Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

Parties Urged to Make Issue of Pay-TV A recommendation that free-television versus "fee-TV" be made an issue by candidates in the 1956 Presidential election was presented by Brig. General David Sarnoff in an address before the Advertising Club of Washington, in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 20. "We hear a good deal these days, and are likely to hear more, about the relative merits of free-TV and fee-TV," he declared. "I was among those, a generation ago, who fought the self-same fight when broadcasting was a fledgling effort. So I naturally have strong con- victions in the matter. "It does seem to me, however, that Radio and Tele- vision Week offers an appropriate occasion to underline the importance of the subject — and the self-evident fact that, when all is said and done, it is the American people who should constitute the judge and jury. The ultimate decision, for good or ill, will have a direct impact upon their everyday life, their economy, their culture. "I do not think I am exaggerating when I suggest that the issue is as impottant to our entire citizenry as was, for example, prohibition in its time. I feel justi- fied in proposing therefore that it be submitted to the ultimate suffrage of public opinion — a suffrage based not on guesswork, slogans or prejudices, but on wider knowledge and understanding of all the facts. "How can that knowledge and understanding, and a sense of the seriousness of the problem, be achieved? Well, we are approaching a Presidential election year, which is traditionally the time when questions of gen- uine concern to our whole population are thrown into the hopper of popular discussion. Suggests Declaration by Candidates "I recommend in all seriousness that the issue be- tween free and paid television be considered by those who draft the programs of the major political parties; and that candidates for public office be encouraged to study the problem and declare themselves to the elec- torate. That seems to be the American way, the effective way, to educate the country on the subject in a broad democratic spirit. If this issue receives the forthright attention it deserves, the voters in our land will have the opportunity to decide the question for themselves." Declaring that change is a natural and basic element in the radio-television industry, General Sarnoff asserted that the "big change" in television is the addition of color, which he said is certain to exert great impact on the American home and the nation's economy. He added: "We are now witnessing the beginning of the break- through of color television. And I believe that by the end of 1956, it will be a major factor in the industry. "Virtually every product with which you of the advertising fraternity are concerned will increasingly be recognized and sold by its distinctive color combina- tions. The human eye, after all, has been created to behold, appreciate and discriminate colors in every phase of life. Color is to vision what melody is to sound. "The alert broadcaster and sponsor is therefore em- bracing color to keep abreast of progress and to take fullest advantage of what television has to offer. It seems to me that the broadcaster who is in a position to add color to his programs and fails to do so is handicapped in the race for business. The sponsor who adopts a waiting attitude will lose markets to competi- tors who go all out for color." General Sarnoff, suggesting that the observance of Radio and Television Week was a convenient time for those in the industry to take stock of achievements and of the direction in which industry is moving, continued: "In scatcely more than a generation, a new industry that gears into or affects many other industries, has come into being and has flourished. Consider a few telltale figures: "The electronics industry, of which radio and tele- vision are today the predominant elements, has 2,550 manufacturers and 3,730 broadcasters. "The number of wholesale distributors, retail dealers and service shops, exceeds 150,000. "The electronics industry now employs directly 1,600,000 people. Adding those who serve it indirectly brings the total to more than 3,000,000. "Sales are now running at the rate of 11 billion dollars a year, making electronics the thirteenth largest industry in our country. "Even more dramatic than the expansion of the industry has been its rapid rate of change. There have been so many 'revolutions' in this field that revolution may be set down as its natural condition. Consider one revealing fact: "The Radio Corporation of America is geared to a billion dollats of business in the ptesent year. Of this total, fully 80 percent will be products and services not on the market only ten years ago! Many of them, in fact, were little more than gleams in the eyes of our imaginative leaders back in 1945." RADIO AGE 13