Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1953)

MARTIN COREL'S AUTHORITATIVE NEWS SERVICE FOR MANAGEMENT OF THE VISUAL BROADCASTING AND ALLIED ELECTRONICS AftTS AND INDUSTRY PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY RADIO NEWS BUREAU • WYATT BLDG. • WASHINGTON 5, D.C. • TELEPHONE STERLING 3-1755 • VOL. 9: No. 4 6 IRfllS Tfp s Emil L NOV 1 6 1953 In this issue: J iLi' U u>i Li Li i [' Is Time Running Out on Hollywood? page 1 3 VHF, 3 UHF Start, Dozen About Ready, page 2 Court Okays Pro Football TV Blackouts, page 3 4 CPs Granted, 3 Proposed, 2 Given Up, page 3 November 14, 1953 Transmitter Shipments & Upcoming Stations, page 6 How Tube Makers Are Tackling Color, page 7 No More Price Cuts Seen — Now, That Is, page 8 One Manufacturer's Viewpoints on Color, page 9 IS TINE RUNNING OUT ON HOLLYWOOD? Onrush of color IV and prospect of magnetic tape recording of both black-&-white and color motion pictures (Vol. 9:45) impels Hollywood correspondent Thomas L. Pryor (New York Times) to pose this pertinent question: "What happens now to the tremendous reservoir of old movies television long has eyed covetously and which the studios have refrained from releasing to protect theatre business? There are Technicolor prints among this group, but the vast majority of the pictures are black-&-white. "The business men at the heads of the movie companies will have to decide without undue delay whether to drain the last dollars out of these properties by releasing them to TV while there still is a market for them..." Pictures in vaults of the major producers, though played out in theatres and investment written off, have long been counted the biggest props in their financial structures — reported by Variety in 1951 as totaling 4057 features, 6000 shorts and several score serials in vaults of MGM, 20th Century, Paramount, Warner, RKO, Columbia, Universal and Republic. There are probably more by now (though Republic has released some) and it’s interesting to recall an April 1951 report by N.Y. stockbroker Reynolds & Co., titled "Hidden Values in Motion Picture Production Companies." Reynolds report estimated then, when there were only about 100 stations on the air (Vol. 7:18) that TV could pay $20,000 per half-hour film, that Hollywood movies run for 2 hours, therefore each film is worth $80,000. Here's what Wall St. firm figured the 5 majors had in way of films made between 1955 & 1949: MGM, 670, value for TV estimated at $53,600,000; Paramount , 732, $58,560,000; RKO, 694, $55,520,000; 20th Century, 758, $60,640,000; Warner Bros. , 665, $53,200,000. The figures look like guesses at best — but it's significant that Paramount v.p. Paul Raibourn, also a TV pioneer, has frequently spoken publicly about these "hidden assets" (Vol. 7:13), as have other movie leaders. * * * * Deeply impressed by the color TV he saw in Hollywood last week, including first telecasts of color film, Pryor states: "The cold fact is that color TV, even in its present experimental stage, is the equal, when seen under ideal circumstances, of the best quality color movies to be seen in theatres. He adds, in Nov. 10 story: "The demonstration foreshadowed a new, more intensified era of competition between the 2 giants of the entertainment business. There no longer can be any doubt about the future importance of color in TV. And when it takes firm hold within the next 2 to 3 years the effects of the new set-buying scramble will bite deep into the public's amusement spending money... the challenge is real and can't be ignored..." Nov. 11 Variety headlines: "Miracle-Groggy Film Men Respectful of Sarnoff's Electronic Prophecies" and relates that disclosure of magnetic tape "has exhibs wondering what other innovations the electronic age might have instore for them... Film COPYRIGHT 1953 BY RADIO NEWS BUREAU