On this day, Dec. 7, 1963, the first authorized use of “instant replay” was used in the annual Army-Navy college football game. Instant replay is now typically used during breaks in play, where tape is often slowed or “frozen” so that the preceding play can be analyzed more in detail. It was only used on one occasion, at original speed:

“… a prototype videotape replay machine was trialled by CBS on 7 December 1963, for the Army–Navy Game. After technical hitches, the only replay broadcast was Rollie Stichweh’s winning touchdown. It was replayed at the original speed, with commentator Lindsey Nelson advising viewers ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again!’”

Interestingly, the first use ever of instant replay came thirteen years prior, during a Canadian hockey game in 1950:

“The first instant replay came in a 1950s episode of Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). George Retzlaff, director in Toronto, used a ‘hot processor’ to develop kinescope footage of an ice hockey goal for replay within 30 seconds. Retzlaff had no approval for his experiment. MacLaren, HNIC’s advertising agency, was annoyed it could not publicize the technique, and the Montreal studio did not have the technology to replicate it; so CBC prevented Retzlaff reusing it.”

A 1963 Machtronics MVR-10, such as those used in the first days of TV instant replay

Kurt Machein, founder of the high tech firm Machtronics, designed the MVR-10, and eventually won an Emmy Award for his pioneering role in the development of instant replay.