<P> Unlike the FCC approach where a standard was simply selected from the existing candidates, the NTSC would produce a board that was considerably more pro-active in development . </P> <P> Starting before CBS color even got on the air, the U.S. television industry, represented by the National Television System Committee, worked in 1950--1953 to develop a color system that was compatible with existing black - and - white sets and would pass FCC quality standards, with RCA developing the hardware elements . ("Compatible color," a phrase from advertisements for early sets, appears in the song "America" of West Side Story, 1957 .) RCA first made publicly announced field tests of the dot sequential color system over its New York station WNBT in July 1951 . When CBS testified before Congress in March 1953 that it had no further plans for its own color system, the National Production Authority dropped its ban on the manufacture of color television receivers, and the path was open for the NTSC to submit its petition for FCC approval in July 1953, which was granted on December 17 . The first publicly announced network demonstration of a program using the NTSC "compatible color" system was an episode of NBC's Kukla, Fran and Ollie on August 30, 1953, although it was viewable in color only at the network's headquarters . The first network broadcast to go out over the air in NTSC color was a performance of the opera Carmen on October 31, 1953 . </P> <P> Color broadcasts from the United States were available to Canadian population centers near the border since the mid-1950s . At the time that NTSC color broadcasting was officially introduced into Canada in 1966, less than one percent of Canadian households had a color television set . Color television in Canada was launched on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) English language TV service on September 1, 1966 . Private television broadcaster CTV also started colorcasts in early September 1966 . The CBC's French - language TV service, Radio - Canada, was broadcasting color programming for 15 hours a week in 1968 . Full - time color transmissions started in 1974 on the CBC, with other private sector broadcasters in the country doing so by the end of the 1970s . </P> <P> The following provinces and areas of Canada introduced color television by the years as followed: - Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec (1966; Major networks only - private sector around 1968 - 1972) - Newfoundland and Labrador (1967) - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick (1968) - Prince Edward Island (1969) - Yukon (1971) - Northwest Territories (including Nunavut) (1972; Major networks in large centers, many remote areas in the far north did not get color until at least 1977 / 1978) </P>

When did colour tv come out in america