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Poster: HappySwordsman Date: May 5, 2019 9:36pm
Forum: classic_tv Subject: What is the earliest surviving TV episode with original commercials intact?

The earliest I've seen is the "ABC Breakfast Club" one-off special broadcast in 1948 on a few DuMont stations, including WABD in New York City. Somebody uploaded this to IA a few years ago. But does anyone know what is the absolute oldest surviving TV episode with original commercials intact? I'd also be curious to know what are the earliest surviving examples from UK, Australia, Canada, Brazil, etc.... Regarding Australia, I believe some examples exist from as far back as 1957 (Australian TV began in 1956). I don't know the oldest example, though. Britain's first commercial station, Associated-Rediffusion, began operations in 1955. But I don't know if any recordings of 1950s British TV with commercials intact still exist.
This post was modified by HappySwordsman on 2019-05-06 04:36:58

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Poster: C.S.Cameron Date: May 6, 2019 5:49pm
Forum: classic_tv Subject: Re: What is the earliest surviving TV episode with original commercials intact?

Today I watched Exiled to Shanghai - 1937
https://archive.org/details/ExiledThroughShanghai
It is a sort of sci-fi movie about merging newsreels and TV.
It did not appear they had invented TV commercials yet in 1937.

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Poster: HappySwordsman Date: May 6, 2019 6:58pm
Forum: classic_tv Subject: Re: What is the earliest surviving TV episode with original commercials intact?

Correct: Television commercials were not allowed on American television until the early 1940s, as prior to that television stations were classified as "experimental" and thus not allowed to air ads. (however, there are a handful examples of ads being delivered on 1930s TV, something the stations weren't supposed to do at the time).

Pretty much nothing survives of American television from prior to 1947. I don't know if any complete episodes survive from 1947, and if so, whether they contain the original commercials. The absolute oldest TV episode I've seen, an episode of "Eye Witness" from February 1948, was telecast without commercial breaks.