CT-100

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Introduced in March 1954, the RCA CT-100 was the first all-electronic consumer color television set in the USA. The color picture tube measured 15 inches diagonally. The viewable picture was just 11 1/2 inches wide. Fewer than 5000 of these sets were manufactured. The sets were made at RCA's plant in Bloomington, Indiana. The sets cost $1000, which would be about $6000 in 2007 dollars. By the end of 1954, RCA released a new and improved color TV with a 21-inch picture tube.

The CT-100, which had 36 vacuum tubes in its CTC-2 chassis (known as "Merrill" to the marketing department) was one of the most complicated devices sold to the general public.

The introduction of the CT-100 coincided with the start of NBC's "Living Color" Saturday evening programming and the first appearance of the NBC Peacock logo. An animated black-and-white peacock would appear on the screen. As it started spreading its color tailfeathers, NBC programming would announce "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC". Early NBC Living Color programs included An Evening With Fred Astaire.

RCA CT-100 sets are now extremely sought-after by electronics collectors and restorers, with restorers often spending thousands of dollars to obtain or repair a set.

It is believed that RCA only made 4000 CT-100 receivers. Around 100 sets are known to survive, but only around thirty of them are restored and working. The Early Television Museum in Hilliard, Ohio has a restored and working set on display. One reason for the rarity of surviving sets is that the cathode ray tube (the 15GP22) that was used in the CT-100 was notorious for its glass-to-metal seals breaking down, causing the tube to lose its vacuum. It is extremely rare to find tubes that still work. The 15G was a glass tube, but its high voltage connection is a metal ring between the face of the tube and the glass bell. This is where the leakage occurs.

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