1948 in television

• (undated) - The Ziv Company creates Ziv Television Programs as a subsidiary specializing in the production of original television programs for syndication.[1]
• February 9 - WLWT, Cincinnati, Ohio, begins commercial broadcasting, changing its call letters from experimental station W8XCT.[2]
• March 4 - First American television ratings are released by C. E. Hooper.[3][4]
• March 20 – Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the U.S. in a program featuring the works of Richard Wagner.
• April 3 – Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is played on television in its entirety for the first time in a concert featuring Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The chorus is conducted by Robert Shaw.
• May 3 – The first network nightly newscast, CBS Television News, debuts on CBS with Douglas Edwards as journalist.
• June 21 - The first network telecasts of political conventions from Philadelphia.
• July 29 – The BBC Television Service begins its coverage of the 1948 Olympic Games in London by broadcasting the opening ceremony. From now until the closing ceremony on August 14 the BBC will broadcast an average three and a half hours a day of live coverage from the games, using a special coaxial cable linking the main venue at Wembley Stadium to the television service's base at Alexandra Palace. This is the most ambitious sustained outside broadcast yet attempted by the BBC and is completed without serious problems.
• August 25 – First-ever congressional hearing is televised: "Confrontation Day" between Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
• November 4 - Moscow TV facility adopted a new 625 line PAL television standard.
• November 29
  • Roller Derby is broadcast from NY on the CBS television network.
  • The television puppet show series Kukla, Fran and Ollie is transferred to the NBC Midwest Network.
• December 18 — WDSU TV channel 6, NBC affiliate, Becomes the first station in the Deep South in New Orleans, Louisiana
• CBS begins network programming.
• ABC establishes its first television station in New York.
• Television manufacturing begins in Canada.
• Telecasts of the NBC Symphony Orchestra, begin until 1954.
• The number of homes in the U.S. that own a television set reaches one million.

• January 5 – Television Newsreel (UK) is first shown on the BBC Television Service (1948–1954).
• April 15 - For Your Pleasure debuts on NBC.[5]
• April 18 - The ABC television network begins operation.[6]
• April 22 - WTVR-TV, Richmond, Virginia, begins broadcasting on Channel 6.[7] WTVR is the first TV station south of Washington, D.C., giving it the nickname "The South's first Television Station."
• April 27 - KSTP-TV, Saint Paul, Minnesota, signs on the air as an NBC affiliate, the first TV station in Minnesota.
• June 8 – Milton Berle becomes the first United States television star with the debut of Texaco Star Theater (later The Milton Berle Show) broadcast by NBC (1948–1953).
• June 9 - WBZ-TV, Boston, Massachusetts, begins broadcasting on Channel 4.[8] WBZ is New England's first television station
• June 20 – Toast of the Town, a variety series hosted by Ed Sullivan, premieres on CBS, with guests Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (later renamed, The Ed Sullivan Show) (1948–1971).
• July 1 – Mark Goodson's first game series Winner Take All premieres on CBS (1948–1952).
• August 10 – Candid Microphone (renamed Candid Camera in 1949) debuts on ABC (1948 – present).
• September 8 - Girl About Town debuts on NBC.
• September 29 - WSB-TV, Atlanta, Georgia, begins broadcasting on Channel 8.[9]
• November 15 - The Adventures of Oky Doky premieres (1948–1949).[10]
• November - Super Circus premieres (1948-49 locally on WENR, 1949-1956 nationwide)[11]
• Amanda (1948–1949).
• The Bigelow Show premieres (1948–1949).
• Champagne and Orchids (1948–1949).
• Child's World debuts (1948–1949).
• Actors Studio (1948–1950).
• Cartoon Teletales (1948–1950).
• The Alan Dale Show premieres (1948–1951).
• Club Seven (1948–1951).

December 11