Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1953)

KLY BY RADIO NEWS BUREAU • WYATT BLDG. • WASHINGTON 5, D.C. • TELEPHONE STERLING 3-1755 • VOL. 9: No. 4 2 [ !©[TO0¥ oct l 9 1953 USyiMMl October 17, 1953 wi MARTIN CO DEL’s AUTHORITATIVE NEWS SERVICE FOR MANAGEMENT OF THE VISUAL BROADCASTING AND ALLIED ELECTRONICS ARTS AND INDUSTRY th Electronics Reports r Color Go-Ahead by November or December, page I In this | Buffalo News Stations Switched to CBS, page 3 issue: 1 6 CPs Granted After Competitors Drop, page 4 [ 8 New Stations Bow, 292 Now on Air, page 4 Business of Broadcasting Is Booming, page 7 Small Market TV Can Pay Off — If, page 7 Transmitter Shipments & Upcoming Stations, page 8 Pipeline Total Near 2,400,000 on Sept. 30, page 9 COLOR GO-AHEAD BY NOVEMBER OR DECEMBER: FCC approval of compatible color has been foregone conclusion for months. Now, after smash all-industry demonstration for the Commission Oct. 15, only thing left for Commission to do is to write a decision. This doesn't mean a decision tomorrow. Comrs. Webster and Bartley are out of town, won't be back until Nov. 1, want to be in on decision. When they return, it will take 2-3 weeks to produce final document. Then there's question whether Commission will decree new standards effective immediately or declare them effective 30 days after publication in Federal Register; such delay is matter of FCC discretion, though it’s customary, and several commissioners haven't made up minds on it. So it's late November or late December — that's the current estimate. T T T ^ We talked to most members of Commission and top staff members after industry's tremendous performance at New York's Waldorf-Astoria this week, found none with any serious questions or desire for further proceedings. Commission has some minor questions, but they're meaningless in absence of any alternative standards to those endorsed unanimously by entire industry. Commissioners were impressed not only by excellence of color demonstrated but by ample evidence of competitive forces at work — 15 color sets made by 13 manufacturers, 5 different makes of tubes, 2 kinds of camera pickup equipment. Even the veteran commissioners seemed to be excited at prospect of firing starting gun in the vital color TV sweepstakes. Everything went off without a hitch under demonstration committee chairman David Smith, of Philco, and top assistant Knox Mcllwain, of Hazeltine; latter had previously ridden herd on NTSC engineers during months of laborious field tests. All 13 receivers worked satisfactorily most of time. Quality varied somewhat among them, but top half dozen or so ran neck and neck. Eleven had tubes made by RCA. Zenith used its own, mask-type, built by subsidiary Rauland. CBS employed mask-type built by its CBS-Hytron div. (Vol. 9:41), and it became clear immediately that CBS's poor showing of last week (Vol. 9:41) was due to pickup vagaries, not to the tube — because tube performed beautifully this time. All tubes were same size, producing about 11%in. picture in 15-in. glass envelope. Manufacturers were limited to one set each, and observers soon learned who produced which even though they were supposed to be anonymous. Those showing were: CBS-Columbia , Hazeltine , Admiral, Zenith, Hallicraf ters , Westinghouse , Syl vania, Crosley , RCA , GE, Motorola, Philco , Emerson. To demonstrate compatibility, 3 conventional black-&-white sets were displayed. NBC presented first part of demonstration — studio program telecast over WNBT. It was the now-familiar series, performed with usual brilliance — singer Nanette Fabray, lovebirds, dancers, Kukla, Fran & Ollie, commercial products. NBC and AT&T then showed intercity transmission. At 30-second intervals, signal was switched from microwave to coaxial to a direct cable pickup from AT&T COPYRIGHT 1953 BY RADIO NEWS BUREAU