1956 in television
The year 1956 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1956. Events January 1 – Beleteleradio begins transmissions as the first television channel in Belarus. January 25–February 5 – The 1956 Winter Olympics staged at Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy are the first multi-sport event to be televised to an international audience, although the broadcasts are not monetized. Warsaw Pact countries have the technology to be able to broadcast coverage with a communist slant into Finland and parts of West Germany and Austria. January 28 – Elvis Presley makes his national television debut on CBS in the United States on the program Stage Show, the first of six appearances on the series. January 30 – NBC swaps its Cleveland radio and TV stations to Westinghouse Broadcasting in exchange for Westinghouse's own Philadelphia radio and TV stations. The trade is eventually reversed in 1965. February 14 – Television broadcasting begins in Azerbaijan (AzTV), at this time the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. February 17 – The English Midlands becomes the first part of the United Kingdom outside London to receive Independent Television (ITV), when the Associated Television Network (as ATV Midlands) begins broadcasting their weekday franchise. The weekend franchise, ABC Weekend TV, begins operation a day later. February – U.M. & M. TV Corporation acquires the pre-October 1950 Paramount Pictures cartoons and theatrical shorts, except for the Popeye and Superman cartoons. March 21 – TES-TV begins regular broadcasting as the first television channel in Finland. April 2 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS as the first half-hour American soap operas. Previously, all soap operas have been just fifteen minutes in length. April 3 – Elvis Presley appears on The Milton Berle Show in the United States. April 14 – Ampex company demonstrates a videotape recorder at the 1956 NARTB (later National Association of Broadcasters) convention in Chicago, Illinois, using the first practical and commercially successful videotape format known as 2" Quadruplex. The three networks place orders for the recorders. April WNBQ (modern-day WMAQ-TV) in Chicago becomes the first TV station to broadcast all its local programming in color. United States Senator Estes Kefauver holds congressional hearings on the rising rates of juvenile crime and publishes an article in Reader's Digest named "Let's Get Rid of Tele-Violence." May 2 – Baghdad Television (BTV) goes on the air as the first television station in Iraq. May 3 – Granada Television begins broadcasting, extending ITV's coverage to Northern England. ABC Weekend TV's weekend franchise begins operation two days later. May 6 – Elvis Presley again appears on The Milton Berle Show. May 12 – HLKZ-TV began transmissions in South Korea. May 21 – Estes Kefauver and Adlai Stevenson participate in the first televised US presidential primary debate. May 24 – The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland. It is primarily a radio program at this stage, as few Europeans can afford TV sets. June 5 – Elvis Presley performs