January 4 - NBC expands the Huntley-Brinkley Report to Saturdays, with Chet Huntley and David Brinkley alternating weeks anchoring the news solo. Later, mediocre ratings prompt NBC to replace the duo with other newsmen, with the broadcast rechristened NBC Saturday News.
February 5 - ABC runs the one and only airing of the notorious flop, Turn-On.
April 4 - CBS bans the Smothers Brothers. Three days later, Walter Cronkite opens the evening newscast by confirming that the Smothers Brothers have been replaced by Hee Haw - effective immediately. But because it takes two months to assemble a typical Hee Haw segment, CBS has to fill the time period with specials until Hee Haw premieres on June 15.
April 11 - Rome as only he could see it is presented in Fellini, a Director's Notebook, an NBC special.
March 21 - The science fiction television series Star Trek airs its final new episode after being canceled by NBC. Its subsequent sale into rerun syndication soon after leads to a rise in popularity that transforms Star Trek into one of the century's most successful entertainment franchises.
Summer - In a surprise announcement, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain announce they are leaving the cast of Mission: Impossible. Landau's replacement is former Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, while a permanent replacement for Bain would not be chosen until the 1970-71 season.
July 3 - Lulu the elephant runs amok on Blue Peter. The clip is subsequently repeated many times, becoming the archetypal British TV "blooper".
July 20 - A live transmission from the Moon is viewed by 720 million people around the world, with the landing of Apollo 11: at 10:56 p.m. EDT on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the Moon, broadcast live.[1]
September 8 - From now on, all daytime programs on ABC and CBS are in color.
November 13 - Vice-President Spiro Agnew, in a televised speech from Des Moines, Iowa, sirs up a national controversy by attacking the network news commentaries.
September 13 - Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969-1972) premieres on CBS Saturday Morning. The animated show, about a cowardly Great Dane and his four teenage friends who travel around the country in a multi-colored van solving mysteries, would go on to become a major pop cultural icon, with numerous spin-offs, direct to video movies, and two live action films.
September 13 - The Archie Comedy Hour (1969-1970) premieres on CBS Saturday Morning. America's favorite teenager,Archie and his gang are back, this time they have new friends.Sabrina,the magicial teenage witch and Big Moose,Riverdale High's all-muscles but no brains jock who hangs out with the gang. The show features musical numbers such as the #1 hit song of 1969 "Sugar,Sugar" performed by the gang,and variety skits modeled after Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. This formula continues with Archie's Funhouse.
May 3 - Karl Freund, cinematographer, who as director of photography on I Love Lucy, developed the practical use of the three-camera TV sitcom production.