The $580 million vinyl film disaster that destroyed an empire

In 1954, RCA revolutionized home entertainment with the launch of the first consumer color television. Although it took another decade for color television to become widespread, the release cemented RCA as a pioneer at the forefront of media technology.

In 1985, a damaged and devalued RCA was acquired by General Electric, and 66 years of dominance in consumer electronics and communications was effectively over. So what happened? A $580 million gamble called Selectavision.

In the latest video from our YouTube channel: Popular science Host Kevin Lieber breaks down the ill-fated launch of the Selectavision 400. But to understand why this ambitious technology destroyed an entire electronics company empire, Kevin first had to get his hands on a Selectavision and see what it could do. That’s where the problems started.

Can Kevin silence the loud thumping in his eBay-bought player? How did RCA botch a $7.5 billion revenue forecast? Why is Back to the future‘s Lea Thompson in an interactive murder mystery? And how did it all work? There were a lot of questions, but this is it Popular scienceso you know we found the answers.

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