and, I think, NBC had affiliates in Havana before the revolution.

Were they linked on the main network feed via the Florida Keys, or did they rely on tapes/film via plane?

Come to mention it, was most of their programming even in English?

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Years ago, Comedy Central used to air the old Steve Allen show (his Sunday night show, not the Tonight Show). Once they showed an episode done at a hotel/casino in Havana. Might have been through the NBC affiliate there.