Fairchild Channel F was a home game console released by Fairchild Semiconductor is November 1976.
It was the first console to use ROM-based cartridges, which set a precedent for many consoles to come.
The processor had 64 bytes of RAM, with 2 kB or VRAM.
The Channel F had at most 8 colors, but could only support four per line.
There was a "Hold" feature that was a predecessor of the "Pause" button.
The company was later bought by a company called Zircon.
Console included two joystick controllers without a base.
There was a button on top that could be pushed or pulled and allowed for 8 way directional movement.
Source: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/fairchild-channel-f-101-a-beginners-guide

A total of twenty-seven cartridges were released, some containing several games.
The first twenty-one were released by Fairchild, the later by Zircon
The games were called "Videocarts" and we're roughly the size of an 8-track cassette.
Ken Uston review the Channel F in 1982 and scored the games "Alien Invasion" and "Video Whizball" very highly. The remaining games, however, we're ranked average or below.

Alien Invasion

Released in 1976, the price of a new Channel F was $169.95, which is the equivalent of $697.56 current dollars.
Videocarts were sold around$19.95, or $81.88 current U.S. dollars.
There were about 250,000 systems sold.
Fairchild had no exclusive retail deals, but was highly promoted by many JC Penny stores.
Success of the Fairchild was limited because, only a year after it was released, Atari released the much better Atari VCS.