New waves in Sinhala teledrama

The first ever complete television set was invented in 1925 by an American, Vladimir Svorikan. It was the British Broadcasting Corporation which telecast the first ever television program in 1936 and the year 1981 marks the introduction of television to Sri Lanka. Television in Sri Lanka, at the beginning, had to depend on the wide screen productions to attract and retain the newly won television viewership. Thus popular Sinhala films were often telecast with the cinema halls beginning to experience a gradual drop in viewership. In the aftermath of 1983 riots, this process was accelerated with many cinema halls being closed down or burnt down. Finally, cinema found itself a very victim of the very medium which it helped to grow. Eventually television became the most popular medium of entertainment overtaking both cinema and drama.   www.dailynews.lk/2010/04/07/art18.asp