Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1956)
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0-&-0 stations included; Revenues , $153,614,317, up from $123,203,847; before-tax earnings, $34,870,837, up from $25,377,612.
ABC network operations, exclusive of its 5 o-&-o's: Revenues . $33,234,630, up from $24,750,893; before-tax earnings , $481,138, as against loss of $6,823,085 in 1954. Including owned stations: Revenues, $53,906,480, against $44,519,058 in 1954; earnings , $5,589,452, compared to loss of $2,504,262 in 1954.
DuMont operations up to Sept. 15, vrhen network was dissolved, and excluding owned stations-, showed 1955 revenues of $2,862,857, down from $8,300,941 in 1954.
It lost $1,521,865 in 1955 vs. loss of $5,140,061 the preceding year. With 0-&-0 stations included, revenues were $7,475,812 (2 stations) in 1955, down from 1954's $18,568,493 (3 stations) ; losses were $2,570,618 in 1955 and $2,287,266 in 1954.
TV time sales in 1955 by networks and all stations totaled $572,400,000 after commissions , according to the FCC figures compiled for Celler. Networks' share was $263,600,000, of which $122,800,000 went to CBS, $109,600,000 to NBC.
Networks paid $83,500,000 to affiliates last year — $42,400,000 being paid by CBS-TV, $30,900,000 by NBC-TV - not counting payments to network-owned stations. The 4 networks paid $21,600,000 to their owned stations — $10,000,000 by NBC and $8,700,000 by CBS. Foreign networks and stations were paid $1,300,000 by networks. The networks thus retained $157,200,000 from TV time sales last year, CBS keeping $71,200,000 and NBC $68,100,000.
* * *
Profits of the network-owned TV stations, before Federal income taxes, tell 3-year story of TV's rise in major markets. Most profitable is CBS-TV s N.Y. flagship WCBS-TV, which reported $9,375,339 income in 1955; second is the NBC-TV key WRCA-TV, with $7,260,255; third is NBC-TV's WNBQ, Chicago, with $3,329,656.
PRE-TAX PROFITS OF NETWORK-OWNED TV STATIONS: 1953-55
As Disclosed in FCC Tables Prepared for House Judiciary Subcommittee (Figiires in parentheses denote losses)
ABC-OWNED TELEVISION 1953
KABC-TV, Los Angeles $(615,571)
(formerly KECA-TV)
KGO-TV, San Francisco 490,137
WA3C-TV, New York (478,478)
WBKB, Chicago 1,636,459
WXYZ-TV, Detroit 1,445,531
STATIONS
1954
$ 109,373
474,044
642,379
1,849,441
1,243,586
TOTAL $2,478,078
CBS-OWNED TELEVISION STATIONS
$
1955
534,766
624,368
740,590
1,668,516
1,540,074
$4,318,823 $5,108,314
$ 2,324,091 9,375,339 2,935,671 (129,642)
TOTAL .. $7,008,030 $12,276,443 $14,505,459
KNXT, Los Angeles . WCBS-TV, New York. WBBM-TV, Chicago WXIX, Milwaukee
$ 569,081 5,571,777 867,172
$ 1,589,813 8,206,416 2,480,214
NBC-OWNED
TELEVISION
STATIONS
1953
1954
KRCA-TV, Los Angeles
. . $ 260,088
$ 1,040,864
(formerly KNBH)
WNBK, Cleveland
738,866
1,339,924
WNBQ, Chicago
.... 2,230,414
2,790,696
WRCA-TV, New York .....
.... 4,898,047
6,086,613
(formerly WNBT)
WRC-TV, Washington
336,807
760,297
(formerly WNBW)
TOTAL
.... $8,464,222
$12,018,394
1955
$ 1,817,767
1,948,434
3,329,656
7,260,255
1,220,421
$15,576,533
DuMONT-OWNED TELEVISION STATIONS
WABD, New York $ 34,246 $ (56,897) $(797,716)
WDTV, Pittsburgh 2,978,342 3,025,875 —
WTTG, Washington (23,648) (116,183) (251,037)
TOTAL
$2,988,940
$2,852,795 $(1,048,753)
MID-YEAR STATUS OF COMMUNITY SYSTEMS: Legal and regulatory headaches, which it has in abundance, don't seem to inhibit growth of community antenna industry one whit. That's apparent from study of galley proofs of complete directory of systems to be included in our new Fall-Winter TV Factbook, due off presses about Aug. 1. Start of new TV stations seems to spawn new systems instead of killing off old ones. Here are some revd^latory figures we've gleaned from the directory:
(1) Systems in operation — 480 vs. 392 year ago (Vol. 11:28).
(2) Average number of subscribers per system — 912 vs. 772.
(3) Average potential subscribers, estimated by operators — 1770.
(4) Total homes reached by the 320 operators reporting figures — 292,000. Total potential, as judged by the 358 supplying estimates — 634,000.
One salient fact disclosed in tabulation is tremendous development in Pacific Northwest. Oregon is the star performer, number of systems rising from 15 to 44 in
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