This is a list of American television-related events in 1950.
| Date | Event | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| May | The television production company Desilu Productions was founded by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. | |
| October 10 | CBS' color television system is approved by the Federal Communications Commission. This approval goes in effect on November 20. | |
One million American households were reported to own a television set in 1950.
| Show | Moved from | Moved to | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Arthur Murray Party | ABC | Dumont | |
| The Johns Hopkins Science Review | CBS | Dumont | |
| The Bigelow Theatre | CBS | Dumont |
| Date | Show | Network | Debut | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2 | And Everything Nice | DuMont | March 15, 1949 | |
| January 3 | The Sonny Kendis Show | CBS | April 18, 1949 | |
| January 10 | The O'Neills | DuMont | September 6, 1949 | |
| January 26 | The Front Page | CBS | September 29, 1949 | |
| February 4 | Spin the Picture | DuMont | June 4, 1949 | |
| March 11 | Mary Kay and Johnny | NBC | 1947 | Series began on DuMont |
| March 25 | Television Theatre | CBS | June 2, 1950 | |
| March 29 | Abe Burrows' Almanac | CBS | January 4, 1950 | |
| March 30 | The Black Robe | NBC | May 18, 1949 | |
| April 9 | Bowling Headliners | DuMont | December 26, 1948 (on ABC) | |
| April 12 | Joey Faye's Frolics | CBS | April 5, 1950 | |
| April 21 | The Little Revue | September 4, 1949 | ||
| May | Adventure Playhouse | DuMont | April 1950 | |
| May 22 | Newsweek Views the News | DuMont | November 7, 1948 | |
| June 11 | Mama Rosa | ABC | May 21, 1950 | |
| June 14 | Easy Aces | DuMont | December 14, 1949 | |
| June 18 | Windy City Jamboree | DuMont | March 19, 1950 | |
| June 23 | Actors Studio | CBS | September 26, 1948 | |
| June 24 | The Trap | CBS | April 29, 1950 | |
| June 25 | Colgate Theatre | NBC | January 3, 1949 | |
| June 26 | The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre | NBC | September 27, 1948 | |
| June 28 | Stage 13 | CBS | April 19, 1950 | |
| July 4 | The Ed Wynn Show | CBS | September 22, 1949 | |
| August 11 | People's Platform | CBS | August 17, 1948 | |
| September | Frontier Theatre | DuMont | May | |
| September 29 | The Hazel Scott Show | DuMont | July 3, 1950 | |
| September 29 | Detective's Wife | CBS | July 7, 1950 | |
| October 8 | Think Fast | March 26, 1949 | ||
| October 13 | The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican | September 11, 1950 | ||
| October 15 | Believe It or Not! | DuMont | March 1, 1949 | |
| October 23 | Mysteries of Chinatown | ABC | December 4, 1949 | |
| October 24 | The Joan Edwards Show | DuMont | July 4, 1950 | |
| November 19 | Starlit Time | DuMont | April 9, 1950 | |
| November 20 | The Susan Raye Show | DuMont | October 2, 1950 | |
| November 25 | Country Style | DuMont | July 29, 1950 | |
| December 1 | TV Shopper | DuMont | November 1, 1948 | |
| December 15 | Hold That Camera | DuMont | August 27, 1950 | |
| Unknown date | Cartoon Teletales | ABC | 1948 | |
| The Vincent Lopez Show | DuMont | March 7, 1949 | Returned in 1957 on CBS | |
| Amateur Boxing Fight Club | DuMont | September 1949 | ||
| Boxing from Sunnyside Gardens | DuMont | September 1949 | ||
| You Are an Artist | NBC | May 13, 1946 | ||
| Your Witness | ABC | September 19, 1949 | ||
| Chez Paree Revue | September 2, 1950 |
| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 15 | 5 | CBS (primary) DuMont/Paramount/ABC (secondary) | [21] | ||
| WSYR-TV | 3 | ||||
| February 21 | Ames/Des Moines, Iowa | WOI-TV | 5 | CBS (primary) NBC (secondary) | |
| March 27 | Louisville, Kentucky | 9 (now 11) | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | [22] | |
| April 2 | 3 | NBC (primary) ABC/DuMont (secondary) | |||
| May 1 | Lansing, Michigan | 6 | CBS (primary) NBC/ABC/DuMont (secondary) | ||
| June 1 | 3 | ||||
| July 1 | 4 | CBS (primary) NBC/DuMont (secondary) | |||
| September 30 | 4 | NBC (primary) ABC/CBS/DuMont (secondary) | |||