Quizmo

Quiz on Television

20 questions · June 29, 2026

Below is the full Quizmo quiz devoted to the theme "Television": each question, its four options, the correct answer highlighted and, where available, its source. A chance to brush up on your general knowledge and then test what you know.

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Question 1

Easy

Which handheld device lets you change channels from the couch?

Source: The remote freed couch viewers from getting up; early ones were even connected by a wire.

Question 2

Easy

The 'rabbit ears' rod on top of old TV sets was called an?

Source: Indoor antennas got the nickname 'rabbit ears' from their two adjustable telescoping rods.

Question 3

Easy

Paid advertisements shown between TV programs are commonly called?

Source: A single Super Bowl commercial slot can cost more than $7 million for 30 seconds.

Question 4

Easy

The famous broadcaster known as the BBC is based in which country?

Source: The BBC began radio in 1922 and ran the world's first regular TV service in 1936.

Question 5

Easy

The earliest TV broadcasts appeared in only which visual format?

Source: Color broadcasting only became widespread in the 1960s, decades after TV's debut.

Question 6

Easy

The evening hours with the biggest TV audience are nicknamed?

Source: Prime time, roughly 8 to 11 p.m., is when networks charge the highest ad rates.

Question 7

Easy

Rapidly flipping through channels with the remote is known as?

Source: The remote made 'channel surfing' possible and quietly reshaped how shows hook viewers fast.

Question 8

Easy

The fuzzy speckled noise on a TV with no signal is nicknamed?

Source: That 'snow' is partly leftover radiation from the Big Bang picked up by the set.

Question 9

Easy

The curved device that catches TV signals from space is a?

Source: Its dish shape focuses faint beams bounced off satellites 36,000 km above Earth.

Question 10

Easy

A television image is built from millions of tiny dots called?

Source: 'Pixel' is short for 'picture element'; a 4K screen packs over eight million of them.

Question 11

Medium

Who is credited with inventing the first fully electronic television?

Source: Farnsworth got the idea as a teen plowing a field in neat parallel rows.

Question 12

Medium

The very first TV remote controls connected to the set by a?

Source: Zenith's 1950 'Lazy Bones' was wired; people kept tripping over the cord.

Question 13

Medium

Which flat-screen technology lit each pixel using tiny pockets of gas?

Source: Plasma sets glowed via charged gas, then lost the market to lighter, cooler LCDs.

Question 14

Medium

PAL and NTSC are rival broadcasting standards mainly for what?

Source: Different color standards are why old foreign tapes wouldn't play on your TV.

Question 15

Medium

What was shown on screen when a station had no programs to air?

Source: Test cards helped engineers tune the picture; some featured a clown that scared kids.

Question 16

Medium

Nielsen ratings are best known for measuring what about TV?

Source: A few thousand metered 'Nielsen homes' decide which shows live or die nationwide.

Question 17

Medium

Bulky old TVs created their picture using which technology?

Source: A cathode ray tube fired electrons at the screen, which is why those sets weighed a ton.

Question 18

Hard

In which decade did John Logie Baird first demonstrate television publicly?

Source: Baird showed a flickering moving image in 1925, using a spinning mechanical disc.

Question 19

Hard

Roughly how many people worldwide watched the 1969 Moon landing on TV?

Source: About 600 million tuned in live, the largest TV audience the world had ever seen.

Question 20

Hard

What screen shape (aspect ratio) did standard old television sets use?

Source: The boxy 4:3 ratio ruled until widescreen 16:9 took over in the HD era.

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