Why wasn’t color film really a thing on TV before the mid 1960’s?

[Yong Fang]

I flew on a transcontinental flight and there was a movie about Jackie Kennedy and it centered on her life right after the assassination of her husband. Not a bad film if you like history.

I knew this but part of the film centered on Jackie giving a tour of the White House in 1962, made by CBS News. It’s on YouTube if you want to see it.

It was on video tape but it was Black and White. My question is, why didn’t TV have color film by then? Most all the shows were Black and White up to around 1967 or so, when there were commercial color films like The Wizard of Oz on the 1930’s.

Was the process of color that expensive? Or just that most people still had Black and White TVs so why bother?

[Babalu]

Color TV's didn't become the dominant sellers until the early 1970's. Color TV's were much more expensive until then. People didn't want to spend the extra money because most shows were in black and white and networks didn't want to change their production methods because there wasn't sufficient demand.

Early color films were shot in Technicolor, which was very expensive to produce. Also, film technicians, like cinematographers, gaffers, makeup and wardrobe people, had to learn how to shoot in color. It's quite different. Ironically, shooting in black and white is more difficult, but that's all many of them knew how to do.