Media Timeline: 1976-1990
1976
Murdoch buys London Times, Sunday Times and New York Post
launch of la Repubblica
first Apple computer
prepaid phone cards introduced in Italy
Kurzweil Reading Machine
Diffie & Hellman's New Directions in Cryptography describes public key cryptography
Australia's Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) founded
Australian Broadcasting Control Board becomes the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal
Ethernet described
Ted Turner delivers programming across US by satellite
Cray-1, first supercomputer
first Concorde flight
cable television in 15% of US households
1977
Beaverbrook Newspapers sold to Trafalgar House
Rivest, Shamir & Adleman publish RSA algorithm
Star Wars
QUBE interactive cable tv trial in Ohio
Apple II PC offers colour and floppy disk instead of cassette tapes
Astors sell ailing Observer to US oil giant Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) for US$1
1978
Berlusconi founds 'virtual' national tv network
Bulletin Board software
point-&-shoot camera
1979
3Com founded
Lonrho buys Scottish & Universal Investments (SUITS) inc George Outram (Glasgow Herald and Evening Times) and Scottish & Universal Newspapers (SUN), Scotland's largest group of paid and free newspapers
George Atkinson's Video Station is first video rental store in US
Eisenstein's The Printing Press As An Agent Of Change
1980
number of computers in US exceeds one million
Microsoft DOS version 1.0
Berners-Lee writes "Enquire Within" program
Intelpost international electronic fax service
CNN 24-hour news channel
Wordstar is first PC word processor
Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet
first compact discs
Fritz Machlup's Knowledge: Its Creation, Distribution & Economic Significance
Chandler's Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business
OECD Information Privacy Principles (IPP)
laptop computer
Advance buys Random House group from RCA
US Supreme Court upholds right to patent living organism (Diamond v Chakrabarty)
1981
Lagardere buys Hachette
US General Accounting Office predicts that email will put two-thirds of postal workers out of work by 2000
US businesses uses 850 billion pages of paper
21,000 industrial robots in use in Japan v 6,000 in US
launch of Space Shuttle and MTV
first Nintendo home video game
invention of the mouse
Jim Rutt coins the term 'snail mail'
Microsoft provides software for IBM personal computers
Lonrho buys Observer from Atlantic Richfield (ARCO)
1982
US government drops 1969 antitrust case against IBM
USA Today typeset in regional plants via satellite
first PC Local Area Network
first recombinant DNA vaccine for livestock
Compaq founded
British Telecom privatised
Sky Channel (first European satellite TV channel) launched
Kodak camera uses film on a disc cassette
200 computers connected to the internet worldwide
Australian Freedom of Information Act (FOI)
Lotus 1-2-3
Sun Microsystems founded
Scott Fahlman devises 'smiley' emoticon in email
1983
number of computers in US exceeds ten million
mobile phone network starts in US
Cisco founded
Astral expands into pay-tv in Canada
Time magazine names computer as "Man of the Year"
AT&T forced to break up
Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) established
deregulation results in first Canadian pay-tv channels
American videotext service starts but fails in three years
Ithiel de Sola Pool's Technologies of Freedom
Fairfax buys David Syme
Bonnier buys Svensk Filmindustri
Carlton Communications founded
1984
SPH formed
William Gibson coins term 'cyberspace' in Neuromancer
CD Walkman
first PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) - Psion Organiser
Sky TV, first UK satellite TV channel
Camcorder
Apple Macintosh, IBM PC AT
32-bit microprocessor and one megabyte memory chip
Fourth Estate founded
public float of Reuters
Prodigy online service provider launched by IBM, CBS and Sears
1985
Murdoch buys 20th Century Fox and Metromedia broadcasting stations
Murdoch becomes US citizen, triggering change of ownership of Australian tv networks
Berlusconi buys Mondadori publishing group
first colour photocopiers
AOL founded
Symbolic.com becomes first registered dot-com domain
car-based cellular phones in US
average US TV viewing peaks at 7 hours 10 minutes per day
US TV networks begin satellite distribution to affiliates
pay-per-view channels open for business in US
20% of US households have VCRs
1986
Aldus introduces PageMaker, first page design software
first genetically engineered vaccine for humans
US business uses 2.5 trillion pages of paper
number of computers in US exceeds 30 million
CBS sells stake in Prodigy, later acquired by AOL
Hollinger buys UK Daily Telegraph
Bloomsbury Publishing founded
General Electric buys RCA
676 cinema screens in Australia
merger of DDB Needham and BBDO
Capital Cities Communications buys American Broadcasting network for US$3.5bn to create Capital Cities-ABC
Jupiter Communications founded
HBO scrambles its signals
cable shopping networks
Burroughs merges with Sperry to form Unisys
Academic American Encyclopedia is first major reference work published on CD-ROM
Microsoft Windows 1.0
Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission Act
Beniger's The Control Revolution: Technological & Economic Origins of the Information Society
Schiller's Information & the Crisis Economy
Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) formed
News sells stake in Network Ten Holdings to Westfield Capital Corporation for $840m
Westfield subsidiary Northern Star buys other stations, establishes TEN tv network
1987
first debit card in UK
Goldsmith sells most of stake in Generale Occidentale
Apple spins off application software business as Claris
est. 1 million mobile phone subscribers in US
Murdoch buys Herald & Weekly Times group, Harper & Row and South China Morning Post
South African Associated Newspapers formally changes name to Times Media Ltd (TML)
Bond gives Kerry Packer $1bn for Nine television network
WPP buys J Walter Thompson for US$566m
Thorn EMI sells consumer electronics operations
financial crash
Warwick Fairfax unsuccessfully privatises Fairfax group
1988
Edipresse formed
first internet worm
Evergreen Media established
Pearson buys 35% stake in Recoletos
Pearson buys Les Echos
4.7 million microcomputers, 120,000 minicomputers and 11,500 mainframes sold in US
first transatlantic fibre optic cable completed
Reserve Bank of Australia releases world's first plastic banknotes
Commonwealth Privacy Act
Prodigy videotex service - IBM and Sears Roebuck joint venture
BCE sells printing plants to Quebecor
1989
Clifford Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) launches Eurosport service
premiere of The Simpsons
fatwah against Salmon Rushdie for The Satanic Verses
Cosser and Curran buy control of TEN Network from Lowy interests for $27m
Steve Vizard and Andrew Knight form Artist Services production house
Hicks founds Capstar Communications
Qintex fails to consumate takeover of MGM/UA studio and film library
Qintex Group goes bust
GridPad laptop features touch-sensitive pad that recognizes handwriting
launch of Murdoch's SkyTV in UK
Time merges with Warner
Sony buys Columbia Pictures and Tri-Star Pictures from Coca-Cola for US$3.4bn
Sony buys Loews cinema chain
WPP buys Ogilvy & Mather for US$825m
AT&T buys cable giant TCI
merger of Thomson Newspapers and International Thomson
est. 138 million subscriber phone lines in US; global figure is est. 496 million
1990
World Wide Web described by Tim Berners-Lee
Telecom New Zealand privatised
Legge Mammi creates Berlusconi/RAI duopoly
Electronic Frontier Foundation founded
McCaw Cellular Communications acquires 52% interest in LIN Broadcasting
first commercial provider of dial-up net access
first palmtop computers
99% of US households have at least one radio
Moravec's Mind Children
US business uses 4 trillion pages of paper
Packer regains control of Nine television network
Abril buys Editora Primavera in Spain
WPP buys Young & Rubicam group for US$4.7bn
UK Broadcasting Act abolishes Independent Broadcasting Austhority (IBA) and establishes Independent Television Commission (ITC)
BSkyB established
Hoovers online service founded