Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1952)

MARTIN CODEL’s AUTHORITATIVE NEWS SERVICE OF THE VISUAL BROADCASTING AND ALLIED ELECTRONICS ARTS AND INDUSTRY th Electronics (i Reports PUBLISHED WEEKLY 3Y RADIO HEWS MREAIL * WYATT BLDG. • WASHINGTON 5, D.C. • TELEPHONE STERLING 1755 . VOL . 8, No. 2 ' ■ ‘ ! i : :1 Hi J A 1 ; 1952 January 12, 1952 {Quick TV Expansion Not in the Cards, page 1. What’s at Stake in Theatre-TV Hearings, page 2. Advertisers Spent $484,400,000 on TV in 1951, page 5. More TV-Radio Materials to Military, page 6. Factory Inventory & Output Way Down, page 9. The Tax-Warranty Pricing Headache, page 9. Topics & Trends — New TV Set Prices, pages 10-11. NCAA Bows to Public Opinion on Football, page 12. HANDY INDEX TO THE TV NEWS OF 1951: Index to the contents of our 1951 Newsletters, Supplements, Special Reports, etc. , sent to all subscribers herewith, is designed to serve as ready reference to major events, trends, facts, dates, as chronicled by Television Digest during the last year. It wasn't practicable to catalog everything we published — but the important news is pin-pointed for you. Use of this Index, of course, presupposes that you have maintained your file of 1951 Newsletters and other documents (Vol. 7:l-to-52). We're now preparing bound volumes for those who ordered them in advance (at $25 per copy) , and strongly urge that you have your own files bound locally if facilities are available. Note : Going into mails by end of next week, to those subscribing to them, are our semi-annual TV Factbook (No. 14) and our 1952 AM-FM Directory — both now recognized as standard reference volumes in the industry. Both mean start of brandnew series of weekly Addenda reporting station applications, grants, changes, etc. Each lists all stations in its respective fields, with pertinent reference data. QUICK TV EXPANSION NOT IN THE CARDS: Though there should be no illusions about true meaning of "end of freeze" in terms .of new stations and markets, many ebullient folk in this dynamic field can't seem to shake the notion that countryside will bristle with new antennas the moment FCC opens the gates. Even Sen. Johnson this week told us he has advised eager Denver constituents that city should have stations "in time for the World Series'1 — October. Yet fact is that few people familiar with administrative procedures, in or out of FCC, can see how Denver will get CPs — let alone stations on air — by October. As one attorney puts it: "There's only one method of getting fast grants in Denver or any city like it. That's by locking up all applicants in a hotel room, permitting them no liquor or cigarettes, and telling them to come out with no more applications than channels available — through merger or murder. " * * * * Still no answers to major freeze questions — "When will it end?" and "How will applications and hearings be handled?" — simply because FCC doesn't know yet. "We ought to have a darn good idea in a couple weeks," Chairman Coy tells us, "but right now we can't say." Actually, picture should be much clearer after Jan. 18, when full Commission tackles city-by-city allocations for entire country — except New England, which was cleaned up in "trial run" few weeks ago (Vol. 7:49). Incredibly numerous and complex problems of writing new rules and standards and setting up application-handling procedures are considered well in hand by Commission staff, but commissioners themselves still have to pass on them. * * * * Speed in pounding out CPs after freeze may be achieved, according to some, through separation of vhf and uhf — hastening uhf grants, at least. Assumption has been that uhf will be in much less demand, even in larger cities, so hearings may COPYRIGHT 1932 BY RADIO NEWS BUREAU