Radio annual (1938)

which an annual fee of ten schillings must be paid. This permit has to be obtained even before licensed imports will be cleared by the customs authorities. _ Radio owners are also subject to a listener's license fee, paid to RAVAG, which costs 2 schilling's monthly for private owners, 6 for public places such a® cafes and theaters, and from 6 to 20 schillings for dealers and manufacturers, according to the size of the city and the number of persons employed. Sets in Use — 645,000. Stations — 9. General — Despite the fact that most of the radio sets sold in Argentina are manufactured or assembled locally, there continues^ to be a very good outlet for the sale of American component parts, tubes, and other material. The Association of Argentine Broadcasters estimates that on May 30, 19'37 there were 1,000,000 sets in use. Of these million sets, the Association estimates that 215,000 were imported, 542,000 were assembled in the country, and 243,000 were completely built in the country. The total value is placed at 75,000,000 pesos. According to these estimates there is a radio set for every 12.02 persons in Argentina, or, 41.5 percent of the families. American radio products appear to have adequate representation in this market; in fact, the volume of business is so large in tubes and parts that competition is particularly keen, and manydealers complain that little or no profit can be made in most items. _ In addition, there is the domestic industry which is quick to imitate and reproduce foreign receiving sets and parts at a much cheaper price, in order that same may be sold to a large share of the market which cannot afford the imported articles. Sources of Supply — The Argentine radio manufacturing industry is firmly established and supplies most of the receiving sets, although a large share of the component parts and most of the tubes come from the United States. This varying proportion of American participation makes it difficult to fix the exact share of the total Argentine business obtained by United States exporters, although some idea may be obtained by a study of the Argentine import statistics general status of the local industry. Probably 35 or 40 percent of all receiving sets sold per year are represented by American trade names (excluding a small volume of locally built sets which have preempted United States trade marks). Of this American percentage, only a relatively few sets are imported in the complete form. One well known American set, for instance, is produced in a Buenos Aires factory which makes all of its component parts locally with the exception of tubes, electrolytic condensers, resistors and volume control. Several other American lines are imported completely knocked down, with some parts obtained locally, while still other American sets come in partially assembled. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of all sets sold is accounted for by the European manufacturers. Some of these are still imported in the complete (form, but the trend is toward further domestic assembly. In fact, the Philips company is now reported to be making all of its sets for Argentina in a local factory. Patents and Trademarks — There has been no recent outstanding litigation over patents concerning radio. Tariffs — Argentina's import tariff on radio sets is based on weight and number of tubes, cabinets being included in the weight. According to the Argentine tariff, the duty is 42 percent (including surtaxes) on arbitrary fixed valuations of 6.82 paper pesos per kilo on sets of up to 4 tubes; 11.36 paper pesos per kilo on sets of 5 "to 7 tubes; and 15.91 paper pesos per kilo on sets of 8 tubes or more. In addition there are other fixed port charges such as slingage, statistical fees, etc., amounting at times to as much as 7 percent more. Changes are in prospect, and should be verified before using. Television — There have been a few local experi. ments with television in the past, but there are no1 recent developments along this line. Facsimile — There are direct circuits for facsimile transmission from Buenos Aires to New York, London and Berlin, although there is no internal service in Argentina. Broadcasting — There are 57 Argentine broadcasting stations listed by the Post & Telegraph Department. Of this number, 38 long wave and 2 short wave stations are actively operating, 9 more are under construction, and the remaining 8 are projected. Of the stations actively' broadcasting, the recently opened LRA station is operated by the Federal Government, 5 more are under the control of provincial governments, and the remaining 34 stations are privately operated. The control of broadcasting rests with the Direccion de Correos y Telegrafos (Post and Tele * graph Department). Chain broadcasting is now a regular feature in Argentina. On a recent special occasion there were 37 stations on the same program The average chain broadcast, however, comprises a much smaller number, and generally links Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba, Bahia, Blanca, Mendoza, Santa Fe, and sometimes Montevideo, Uruguay. Advertising — Argentinean stations' wide range of -programs, practically all of which contain a certain amount of advertising. Short Wave — Occasionally foreign short-wave programs from the United States, Europe, or South America are re-broadcast locally on long wave. This service is made available by the international communications companies which have facilities near Buenos Aires for receiving and relaying the program to the broadcasting station. Une drawback to the re-broadcasting of foreign programs is the fact that they are often not in Spanish, giving little or no incentive for the local stations to re-transmit them. Owing to the minor percentage of short-wave listeners, it is believed that certain American firms having a large volume of sales in Latin America could reach a fertile field by sponsoring programs in Spanish, and having them picked up and rebroadcast on long wave in each country. Within the past few months it is reported that American short wave stations have had better reception in Argentina. The United States advance programs, are printed daily in Buenos Aires papers. Stations in Germany, Italy, Russia, and Great Britain are also heard nightly in Buenos Aires. All of these European stations are said to1 employ high-gain directive antennae for transmission, in addition to which the German and Italian stations have regular broadcasts in Spanish. At present a scheme is under 934