1947 saw the first televised World Series. The games were shown in the New York City area by NBC over WNBT Channel 4 (now WNBC) and reportedly on the rudimentary NBC Television Network, consisting in 1947 of New York, Schenectady, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The broadcast was sponsored by Gillette and Ford. Even though there were only about 100,000 television sets in the entire country at that time, the 1947 World Series brought in an estimated 3.9 million viewers -- many watching in bars and other public places -- becoming television's first mass audience.