Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1952)

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY RADIO NEWS BUREAU • WYATT BLDfi. • WASHINGTON 5, D.C fmElii I rf8 TELEPHONE STERLING 1755 • February 9, VOL . 8, No. 6 1952 In this Issue: FCC Freeze Progress & RTMA Forecasts, page 1. Plenty Sound & Fury — But No Color, page 2. FCC Not Out to ‘Get’ TV Stations, page 5. Progress of FCC’s Paramount Hearing, page 6. NPA on New TV Station Construction, page 8. Meaning of Inventory & Output Status, page 9. COPIES OF FCC TREEZE-THAW' REPORT: Television Digest will publish, as part of its regular service, the full text of FCC's Allocation Report ending the freeze — with all channel tables, rules, regulations (including graphs), procedures and details necessary to present and prospective TV station operation. It will go out to all full-service subscribers as soon after release by FCC as we can print it. FCC tells us document will run some 600 pages of single-spaced typewriter text, which means 200 or more pages of our usual printed supplement format. We have tentatively arranged for the services of 4 Washington printshops to get the volume out simultaneously with or within reasonable time after FCC release date, expected within month or so. FCC says it will have only limited supply of mimeo copies. Each of our full-service subscribers will get one printed copy without charge. Orders for extra copies at $5 each will be accepted before publication if they're in quantities of 10 or more. Price of single copies ordered after publication will be higher, depending on our print costs. FCC FREEZE PROGRESS & RTMA FORECASTS: March 1 date for lifting freeze begins to look too optimistic — even to FCC commissioners, some of whom now talk about March 15. But one major hurdle was passed this week when Commission tentatively, and perhaps permanently, resolved question of differing station spacings in various areas. It looks like 5 separate mileage criteria will emerge, with these possible co-channel spacings: 170 mi. in East, 190 from Midwest to Pacific, 220 in Gulf area. Reason for variations is that more people can be covered with more stations. In East, population is largely urban; in Midwest, rural population dictated greater spacing; in Gulf area, greater tropospheric interference requires wider separations. FCC met on allocations only 2 days this week, reason being it had to wait for staff to try various spacings on for size. It's expected most of next week will be devoted to subject, with FCC returning to specific city-by-city allocations. DuMont's petition for oral argument on whole allocation plan still hasn't been denied by FCC, leading to some speculation that company's request might be granted. But virtually all other such demands have been turned down, so DuMont is expected to fare same as rest — except that Commission is likely to wait until final decision in order to show that DuMont's nation-wide plan was considered throughout whole allocation deliberation. Just what freeze-lifting will mean, in terms of new stations and new set demand, was predicted by RTMA ' s task force (Vol. 7:44) whose full report is expected to be released in week or so. Four-man committee headed by Philco's Wm. Chaffee sailed into 2-months' study with primary purpose of determining whether TV's postfreeze expansion can be accomplished without more materials than are being allocated — and concluded it could be. Second purpose was to predict rate of post-freeze growth, and committee came up with these calculations: (1) Increased demand for sets, due to new stations and increased coverage by existing outlets, will be between 750,000 and 1,660,000 by July 1, 1953. COPYRIGHT 1952 BY RADIO NEWS BUREAU