Sponsor (July-Dec 1951)

\ Color television Q. Should an advertiser get into color TV now in order to gain experience and good time franchises? A. So far as experience goes, the knowledge gained from working with color film announcements (which can be televised in black and white, and can be used in theaters I is excellent background for any potential color ad\ritiser. But since there won't be any regular network color this fall during choice evening hours you won't be able to stake out a franchise for some potentialK valuable time slot. Q. How can advertisers "hedge" against the day when there will be color TV on a large scale? A. For an additional 30-40' V. according to a recent sponsor checkup on film producers (such as Archer Productions. Hal Roach, Apex, etc.), you can have your film commercials, or even TV film programs, produced in color film. Many of the basic lessons of visual air color presentation can be learned this way. The resulting films can be used in black and white, and can then be used later when color gets an audience. Some advertisers, like P&G with its Red Skelton Show, are reported making plans to shoot their film shows in color. Independent producers, like Gene Autry, are already rolling color film in anticipation of widespread color TV, and using the films on black and white TV. Remember, color film can be shown on any system of colorcasting, CBS or any other which might come out of the laboratory . Q. When will color TV start rolling in earnest? A. 'i <>u II find that the pattern of growth will shape up something like this. By this fall, CBS will be feed inn some 20 hours of color TV programs each week. (This compares to CBS's 90 hours weekly of black and white I hi fall, and the 3S0 hours or more weekl) on all four TV webs.) This will be about all CBS color TV staffs can turn out without disturbing normal black and while schedules. Meanwhile. CBS will be doing a mammoth job ol publicity and promotion on its color TV, to (1) make the public color-conscious, and create a demand for sets and more programs, and (2 1 to persuade all the leading set manufacturers to turn out sets capable of picking up CBS's color. If the publicity drive sets the imagination of the public afire, you may see quicker growth for color than any one now predicts. Q. How soon will new color converters and or sets be on the market? A. A sponsor checkup on leading set manufacturers shows that a dozen or so I CBS-Columbia. Arvin, StewartWarner, Tele-Tone, Celomat. Muntz, Monarch-Saphin, Color-Video Inc., and a few others) will be making converters or sets. But none of them are industry giants. RCA, Emerson, Admiral, Motorola and others wont retool until the public demand is really strong. Set deliveries will probably start between September and December of this year, by industry estimates. Mass production is not expected to come for at least two or three years. Q. What is advertiser and agency reaction to color? A. The initial reaction seems to be enthusiastic, but most agencies are warning their clients to proceed with caution, since the limited circulation of color TV this fall still marks it as a semi-experimental ad medium. Nearly two dozen advertisers have been airing participations and announcements on CBS-TV color network and affiliated stations, but budgetwise it doesn't add up to much. Coast-to-coast video Q. When will live coast-to-coast television start? A. Not even officials of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, which installs the nation's TV cable.-, are sure. Television's "Golden Spike won't be driven, by all estimate-, before the end of this year, perhaps nol before next spring. Switchboards, TV equipment and relay installations are the big stumbling blocks. Q. What will coast-to-coast TV mean to sponsors? A. There will he two major effects of an East-W e-i TV hookup: 1. Kinescopes — With no live link between East and West Coast TV stations this fall. TV sponsors will be shipping kinescopes of their programs to the West Coast as the only alternative. In many ways, this is a stop-gap measure. A cable connection means the end to much of this problem, and will assure sponsors of first-rate live transmission of their shows and probably higher ratings — when shows are in the proper time slot for simultaneous peak viewing on both coasts. It won't make the situation on availabilities much easier until there are more TV stations on the West Coast. 2. West Coast Programs — The reverse of East-to-West programing will start emerging. Hollywood's talent pool, so far as Hollywood-originated TV shows is concerned, has barely been touched. With the completion of the trans-continental cable, watch for a strong upsurge in live shows bearing the "produced-in-Hollywood" tag. More sponsors will start using Hollywood talent on their shows, since it will probably cost them less, being right next door to TV studios and eliminating the need of an expensive trek East. Look for more TV equivalents of programs like Lux Radio Theatre. Kinescopes Q. What about the quality of kinescope recordings? A. All the networks report a decided improvement in the quality of kines. One network film director claims a 10(1', increase in qualitj during the past year, due to special film emulsions and improved processing methods. He expects the improvement to continue. Q. How much does it cost a sponsor to have kinescope recordings made? A. The number of kinescopes made tor showing on network stations \ar\ with the advertiser's contract. Some arrangements between advertisers and network provide for one kinescope for e\er\ two stations on the kine schedule — with "bicycling" of each print to two stations. Other arrangements call for one print for each station, and so on. If an advertiser wants a kine of his -how for private use — as an air cheek 158 SPONSOR