Electronica TV

Electronica TV – Pipera was the television factory of the Romanian electronics industry. It was formed in 1970, when the television assembly section of Uzinele Electronica moved from Baicului Road into a new building on the Pipera platform in Bucharest [1].

Romanian television production started with a valve set built under licence and moved on to sets of Romanian design, adapted to the standards of export markets. Romanian televisions were sold in the USA, Canada, West Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, France and Czechoslovakia, with UL, FCC and VDE approvals among others [1].

Colour transmissions officially began in Romania on 23 August 1983, and colour set production was started in cooperation with East Germany: the first was the Electron 5101 (51 cm, PAL/SECAM). In 1983, 1,788 Telecolor 3006 sets (56 cm) were made, followed by the Cromatic with a 67 cm tube; more than 130,000 colour televisions and four types of colour and monochrome monitors were produced between 1983 and 1987 [1].

According to the chapter on Uzinele Electronica, the Pipera plant – the radio and television assembly factory (FMRTv Pipera), opened in 1970 – remained part of Uzinele Electronica, and the first batch of television sets made there was for export to West Germany [2]. The black-and-white sets of 1966–1981 are therefore listed under Electronica. On 1 October 1981, when the works were split, Întreprinderea Electronica moved its headquarters to the Pipera platform [2].

The site after 1989

Around 2011 only the administrative building of the Pipera TV factory remained, turned into a restaurant, next to a market complex built by the district council; the tram stop was still called Electronica [3].