When did the color television first appear?

When did the color television first appear?
Difficult to pinpoint an exact date. The first all electronic network broadcast in the US was October 31st 1953. There had been significant developmental demonstrations in several countries, from all mechanical through hybrid to all electronic, since 1907.

The first 'shadow mask' CRT that paved the way for colour displays and served in all colour televisions for over 50 years, was first patented and demonstrated in Berlin in 1939 by it's inventor Werner Flechsig. Although the NTSC system was first broadcast in 1953 there was not a regular full timetable colour service until the 1970s.

A similar story in Europe where it took until the 1970s to standardise to the PAL system. The rest of the world caught up eventually and now the Japanese lead the technology for the new system standards.


added: depends on what you mean by "appeared" -- RCA started selling color TV's in North America in 1954.