1996 in television

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List of years in television (table) … 1986. 1987. 1988. 1989 . 1990 . 1991 . 1992 …
1993 1994 1995-1996- 1997 1998 1999
… 2000. 2001. 2002. 2003 . 2004 . 2005 . 2006 … In radio: 1993 1994 1995-1996- 1997 1998 1999
In film: 1993 1994 1995-1996- 1997 1998 1999 Related time period or subjects … 1993. 1994. 1995- 1996- 1997. 1998. 1999 …
… 1960s. 1970s. 1980s-1990s- 2000s. 2010s. 2020s …
… 19th century. 20th century. 21st century …Art. Archaeology. Architecture. Literature. Music. Science +...

The year 1996 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1996.

For the American TV schedule, see: 1996-97 United States network television schedule.

1 Events
2 Debuts
3 Miniseries
4 Television shows
- 4.1 1940s
- 4.2 1950s
- 4.3 1960s
- 4.4 1970s
- 4.5 1980s
- 4.6 1990s
5 Ending this year
6 Changes of Network Affiliation
7 Deaths

Events

January 1 - Speedvision premiered as a new cable channel, it will change its name to the Speed Channel in 2002.
January 15-March 11 - Our Friends in the North, a nine-part serial spanning the 1960s to the 1990s in the lives of four friends, is shown on BBC2.
January 28 - Chris Isaak and Brooke Shields make guest appearances on the television show Friends.
April 29- TV Land, a United States cable network launches.
May 14 - Doctor Who, an American television movie continuation of the famous British series of the same name, airs on the Fox Network in the Tuesday Night Movie slot. This television movie is regarded as being a part of the same story as the original series and is an unsuccessful pilot for a new, American co-produced series. Paul McGann stars as the Eighth Doctor. It was the only film considered canon, but Doctor Who only made a proper comeback in 2005
June 14 - After 32 years (barring six months in 1973), Top of the Pops moves from its traditional Thursday evening slot to Fridays.
July - When it becomes evident that Anna Stuart will be next to die in a serial killer storyline on Another World, many fans start letter-writing campaigns to save the actress; the NBC studios in New York City also report a high number of switchboard calls regarding Stuart's imminent demise. Executive producer Jill Farren Phelps decides that actress Alice Barrett will be killed off the show instead.
14-15 July - America's Talking ceases transmissions, and using its transponders and positions, MSNBC, a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC, launches the following morning.
September 1 - Sky 2 launches in the UK, a sister channel to Sky One. It closes a year later, but a channel of almost the same name (Sky Two) would later launch in 2005.
September 2 - The ITV region Tyne Tees Television is rebranded as Channel 3 North East. The rebranding is unsuccessful, and the original name returns two years later.
September 13 - The dubbed version of the Japanese series Dragonball Z premieres in the U.S.
September 17 - The O.J. Simpson civil trial begins.
October 7 - News Corporation gets into the cable news fray with the launch of Fox News Channel.
October 20 - Canada's Sesame Street switches to showing exclusively Canadian content, renaming itself Sesame Park 1996-2002), as it no longer uses any American made segments from Sesame Street
November 2 - Final episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the 1987 series airs. Episode is Divide and Conquer.
December 29 - Time On Our Hands, the final episode of a Christmas trilogy of the popular sitcom Only Fools and Horses, airs on BBC1. Publicised as the last ever episode, it draws 24.35 million viewers, the largest ever audience for a sitcom in the UK, and discounting Diana, Princess of Wales's funeral, the biggest UK television audience of the 1990s. In the event, however, the show returns for three subsequent specials, one shown each Christmas from 2001.
Zenith introduces the first HDTV-compatible front projection TV in the U.S. Broadcasters, TV & PC manufacturers set industry standards for digital HDTV.
Over a billion households worldwide now own television sets.