The first electronic black and white television was invented in the 1920s . In the early days , only a few very wealthy people could afford television sets . In 1936 there were only about 200 TV sets in the world . In 1967 , however , a new kind of television was invented Then , in the USA in the 1950s, colour television was broadcast to the public for the first time , though few people bought colour television sets as they could not show black and white programmes.