Smithsonian, French Embassy Celebrate Satellite TV's Golden Spike

Live link between France and Washington, D.C., to celebrate 50th anniversary of first live satellite-delivered transatlantic TV transmission

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/11/2012 11:34:30 AM

According to participant GlobeCast (a subsidiary of France Telecom), the Smithsonian and French Embassy on Thursday, July 12, will mark the 50th anniversary of the first live satellite-delivered transatlantic TV transmission, which it says was sent from the town of Pleumeur-Bodou, France, to Andover, Maine, via the Telstar satellite.

The event will be marked by a live link between Pleumeur-Bodou and the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., for presentations and roundtable discussions featuring government officials and satellite and telecom companies. According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the transmission was actually sent July 11, 1962, at 7:17 and received at 7:47. But the time difference would have made it July 12 in France when the signal came through.

According to IEEE, that first image was of an American flag -- an upgrade from the Felix the Cat statue that was one of the first TV pictures transmitted during early field testing of TV transmissions back in the 1930s.

GlobeCast will provide the technical services to ensure the July 12, 2012, linkup is also successful.