1879 - Elihu Thomson and fellow Philadelphia high school science teacher Edwin Houston begin building Thomson-Houston, one of the leading electrical companies of the nineteenth century, headquartered in the US, with subsidiaries in Europe and South America.
1892 - General Electric formed with the merger of Thomson-Houston and Edison General Electric Companies.
1893 – Establishment of Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston (CFTH) in Paris. CFTH installed a streetcar (tram) system using overhead trolleys and lines for the first time in France in the coastal city of Le Havre.
1915 – Creation of the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation
1916 – Development of “Technicolor Process Number One”, a two-components additive system
1919 - Creation of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), based on patents held by General Electric and Marconi.
1923 – Creation of Technicolor’s first Hollywood laboratory
1925 – Release of Douglas Fairbanks’ The Black Pirate, filmed in Technicolor
1929 - Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston enters the world of radio and television through the acquisition of Etablissements Ducretet.
1930 – David Sarnoff becomes President of RCA.
1940 – US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences grants a special award to Technicolor for outstanding achievement in the use of color
1950 – Technicolor introduces a three-strip photographic system using uncorrected incandescent illumination.
1955 – Launch of Technicolor Italiana in Rome
1958 – Birth of the Grass Valley group as Dr. Donald Hare creates a tiny R&d company in a small town in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada range.
1964 – Grass Valley demonstrates its first video product, a video distribution amplifier, in a hotel room at the National Association of Broadcasters convention.
1966 – The Technicolor desaturation process first developed for Moby Dick is substantially improved for Reflections In A Golden Eye
1967 - Thomson merges with CSF, creating a major French player in electronics, offering a wide range of products, technology and skills.
1968 – Grass Valley Group introduces its first vision mixer, the flagship product that helps build the company’s reputation.
1969 – Technicolor cameras record the departure and early flight of mission leading to man’s first landing on the moon.
1974 – Grass Valley Group merges with Tektronix
1979 - RCA reaches production of 100 million picture tubes since 1946.
1981 – Merger of Thomson-Brandt and Thomson-CSF
1981 – Technicolor launches its video duplication business.
1982 – French government nationalizes several large French corporations, including Thomson.
1986 - RCA acquired by General Electric.
1988 – Thomson acquires General Electric’s RCA and GE consumer electronics business.
1988 – MacAndrews & Forbes sells Technicolor to Carlton Communications, PLC, a UK corporation
1989 - RCA's 50 millionth color TV set produced in Bloomington, Indiana.
1992 – Groundbreaking for new Thomson Americas headquarters in Indianapolis.
1994 – Technicolor opens a state-of-the-art optical manufacturing plant in California for CD manufacturing.
1997 – Technicolor begins DVD manufacturing.
1999 – French government opens Thomson equity to private investors; Thomson listed on the Paris and New York stock exchange.
1999 – Creation of Technicolor Digital Cinema, focused on integrating digital technologies into the company’s business.
1999 - Launch on the US market and in autumn, on the European market of the first digital portable player, the LYRA.
2000 - Thomson acquires majority interest in Philips Professional Broadcast. and form a strategic alliance with Carlton Communications in digital terrestrial, interactive television and media services.
2000 – Technicolor doubles DVD manufacturing capacity in the US and Europe to 150 million per year.
2001 – Thomson completes acquisition of Technicolor.
2001 – Thomson acquires Alcatel’s DSL CPE business and its Speedtouch brand.
2002 – Thomson acquires Grass Valley Group.
2002 - Frank E. Dangeard and Charles Dehelly are appointed respectively Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Thomson.
2002 - Technicolor acquires California-based digital post production services leader Vidfilm International Digital.
2002 – Technicolor manufactures and distributes more than 9.5 million Xbox games under a wide-ranging, multi-year partnership with Microsoft.
2003 – Thomson acquires Cinecolor, a major Asian postproduction facility in Thailand in the first major step for Technicolor expansion in Asia.
2003 - Thomson and TCL of China sign a memo of understanding to merge their consumer electronics activities in a new joint-venture company, TCL Thomson Electronics
2003 – The French government sells its remaining Thomson shares, finalizing the privatization process.
2003 – Technicolor establishes itself as the dominant theatrical distribution company in North America with the acquisition of Victoria Film Services.
2003 - Thomson strengthens Consumer Solutions business with Recoton accessories assets.
January, 2004 – Thomson and TCL International Holdings Limited advance towards the creation of TCL Thomson Electronics by signing combination and shareholders’ agreements.
