1907, "the action of seeing by means of Hertzian waves or otherwise, what is existing or happening at a place concealed or distant from the observer's eyes" [OED]; in theoretical discussions about sending images by radio transmission, formed in Eng. or borrowed from Fr.
télévision, from
tele- +
vision. Other proposals for the name of this then-hypothetical technology were
telephote (1880) and
televista (1904). The technology was developed in the 1920s and '30s. Nativized in Ger. as
Fernsehen."Television is the first truly democratic culture -- the first culture available to everyone and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want." [Clive Barnes, "New York Times," Dec. 30, 1969]
Meaning "a television set" is from 1955. Shortened form
TV is from 1948; British shortening
telly is attested by 1940.
[tel-uh-vizh-uh
n] 
