Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (1950-1954)

for the processing of Tripack color films, the best known of which are the Eastman Color, Ferraniacolor and Gevacolor. At the present time all these films have to be imported and manufacture of 35mm integral Tripack motion picture film seems unlikely in this country before 1954. It is reported that Gevacolor was used for a full-length feature film in Australia with good results, considering that an exposed footage had to be flown to London for processing. Television Broadcasting Of great significance in the United States was the part played in 1952 by television in the Democratic and Republican National Presidential Conventions, both of which were broadcast to a nationwide audience.19-20 Broadcasting facilities were generally improved throughout the United States.21"24 There was a noticeable improvement in programs presented, due particularly to improvements in equipment.25"28 The development of flying spot scanners was a noteworthy step forward during 1952,29"33 and these were demonstrated for the continuous scanning of 16mm motion-picture film. Manufacturers planned to place commercial versions of these scanners on the market the following year, 1953. The big news in television during 1952 was, of course, the lifting of the "freeze" and the start of new station construction. It had been four years since any construction permits had been granted by the FCC. Meanwhile, television sets have been selling at an increasing rate until there is now nearly one set for every two homes in America. Many cities still had only one television station, and as the set saturation went up so did the rates and so did the profits. Many of the small local stations reached the end of the year with larger net profits than the networks were able to show. With the lifting of the "freeze," new television broadcasting stations began to make their appearance. The Federal Communications Commission, in adopting its Sixth Report and Order on allocations in April, 1952, made it possible to allocate additional channels for VHF broadcasting, as well as to "open up" the 472-890 me UHF band. This made possible the ultimate addition of some 2000 new television stations.34 The "freeze" was lifted in April, in June permits began to be granted once more and by year's end another two dozen stations were operating, and two or three new ones were being added to the list each week. Many of these stations are in the UHF channels, using entirely different transmission equipment and facing new propagation problems which had only been faced experimentally before. One tenth of all the new channel allocations were reserved for educational, noncommercial use. Only about 15% of these 242 channels have been spoken for, and the industry is hoping that after the expiration of a year, as the FCC has repeatedly warned the educators, most of them will be turned back to commercial purposes to accommodate applicants who were previously unsuccessful in obtaining regular commercial channels. Some 1 5 or 20 states have made plans for statewide networks of educational stations, and 10 or 15 educational stations are expected to go on the air during the next year. With the tremendous growth of television stations, the networks stations in New York have, during the latter half of the year, experienced a considerable decrease in production activity. There is a very marked trend toward film and Hollywood, and away from live production and New York. Each of the networks has reduced staff and closed studios (except DuMont which has just opened a large new five-studio building) . Many of the top television programs, especially the dramatic shows, are now seen on film, either run locally from 1 6mm prints at the individual stations, at whatever time is convenient, or fed over a 544 May 1953 Journal of the SMPTE Vol. 60