--- description: It was Sept. 28, 1951, that the first color TV was sold—after the technology had gotten approval from the highest court in the land title: Television History: How the Supreme Court Got Us Color TV image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt160876b2464a7c91/698864a23c16398ad1459d51/cbs.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How the Supreme Court Made Color Television Possible  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 28, 2015 4:00 PM CUT  William S. Paley and Dr. Frank Stanton (right) with a color CBS television camera. 1951. William S. Paley and Dr. Frank Stanton (right) with a color CBS television camera. 1951.CBS Photo Archive / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 28, 2015 4:00 PM CUT The first color TV models reached American stores at the end of September in 1951\. But although the technology had been around [for years](http://time.com/vault/issue/1945-10-22/page/94/ "undefined"), the road to market was anything but smooth. Three companies were racing to be the first to wake-up TV from its black and white haze: CBS, RCA and Color Television, Inc. But when the Federal Communications Commission gave its approval to broadcast in color, only CBS was deemed qualified. The picture quality on the others was such that the FCC decided their technology wasn’t ready. The losing companies responded by getting an [injunction,](http://time.com/vault/issue/1950-11-27/page/75/ "undefined") arguing that the FCC’s decision had been arbitrary and reckless. The claim meant that CBS couldn’t take sponsorship money for color programming—which effectively halted color TV broadcasting. By the spring of 1951, the matter had gone all the way to the Supreme Court, which [ruled](http://time.com/vault/issue/1951-06-04/page/57/ "undefined") in _Radio Corp. of America v. United States_ in favor of the FCC and CBS, holding that the original decision could stand and CBS could go ahead with its system. The Supreme Court found that the FCC and the lower courts had carefully considered the question. And, Justice Frankfurter wrote, if there was no evidence that the process had not been followed carefully, there was no way for RCA to seek relief, no matter how good their TV system was—after all, “courts should not overrule an administrative decision merely because they disagree with its wisdom.” “Color television will sweep the country just as fast as sets can be produced,” Frank Stanton, the president of CBS, said in response to the ruling. But, even so, most Americans did not get a color television for many more years. Before the year was over, the needs of the Korean War [required](http://time.com/vault/issue/1951-12-03/page/103/ "undefined") that manufacturers shift away from making new TV sets to meet wartime production demands. Color TV [returned](http://time.com/vault/issue/1953-08-17/page/68/ "undefined") to America in 1953, but it would be another decade before every network had abandoned black and white. **_Read more from 1951, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Color for Everyone?](http://time.com/vault/issue/1951-10-01/page/43/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4043328/supreme-court-color-television/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4043328/supreme-court-color-television/"},"headline":"How the Supreme Court Made Color Television Possible","datePublished":"2015-09-28T16:00:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:07:51.444Z","description":"The first color TV was sold on Sept. 28, 1951—after the technology had gotten approval from the highest court in the land","url":"https://time.com/4043328/supreme-court-color-television/","keywords":["Television","Technology","Business topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt160876b2464a7c91/698864a23c16398ad1459d51/cbs.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt160876b2464a7c91/698864a23c16398ad1459d51/cbs.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Broadcasting Pioneers","caption":"Broadcasting Pioneers","creditText":"CBS Photo Archive / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4043328/supreme-court-color-television/","name":"How the Supreme Court Made Color Television Possible"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The 14 Best Television Intros","description":"The best 30 seconds on TV come before the feature. 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