Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1955)

2 asked: "Does the economic and social impact of television make it desirable to review the question of network regulation — certainly not with the end of making them common carriers, but in the light of the apparent inconsistency of regulating the faucet but not the pump, and in the light of the fact that television has given the networks more power than ever?" Subscription TV: Pro-toll converts among broadcasters are few indeed. Many operators dismiss payTV as something FCC or Congress couldn't conceivably approve. Others are alarmed at momentum it has achieved in some quarters, are trying to alert colleagues before it's too late. Some, among telecasters in economic difficulties or radio operators not yet in TV, are intrigued by pay concept, would like to "give it a try" — if a "safe" test can be devised (p. 6). TV's Selling Power: Two sales presentations. Television Bureau of Advertising 5-city survey of grocery shopping and NBC's "Strangers Into Customers", documented an advertising impact even greater than most telecasters realized (p. 6). Color : Conversion to color is considered inevitable by virtually everyone — but only a handful of telecasters are buying color equipment, while majority finds no incentive to colorcast until mass-priced receivers are on the horizon. Furthermore, there's fear of obsolescence as equipment continues to be refined (p. 11). Hometown TV: Though there's still need for more strong outlets in most metropolitan areas, much attention was focused on another potential direction for TV's expansion. Difficult as it is to foresee today, there are those who predict that TV will burgeon as a small-city service, following in the path of radio's postwar expansion from 1056 stations in 1945 to 2835 authorized today. New formula is needed, one comparable to small-town radio. On the technical side, FCC is preparing it now, drawing up new set of rules for low-power stations and boosters. Equipment makers seemed ready, showing widest variety of low-cost transmitting and studio gear — some of it made even more attractive by novel "easy payment" plans. Programming and sales side of the small-city TV formula are still relatively undeveloped, crying out for pioneering and imagination (p. 8). Equality of TV opportunity: Deficit-ridden uhf operators — those with heavy vhf competition — listened glumly as FCC Chairman McConnaughey proposed to let them buy 5-megawatt transmitters, to be available in about 2 years at a cost of perhaps $300-1400,000. Those wondering if they'd still be in business next month were not impressed by his plan for FCC-sponsored "improvement" of uhf receivers, his enumeration of what Commission is doing to "help uhf," nor Comr. Lee's long-term proposal for re-allocation. Meeting between convention sessions, group of hard-pressed uhf telecasters mapped strategy for last-ditch defense against bankruptcy (p. 10). It's safe bet Washington won't be convention city again for a long time. Physical layout was completely unsatisfactory — with shuttling between Shoreham and Sheraton Park Hotels, with exhibits in hard-to-get-at and stifling Shoreham garage and with many delegates forced to room at distant downtown hotels. With sigh of relief, members decided to convene next year in Chicago, where they met last year. NETWORK PRESIDENTS SCAN TV HORIZON: Expre ssing unabashed pride in their contributions to TV in 10 short years, the 4 TV network presidents also showed keen and serious awareness of TV's imprecedented role in the American scene as they outlined plans for the future, in speeches at NARTB convention. Presidents of the two most powerful networks, CBS's Frank Stanton and NBC's Sylvester L. Weaver, literally thrilled the not-easily-impressed audience when they projected network programming as far ahead as they could see. With measured emphasis, the serious-miened Stanton stated: "The strongest sustained attention of America is now, daily and nightly, bestowed on television as it is bestowed on nothing else." In view of this, he said, "the policy of 'giving the public more and more of what it likes' is no longer good enough because it no longer goes far enough. TV could scarcely have gotten started by giving the public what it didn't like — but the day for a closer inspection of the relationship between TV and its enormous public is now, in my opinion, at hand."