In the annals of American television history, the field-sequential color system, particularly CBS's version, holds a unique and somewhat controversial place. Adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on October 11, 1950, as the standard for color television in the United States, its tenure was remarkably short-lived. Despite its official approval and a much-anticipated broadcast debut on June 25, 1951, the system faced significant hurdles,
primarily its incompatibility with existing black-and-white television sets, ultimately leading to its withdrawal as a standard in March 1953.
An Electro-Mechanical Innovation
CBS's field-sequential color broadcasting system was an electro-mechanical marvel for its time. It operated by transmitting monochrome images electronically, with color then added mechanically. This was achieved by placing a rapidly spinning transparent tricolor disk, rotating at 1440 revolutions per minute, in front of the television screen. This Red-Green-Blue disk, when precisely synchronized with a corresponding spinning disk within the color television camera, created the illusion of full color for the viewer. This innovative approach allowed for the display of color, but it also introduced a fundamental problem: incompatibility. Unlike later systems, the video images transmitted by the CBS system were not designed to be received by the millions of monochrome television sets already in American homes. Without modification, these sets would display the color transmissions as meaningless lines and squiggles, with only rare exceptions producing four small black-and-white images in each corner of the screen.
The Battle for a Standard
The journey to becoming the official U.S. color broadcasting standard was fraught with contention. For a decade leading up to the FCC's decision, a fierce competition unfolded to gain official approval for a color broadcasting method that met the FCC's criteria for cost, quality, and convenience. The primary challenger to CBS's system was an all-electronic color system developed by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the parent company of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). RCA's system boasted a significant advantage: compatibility. This meant that current black-and-white televisions could receive a monochrome picture from RCA's color broadcasts without any adjustments or modifications. However, the color image produced on RCA's tricolor picture tubes had repeatedly been deemed unsatisfactory by the FCC. Despite RCA's legal objections and a court case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, the FCC's approval of CBS's system was upheld on May 28, 1951, by an 8-1 vote, clearing the way for commercial color programming to begin.
The Short-Lived Commercial Debut
Following the Supreme Court's decision, CBS announced its intention to commence commercial broadcasting with a program called "Premiere" on Monday, June 25, 1951. This marked the beginning of CBS's ambitious plan to broadcast twenty hours of color programming per week by the autumn. The inaugural broadcast was planned as a live five-city network hook-up, connecting East Coast CBS stations in New York City, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston. However, the reality was that very few people would actually be able to view the event in color. Due to nearly total manufacturer resistance, there were virtually no color sets available for sale to the public. In response, CBS had acquired the television manufacturer Air King to produce its own CBS-Columbia Model 12CC2 dual color/black-and-white television set, though orders for the $499.95 set wouldn't be taken until late September.
Challenges and Withdrawal
The commercial debut of CBS color was met with mixed reactions. While the vibrant appearance of commercial products on screen was praised, the rendering of human performers was often problematic, with facial coloring varying and sometimes washing out when they moved. More critically, the lack of compatible receivers remained a major barrier. For the ten to twelve million owners of existing black-and-white sets, options to view CBS color broadcasts were complicated and expensive. They could install an external "adapter" for a smaller monochrome picture, a "converter" (adapter plus spinning disk) for color on screens up to 12 inches, or a "companion set" for larger black-and-white TVs. These solutions were often seen as too complex or costly, especially with the FCC still allowing work on compatible color systems. In March 1953, after the National Production Authority's order suspending color television set manufacturing was rescinded, CBS stated it was no longer interested in continuing with its field-sequential color system. On December 17, 1953, the FCC officially approved the new "composite" dot-sequential color broadcasting method, developed through the Second National Television System Committee (NTSC), as the replacement U.S. commercial color television system standard, effectively ending the brief era of CBS's field-sequential system.
A Post-Television Revival
Despite its failure as a commercial television standard, the Goldmark-CBS system found a surprising second life. In the late 1960s, NASA revived a modified version of the system to broadcast color video from Project Apollo Command Modules. Westinghouse Electric Corporation developed a specialized lunar color camera that utilized CBS's field-sequential color system, demonstrating its utility in a different, highly specialized application where compatibility with existing home television sets was not a concern. This revival highlighted the system's technical capabilities, even if its commercial television application was ultimately unsuccessful.
