CT-100

The RCA CT-100 was an early all-electronic consumer color television introduced in April 1954. The color picture tube measured 15 inches diagonally. The viewable picture was just 11½ inches wide. The CT-100 wasn't the world's first color TV, but it was the first to be mass produced, with 4400 having been made. The world's first color TV set was the Westinghouse H840CK15, released in March 1954, but only 500 were made and only around 30 were sold. The RCA sets were made at RCA's plant in Bloomington, Indiana. The sets cost $1000, half the price of a new low-end automobile. By the end of 1954, RCA released an improved color TV with a 21-inch picture tube. The CT-100 and its Westinghouse counterpart both suffered from color fringing around the edges of objects on the image. The CT-100, which had 36 vacuum tubes in its CTC-2 chassis (known as "Merrill" to the marketing department) was the most complicated electronic device sold to the general public at the time of its release. After initial sales to early adopters, the rest sold poorly, even after a price cut. Many were donated by RCA for training purposes to trade schools and technical colleges, the source of most of today's survivors. RCA sold the CT-100 at a loss. RCA later recalled the CT-100, replacing many of them with a newer 21-inch model. Early NBC Living Color programs included An Evening with Fred Astaire. The CT-100 was created in 1954, before the NBC Peacock logo existed. RCA CT-100 sets are extremely sought-after by electronics collectors and restorers, with restorers often spending thousands of dollars to obtain or repair a set.