Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1958)

12 TV-Radio Production: TV output in week ended Sept. 5 declined to 112,992 sets reflecting the Labor Day holiday, from 134,921 preceding week. Output in same week last year was 199,954. Year's 35th week brought total production to 3,060,481 vs. 3,956,487 last year. Radio production was 274,604 (91,738 auto) vs. 293,771 (68,928 auto) in preceding week and 287,190 (83,448 auto) same week last year. Radio output for 35 weeks was 6,462,476 (1,980,793 auto) vs. 8,668,951 (3,476,374 auto) in 1957. DuMont Out of TV Tubes: Victim of the price-&profit recession in the TV set and tube business, Allen B. DuMont Laboratories Inc., once one of the leaders in cathode ray tube production, making nearly 1,000,000 a year, has slowed down CR lines at its Clifton, N. J. plant to a few hundred a day for the replacement market (see p. 2). It was latest in a series of economy moves, following up recent sale of TV receiver & phono hi-fi business and brand name to Emerson Radio (Vol. 14:27), earlier cessation of TV transmitter manufacturing, and 1955 discontinuance of network telecasting operations and spinoff of stations into separate corporation (Vol. 13:33-34) now called Metropolitan Broadcasting Corp. DuMont executives are confident they now can see profits ahead in concentrating their resources on industrial & military products, cutting overhead, rearranging plant facilities. Dr. Allen B. DuMont, chairman, is back in active charge of the industrial & military divisions — but there must be times when he looks back with a certain nostalgia on the early TV days when, bucking organized industi’y standards, he refused to be bound by the 10 & 12-in. tube size limitations, built tubes of 16, 19, 21, 24 & even 30-in. and put them in sets of his own making that were regarded as the Cadillacs of the trade. During the last 4 years, DuMont’s receiver business slipped badly, as did pictm’e tubes, but never their quality. Having led in developing CR tubes, holding key patents invented by Dr. DuMont himself, DuMont Labs suffered gradual slippage of that business until output recently ran only 400-500 a day — and that quite profitless. Trade reports have it that not even the Big 3 of CR tubes — Sylvania, RCA, GE — are turning much of a profit, if any, out of their TV picture tube operations. Sylvania now leads the picture tube field, RCA a good second, GE third — and they account for at least half of the industry’s output of initial equipment. There are 45 CR tube manufacturers in our latest TV Factbook listing, many making receiving and power tubes also — and EIA figures show that in 1957 they produced 6,174',979 tubes for initial equipment (new sets), 2,779,111 for replacement, 766,676 for export, 242 for Govt. — total of nearly 10,000,000 valued at $183,231,337 at factory. First 6 months of this year, total was 2,203,188 new, 1,196,125 renewal, 290,054 export, 220 Govt. — total of nearly 3,700,000 valued at $73,228,119. It’s estimated at least 3,000,000 moi’e tubes are “rebuilds”, i.e., old bulbs used for new guns, son\etimes with new phosphor faces, sometimes with old. It’s noteworthy that metal-cone tube has entirely disappeared, being replaced by glass entirely; all glass bulbs come from either Corning or Kimble. Since DuMont represented only a small fraction of the market in recent years, its defection from CR tube won’t make much difference to market as whole. Besides Big 3, who supply own set needs as well as those of other set makers, the majors are Rauland, owned by Zenith and supplying most of its needs; Lansdale, owned by Philco, supplying its needs but with Zenith as a customer; Thomas Electronics and National Video, prime suppliers of Admiral & Motorola. CR tubes for TV are minor items now with Raytheon and CBS-Hytron, concentrating on semiconductors and military orders. Note: DuMont Labs’ operating losses for first half of 1958 reached record of $2,224,000 on sales of $18,493,000 vs. loss of $997,900 on sales of $19,850,000 in same period last year. With such a poor start, it looks like 1958 will be 4th straight year of operating losses. The operating deficit ran $534,616 on sales of $42,691,148 in all 1957; $3,886,734 on sales of $46,646,878 in 1956; $3,674,397 on sales of $57,826,809 in 1955. Last year of profit was 1954, w’hen net was $870,273 (35d per share) on sales of $71,457,950. Preceding 3 years were even better [see our Special Report on Financial Data on Television-Electronic Companies, May 10, 1958]. ■ TV-Radio Production: Factory vacations cut sharply into TV & radio production in July, both showing declines from June, EIA reported this week. TV production totaled 274,999 sets compared with 377,090 in June and 360,660 in July 1957. Radio production dropped to 621,541, including 186,379 auto radios, from 774,424 (253,433 auto) in June. However, July radio production was higher than the 612,588 (256,279 auto) produced in July 1957. Cumulative TV output for the first 7 months of 195S was 2,442,929 vs. 3,082,799 in the same period last year. Cumulative production of TVs capable of receiving uhf signals declined to 232,931 in the Jan. -July period from 410,250 such sets made during same period last year. Initiating a new reporting service, EIA said 11,816 FM radios were produced in July. There are no comparable figures for June or for the Jan. -June period. However, EIA marketing data dept, is collecting FM production data retroactively to the first of the year and anticipates a repoi’t on total production within 30 days. A decline in production of both picture and recei\ing tubes in July, paralleling the drop in set output, w’as reported by EIA, and cumulative sales of both types of tubes in Jan.-July period were well below 1957 levels. Revised EIA Jan.-July monthly production figures follow’: TV Picture Tubes Receiving Tubes $ Value Units $ Value Auto Total (Add (Add (Add TV Radio Radio Units 000) 000) 000) Jan. ... 433,983 349,679 1,026,527 621,910 $12,342 26,805 $ 23,264 Feb. 370,413 268,445 876,891 556,136 11,211 29.661 25,650 March _ 416.903 234,911 931,341 634,779 12,643 28,548 25,716 April .... 302.559 190,435 697,307 590,357 11,592 32,582 28,788 May 266,982 185,616 654803 560,559 11,237 36,540 31,406 June __ 377,090 235,433 774.424 725.846 14,203 36,270 31,445 July 274,999 186,379 621.541 549.817 11.109 30,795 26.927 Total 2,442.929 1,650,898 5,582,834 4,239,404 S84.337 221.201 $193,196 CBS Labs’ expansion into militarj’ electronics, including satellite research & development, was pointed up in recent ads seeking engineers & physicists for new plant being opened this autumn in Stamford, Conn.