Work on the creation of this simple television receiver was conducted in Leningrad at the Radio Operator Plant, the first enterprise in the country oriented to the mass production of television sets. The 17 TH-1  was developed in the plant laboratory at the end of 1939. The kinescope for this set had a circular screen 17 cm, developed by A.S. Buchinskim and A.G. Yakovlev. It was produced in the Svetlana Plant. This set could receive both 343 line transmissions from Moscow and 240 line transmissions from Leningrad. Before the Second World War the plant produced 2000 sets. In 1940 small quantities of the model 17 TH-3, built in a horizontal configuration, were produced.