[TheGregmeister]

So I've been browsing YouTube (as you do) and found this from the iconic Granada TV current affairs documentary series, World In Action - "Taming The Beeb" from 1988.
(For some reason, the aspect ratio switches from 4:3, to cropped 16:9 at about 8m40s.)
www.youtube.com &

This programme focuses on the BBC supposedly/apparently losing its independence, and the worry of it becoming a government controlled broadcasting organisation.
There's a nice view of how BBC Broadcasting House used to look, not too much long before the more recent modern redevelopment and extension to the premises.


From (very nearly) 35 years ago, the official launch programme for Sky TV ... presented by Kay Burley.
www.youtube.com 

Satellite TV related, there's this 15 minute little gem from 1994 ... part corporate video for SES Astra, part mini-documentary.
www.youtube.com 

I'm sure there are plenty of others you can find on YT (and elsewher) and we can discuss here.

[Neil Jones]

The SES thing came in about six different versions IIRC (and various languages) and they just changed a few of the pretty sweeping/flying shots and a few visuals in each incarnation.


The programmes are one thing, but the receiver is something else. No receiver, no audience, no programmes.

From the archives of Technology Connections, John Logie Baird is often considered to be the inventor of television, but not of television as we know it. His mechanical television is a remarkable invention for its simplicity, but as you'll soon see, it would never have been all that practical.
www.youtube.com 

The Nipkow disk lives on in the form of being used in microscopes.

[Omnipresent]

There's a lot out there. Some that immediately spring to mind are:

"One Day In The Life Of Television" (1989)

www.youtube.com 

"TV-AM Storm in an Eggcup" (1992)

www.youtube.com 

"Nightmare at Canary Wharf" (1995)

www.youtube.com 

"Auntie The Inside Story of the BBC" (1997)

www.youtube.com 

"Watch This Or The Dog Dies - The History Of Youth TV" (1998)

www.youtube.com 

Ones that I can't find in full on YouTube are "MTV: 15 Years In Europe" from 2002, "Happy Birthday BBC2" from 2004 and "The Story Of ITV" from 2005.

It's a shame that BBC4 did not repeat many BBC related docs as part of the centenary celebrations.

[Neil Jones]

Not sure if its the same programme but there's an entry on Plex TV for "Happy Birthday BBC2", which is from 2014 (I think it was updated from the 2004 show), with a few other related programmes tacked on:
watch.plex.tv 

Happy Birthday BBC Two (2014) - Plex
Happy Birthday BBC Two (2014).
  Source: watch.plex.tv

[Dmch82]

Satellite Wars (Channel 4 1995)

youtu.be 

British Relay - Television By Wire

youtu.be 

TV Eye - Future of British TV (Thames 1982)

youtu.be 

Also, while not entirely about TV history, this is a great 3 part show about the evolution of technology in the 70s, 80s & 90s. Electric Dreams (BBC 4 2009)

70s - youtu.be 

80s - youtu.be 

90s - youtu.be 

[VMPhil]

Electric Dreams was really good. I remember being amused by the teenage girls trying to find out how to launch Windows from inside DOS.