Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

16 JANUARY 25, 1960 domestic sets will be designed for either battery or line -cord operation). Dealers ore now beginning to receive 17-in. & 21-in. sets in volume as trade-ins. Will public be willing to pay a premium for 8-in. sets — even with the novelty of optional battery operation — for use as 2nd sets? (3) Japanese are beset by same technical difficulties as U.S. manufacturers in designing compact sets with low power consumption. To be acceptable, general assumption is that transistor set must be able to play about 4 hours before battery needs recharging — long enough for an afternoon's outing. And radio & TV history have shown that most portables spend the bulk of their service lives on the table. American manufacturers tend to agree that few buyers — except for the "novelty" trade — ore ready to plunk down several hundred dollars for a small-screen portable that will spend most of its time in the home and only play for a couple of hours outside the home. (4) Japanese may lose much of their price advantage in shipping costs. Compact pocket radios ore a natxiral for Japan's export trade — they can even be shipped economically by air. But TV sets — even 13-lb. 8-in. models — may be a different story. And when screen sizes grow larger while competition dictates a lower price, the bind will become tighter. (5) Servicing of Japanese TVs could be serious problem. Many purchasers of even top-brand Japanese radios have fovmd themselves stuck with orphans because of vmavailability of service or parts. Mass sale of foreign sets without adequate servicing facilities & technical information could create severe problem and quickly give them a black eye. These views ore not shared by importers of Japanese electronic products. Their opinions & transistorTV plans ore rovmded up below: TV-RADlO PRODUCTION: EIA statistics for week ended Jan. 15 (2nd week of 1960): Jan. 8-15 Preceding week 1959 week '60 cumulative '59 cumulative TV 137,410 105,078 Total radio 309,162 306,076 auto radio 138,311 175,101 103,696 279,954 109,765 242,488 615,238 313,412 194,908 533,975 217,649 more about MADE-IN-JAPAN TV NEARS: Tokyo-based Sony Corp. let it be known last week that it will begin production by mid-March of its previously announced 8-in. batteryoperated, transistorized TV portable — for sale in Japan at about $194. . . In N.Y., Sony’s U.S. distributor reported that initial shipments will reach U.S. early in April and go to market with a retail price around $250. (See page 15). Delmonico International div. of Thompson Starrett Co. also went into the trade press with ads inviting dealer interest in the new units. Delmonico exec, vp Herbert Kabat said orders already were coming in from dealers, expressed hope that the U.S. retail price will drop under the $200 level as Sony production takes hold & accelerates. In a technical nutshell, Sony’s transistor portable is advertised as having an 8-in. picture tube — ^weight (with batteries) of 13 lbs., over-all dimensions of 6%x8x8% inches. It has 23 transistors & 14 diodes, a built-in folding antenna, and a self-contained rechargeable 12-volt battery. Delmonico, however, had no data on battery life, playing life per re-charge, replacement cost. We also ran into considerable “lack of data’’ in our survey of other importers of major Japanese radio brands. It seems evident that Sony has a big lead over its competitors for U.S. business, if the announced production date holds firm. Here are views of other Japanese TV reps: Sampson Co. (Hitachi) : Pres. Robert Sampson told us he has no data on the size or availability of Hitachi’s transistor portable, doubts that it’s in production, believes only developmental models have been produced so far. He has no idea when it will be commercially available either in Japan or here. “We’ll be very happy if we can do anything by fall,’’ he said, noting Sampson’s policy to take on products only after they’ve had sufficient field & service experience domestically. Transistor World Corp. (Toshiba): “We hope to have something in 8 to 9 months,’’ we were told by asst. gen. mgr. Robert Henry. So far, this distributor has seen only lab models, he said. Henry noted that all Japanese TV makers have the problem of transistor selectivity, and that initial production of transistor portables will be so small that it will be retained for domestic sale. Once Toshiba gets rolling, “we hope to bring in a set priced under $200.’’ Petely Enterprises (Nippon Victor): Pres. Michael E. Lee said Nippon Victor has announced an 8-in. transistor portable, but he hasn’t seen it, has no data on it. He’s leaving for Japan by month’s end to confer with Nippon Victor on marketing the set in U.S. under Hi-Delity label. CBS -Electronics (Nippon Columbia) : Milton Selkowitz, national sales mgr. of the Columbia phonograph dept., said that affiliate Nippon Columbia has announced an 8-in. transistor portable, but Columbia Phono has no plans “at this moment” to distribute in the U.S. (it markets Nippon Columbia transistor radios). Selkowitz said this will not preclude Nippon Columbia’s marketing the TV set through other U.S. channels — ^but not under the Columbia brand. Lissner Trading Co. (Mitsubishi): Pres. Morton Lissner said Mitsubishi has a battery portable but he’s not seen it or received information about it. He’s expecting details soon, declined comment until familiar with the product. Maco Electric (Matsushita) : A spokesman told us this distributor had no knowledge about Matsushita’s transistor