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MARTIN CODEL’s
AUTHORITATIVE NEWS SERVICE OF THE
VISUAL BROADCASTING AND FREQUENCY MODULATION ARTS AND INDUSTRY
June 11, 1949
2,000,000 TVs BY END OF JUNE: Two things are apparent from RMA's belatedly reported
April production figures: (1) That the predicted 2,000,000 TV set production in 1949 will easily be achieved, probably surpassed. (2) That by end of June there will be fully 2,000,000 TVs in hands of public and distributors, and by end of this year 5,000,000 or more. Here's how we figure it:
1. April TV production was 166,556 sets, bringing RM total for first 4 months of year to 589,073. Add 15% to account for Admiral and other non-Rl^lA members, and total is 677,434. May and June will certainly account for enough production to bring this to 1,000,000.
2. Add this 1,000,000 to the cumulative 1,157,000 produced up to end of last year (Vol. 5:5), and it's apparent that by end of this month (or half of 1949) the figure will surpass 2,000,000. And with TV's best market months during fall and winter, it's fair to assume last half of year will add another 1,000,000 or more.
April TV breakdown: table models, 102,120; TV-only consoles, 51,098 (1, 442
projection) ; TV-radio consoles, 13,318 (no projection). FM sank to 37,563, breaking down to : AM-FM table models, 12,980 (121 with phono) ; AM-FM consoles, 21,475 (95
without phono) ; FM-only and converters, 3,108. FM was helped by TV sets which include it — 47,264. Total sets of all kinds was really down in April, hit 673,005. lowest since February 1946, bringing total for first 4 months of 1949 to 3,081,561 — rate of less than 10,000,000 yearly.
IS TV TAKING BUSINESS AWAY FROM AM? We asked all TV stations with local AM affiliations (that means 52 out of the 68 now operating) whether TV is attracting any money away (a) from their own AM accounts, and/or (b) from their AM competition. To date, exactly 27 have replied — including most of the top-rung TV management — and this is what they said in answer to the first question:
Nineteen responded with an unequivocal No. Six said Yes, more or less. One said "not yet but there are definite indications." Another said "too early to determine . "
As to whether their competitors have suffered from TV, 16 said No or not so far as they knew; 11 said Yes or they thought so.
So there you have first-hand testimony on an issue that has just about everybody in the business of radio speculating, if not worrying. We'll tell you later what these AM-TV operators said with regard to where their TV business is coming from, and report also on their responses to other questions we asked.
Meanwhile, it's far too early to assume a definite dollar trend is betokened by our findings. Nor by the considerable publicity recently about Ford, International Silver, Sheffield Farms abandoning radio for TV — to say nothing of the considerable number of sponsors using or planning to use both.
Interesting was the positive language of the majority who replied that TV is not encroaching on their AM business. But even more interesting are comments of those who said it is:
"Our TV operation is very definitely attracting money away." wrote one obviously unhappy operator, noted as one of AM's biggest profit-makers. In New York,
Copyright 1949 by Radio News Bureau