The first use was in Neuromancer by William Gibson, in 1984, referring to a classic analog TV showing gray-white static.
Modern digital, smart, auto-tuning TVs will show an error message rather than static when there's no signal available [1], so later authors have used modified homages like:
"The sky was the perfect untroubled blue of a television screen, tuned to a dead channel." in Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
