Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1952)

10 Chicago show. Business is slow, most said, though the bigger set makers say they are selling all the sets they can turn out. Consensus seemed to be that orders are not usually taken in great numbers during shows anyhow; they come before or after, mainly at own distributor meetings. Typical comments of sales folk: "We've got to be good hunters to get business now." "We're out to sell; business isn't coming to us if we sit back." "Distributors are looking for price merchandise — deals." "Business ought to pick up in the metropolitan areas, now that most scare buying has been absorbed — and it ought to be good in the fringe areas." Fringe-area business now, and high hopes for post-freeze business, were main topics of conversation. Thinking is that TV-served metropolitan areas, while not completely saturated, have had all their cream and much of milk skimmed off. So accent is on long-range reception via "long-range chassis" & "fringe area switches" and the like. Hallicraf ters even advertised guarantee of "150-mile reception." The 17, 20 & 21-in. tube sizes are now basic, with 21-in. gaining on 20-in. There were a few 24-in. , and DuMont & Hallicraf ters 30-in. Motorola still has 14-in. portable and Arvin sticks to 8%-in. table promoted as "second set". Other clear trends were toward cylindrical-face tubes and tilted safety glass, reducing glare, and more and more models use electrostatic focusing as conservation means. New TV models being introduced by the manufacturers, large and small, for most part are simply additions to late 1951 lines previously announced and reported in these columns. Last week (Vol. 8:1) we reported in detail on new Admiral, DuMont, Philco and RCA sets and prices, week before (Vol. 7:52) on Motorola’s new line. Subsequent items in this department report such information on new sets as we could pick up during close canvass of all the displays at Chicago, both in the Furniture Mart and the Merchandise Mart. But it’s possible that some of the models here reported have been repriced since information was given to us. New Bendix line, in 6 of total of 9 new sets, features new long-range chassis for fringe-area reception. Prices include warranty but not tax. The 17-in. line begins with table at $200, other 17-in. tables being $210 (with legs) and $250. The 17-in. consoles include open-face mahogany $270, full doors at $300 & $350, one model price not yet fixed. Two 20-in. are table at $280 (with legs) and openface console at $300. General Electric announced 5 new models, including its first 20-in. table. Prices include tax. New 17-in. sets are mahogany table $270, open-face mahogany $320. New 20-in. sets are mahogany table (with legs) $300, open-face mahogany $350, blonde $370. GE also cut $10 to $30 off 5 carryover 17-in. models. Topics & Trends of TV Trade: Saturation accounts for slowing pace of TV sales, in opinion of Sylvania sales research director Frank W. Mansfield, who is also chairman of RTMA statistical committee. Nevertheless, barring major economic upsets, there’s no reason why TV industry cannot sell about 4,500,000 sets this year, he told Sylvania distributors meeting in Hershey, Pa., Jan. 7. “The change in the trend of TV sales,” said Mansfield, “is due to the fact that the TV market is rapidly approaching saturation ... At the end of 1951 practically 40% of the [area of] country had attained an average saturation of 70%. “If the station freeze is lifted, as is expected during 1952, good TV signals, now within reach of about 65% of the population, will ultimately be extended to approximately 90% of the population.” Market studies, he added, indicate “long-term potential for initial and replacement sales ranging from 4,500,000 to 6,500,000 sets per year for many years to come.” Probable rate of set replacement was placed at about 12% per year. * * * * Trade Miscellany: Bruno-New York buys 20-story building it occupies at 460 W. 34th St., New York, for reported $3,000,000 . . . Westinghouse buys out Danforth Co., Pittsburgh distributor, continuing it with same staff as subsidiary . . . Motorola-New York Inc., factory branch, separated from Jersey operations, with formation of Cooper Distributing Co., Inc., 177 Central Ave., Newark (Nathan Cooper, president), as exclusive TV-radio distributor for Northern N. J., Staten Island & Rockland County, N. Y. . . . Magnavox has purchased leased land and buildings in Ft. Wayne, plans $350,000 addition to give its plant 320,000-sq. ft. plus 67,000-sq. ft. of warehouse space . . . Bendix Radio opens new office at 261 McDougall Ave., Detroit, to handle mobile and auto equipment, with V. C. Judd in charge . . . Admiral Jan. 25 starts 24-sheet outdoor poster radio set campaign in 202 non-TV cities. First TV-dealer prosecution and conviction for violating Regulation W last spring, when cash down payments were required, was announced this week by Federal Reserve Board. U. S. district court in St. Paul fined Walter Lange $1000, gave him 6-month suspended sentence, 3-year probation. Sister-in-law Charlotte Lange was put on probation for year. Hallicrafters raised a lot of eyebrows this week with 2-page trade ad claiming “guaranteed 150-mile TV reception.” Claim wras made in spread in Jan. 8 Retailing Daily at same time new 13-set line was announced at Furniture Mart. With prices including tax and year warranty, Hallicrafters’ new line comprised these table models: 14-in. mahogany $190; 17-in. mahogany $230 & $270, blonde $240; 20-in. mahogany $280. Console line comprises 17-in. openface mahogany $280; three 20-in. open-face mahogany at $330, $340 & $380; 20-in. half-door mahogany $450, maple $450. The 21-in. consoles are half-door mahogany $400, mahogany with AM-phono $500. Symphonic Radio & Electronic Corp. has new line comprising 17-in. tables in leatherette $180, mahogany $200, blonde $210; 17-in. open-face mahogany $240, blonde $260; 20-in. mahogany table $230, blonde $240; four 20-in. consoles, open-face mahogany $270, blonde $290, Chippendale $330, moderne $350.