Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1953)

3 on a case-to-case basis, without establishing a firm policy of drawing the line in 'drop-out' cases at the 'no-profit' point." Here's what disturbed him; In Providence, the 3 Ch. 12 applicants — WPRO, Greater Providence Bcstg. Co. & Hope Bcstg. Co. — will form Cherry & Webb TV Bcstg. Co. , owned 55% by WPRO, 25% by Hope, 20% by Greater Providence. Greater Providence stockholders Charles G. Taylor and Robert T. Engles have 12-month option to buy 13% of new corporation from WPRO and Hope. But if WPRO and Hope cancel option (possible after 7 months have passed), they'll pay Taylor and Engles $205,500. Stockholders of Greater Providence also get total of $12,500 yearly, for 5 years, for personal services. FCC granted Ch. 12 to WPRO pending its action on the agreements. In Des Moines, WHO got Ch. 13 CP, paying competing KIOA $25,000 for out-ofpocket expenses and giving it option to buy 40% of CP. If FCC doesn't permit KIOA to exercise option, WHO will pay it $75,000. In Waterloo, KWWL obtained Ch. 7 grant after KXEL dropped out under these conditions: KWWL bought 500-ft. tower from KXEL for $25,000, leased KXEL studio transmitter space for $25,000, settled litigation (Vol. 9:28) by paying $50,000 to KXEL. Comr. Bartley didn't dissent in this case. In Bay City, WBCM, WGRO & WSAM got together on Ch. 5. WGRO and WSAM formed new North Eastern Mich. Corp. , 2/3 owned by former, 1/3 by latter. WBCM has option to buy 40% for $120,000. Bartley entered no objection. Week also produced another vhf CP cancellation — KCNA-TV, Tucson (Ch. 9). That makes 3 vhf, 10 uhf post-freeze grants surrendered thus far (see Vol. 9:34 for others). Three more hearings were set this week, to start Oct. 2: Sioux City, la., Ch. 4; Cleveland, 0., Ch. 19; Cincinnati, 0., Ch. 74. First allocation changes requiring channel amendments by applicants were finalized by FCC this week. Acting on proposal of John F. Easley, Ardmore, Okla. , Commission dropped its proposal affecting Elk City and Ada, Okla. , came up with this parlay: Add Ch. 10 to Ada; substitute Ch. 11 for 10 at Ft. Worth, Ch. 10 for 11 at Waco, 26 for 12 at Elk City. fFor further details about foregoing actions, see Addenda 17-1 herewith; for complete data on all applications, see TV Factbook No. 17 with Addenda to date.] INTENSE STRUGGLE FOR COLOR PRE-EMINENCE: Fierce back-of-the-scenes jockeying on color among manufacturers and networks is getting fiercer — and no one reveals much. Hottest focal point is probably tri-color receiving tube. RCA has had lead in tube production and planning, is determined to maintain it. RCA makes no secret of fact it has been stockpiling tubes — but won't tell how many it has or present production rate. How about sizes larger than the 15-in. envelope, which produces 14-in. picture? "Plans are not frozen," is all RCA topkicks will say. Chromatic TV Labs, Paramount Pictures affiliate which has been developing Lawrence tube, says it has been continuing discussions with "large tube and set manufacturers," looking towards construction and use of tube. Chromatic president Richard Hodgson insists tube makers should be able to produce Lawrence tube to sell to set makers at "less than $100 — compared with about $250 for the RCA tube." Hodgson reports additional developments of tube, still 22-in. and 1-gun, including a technique for applying color-difference and luminance signals directly to gun without decoding. This, he says, produces complete uniformity of grey scale, eliminates several tubes in receiver. Method will be demonstrated shortly. Then there was note in columnist Drew Pearson's newsletter Aug. 29, stating that "CBS has privately developed a sensational new color electronic tube which can whittle down RCA's lucrative monopoly and royalty arrangement in the TV field." CBS, which owns tube-maker Hytron, merely says "No comment." Common speculation is that Hytron and/or GE may take license to produce Lawrence tube, perhaps 3-gun version. With all this to-do in the labs, there are bound to be some sleepers. There always are when there's so much at stake. On the station equipment side, RCA has lead which may be even more difficult to cut down. Of the big equipment makers, only GE has announced plans to make sta