History of television This was published in the October 1945 issue of the Wireless World magazine and won him the Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal in 1963. The first satellite television signals from Europe to North America were relayed via the Telstar satellite over the Atlantic ocean on July 23, 1962. The signals were received and broadcast in North American and European countries and watched by over 100 million. Launched in 1962, the "Relay 1" satellite was the first satellite to transmit television signals from the US to Japan. The first geosynchronous communication satellite, Syncom 2, was launched on July 26, 1963. The
British Satellite Broadcasting (230 watts) satellite was dropped, and no winner was precluded from buying a foreign satellite system. The IBA received five serious bids for the Direct Broadcast Satellite franchises. It also received submissions from The Children's Channel and ITN to make sure their programmes were used on any successful bid. British Satellite Broadcasting won the fifteen-year franchise on 11 December 1986 to operate the Direct Broadcast Satellite System, with a licence to operate three channels. BSB forecast 400,000 homes would be equipped during its first year, but some doubts were cast whether this was possible. The Cable Authority welcomed the service,