Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers (1930-1949)

successful. The conditions necessary for successful special event presentations have been emerging in the past year. Exclusivity, proper promotion and some regularity are all desirable, if not necessary. Matinee sports presentations, which bring new sports audiences into theaters at unprecedented times, require all three of these conditions to be favorable. The most publicized theater television programs to date were the series of prize fights presented last summer. This series of six fights, presented by Theatre Network Television (TNT), was offered to a public that was unacquainted with the medium, and for this reason the series was presented under adverse circumstances. The boxoffice results were nothing short of startling. The overall average attendance for all theaters on all six TNT fights was 87% of capacity, despite the fact that two of the fights were not top attractions. This boxoffice average is only a partial indication of the great public interest in these theater television programs. On several of the fights, the numbers of people turned away from boxoffices for lack of seats were much larger than the number of people packed into the theaters. These turn-away crowds were only part of the larger population that would have attended, but for theater television's limited capacity to accommodate the public last summer. Of importance, too, was the attraction of part of the "lost audience" — nonmovie-goers — to the motion picture houses. Theater television proponents had, from the outset, maintained that this new medium would attract new audiences. New audiences added to normal film audiences will expand theater attendance in the years ahead. It goes without saying that every major medium must pass through an investment period at the start, with operating losses until it has grown sufficiently. The pioneers in home television broadcasting made large-scale invest ments and sustained high losses for years of operation — losses that ran into millions of dollars for single stations — before they were in the black. The significant thing about theater television is that it has experienced profits on some events from the outset. As compared with television broadcasting, theater television has required relatively small investments and its operating losses have been comparatively small. But before examining the credit side of the ledger, let's take a look at the debits. The losses incurred in early theater television have not been due to a lack of appeal in its programs or in the medium itself. These relatively small losses were attributable to three factors: (1) the few theaters sustaining the costs of big-time attractions; (2) the pricing policies followed by theatermen; and (3) the absence of a regular, year-round flow of programs and promotion. Last summer, the TNT series of prize fights was carried by an average of only 12 theaters. In spite of the very small number of theaters which shared relatively high unit costs, it was remarkable how close to break-even these theaters came on most programs. Profits were made on individual fights. Naturally, a larger number of theater installations will reduce individual theater costs and turn losses into profits. And the profits will increase as the number of theater television exhibitors grows. A prime factor in the difference between profit and loss on theater television events was the initial low admission price policy of exhibitors. At the beginning of the summer fight series, exhibitors were literally giving their products away to see whether people liked them. Some exhibitors seemed to treat theater television as a fight film, to be marketed as a bonus to the feature movie. The cost of theater television presentations added to film exhibition meant exhibitors would incur losses if regular movie admissions were charged. Many chose this course at the start, not realizing that the real Nathan L. Halpern: Theater Television Progress 141