Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

NEW SERIES VOL. 3, No. 39 TELEVISION DIGEST-9 plants will be increasingly busy. As for companies that have formed Japanese affiliates for the purpose of exporting to the U. S,, I have no facts or figures on those operations specifically, but I know tnat some of those companies have not done well financially over-all. It may be just a matter of happenstance." (4) Possible retaliation by foreign customers. "They're much more restrictive abroad. Nobody there has to buy from us unless they want to." (5) Possibility of voluntary curtailment by foreign competitors. "Some relief may come through voluntary action by our friends overseas. They certainly don't want to get us mad. They know that if we do get mad we have both the resources and the energy to do something about it." Fact is, foreign competitors have at times shown their awareness of this. Sprague summed up situation this way: "What the import situation will be, or what form protection will take, in the next 5, 10 or 15 years is impossible to determine, of course. However, it would be unintelligent not to recognize the potential for trouble and to do something about it now. If you're intelligent and aggressive, you can do something about it. The danger comes when you stick your head in the sand. " BIGGER SHARE FOR CONSOLE PHONOS? It's too early to tell for certain, but console phono boom may be shaping up as successor of portable boom the industry has been enjoying for more than year now. For 3 successive months, consoles' share of phono market has been greater than last year, thus reversing strong first-quarter trend to portables. In early part of 1963, by far the greatest part of distributor sales increases over 1962 were represented by portables. As latest EIA figures on p. 10 show, trend has changed since April. Total sales are continuing to run ahead of 1962, and greater percentages of the increase are being accounted for by consoles. Console business, of course, is far more seasonal than portable sales, and ratio of consoles-toportables sold swings widely from season to season. For first 4 months of 1963, consoles' percent; age of total distributor sales mix lagged comparable 1962 months, although actual sales in units were higher. In Jan. 1963, consoles accounted for only 36% of total phono sales (vs. 48% in Jan. 1962), 42% in ! Feb. 1963 (vs. 47% year earlier), 39% in March (vs. 42%), 35% in April (vs. 36%). Crossover came ' in May, when 37% of total phono sales were consoles, compared with 30% in May 1962. In June, 32% were consoles, up from 25% year earlier. In July, 29% of sales were consoles, vs. 27% in July 1962. Good console sales, in fact, kept total phono sales for July 1963 ahead of those of July 1962. ! Portable sales for month were about 1% below comparable 1962 figures, while consoles were up 11.5%— ' bringing total sales for month to about 2% higher than year-earlier figure. It may be functional furniture, it may be FM stereo, which provided sales boost for consoles. 1 But whatever it was, phono console market developed added strength during traditionally dull warm months. For phono sales figures, and further analysis, see p. 10. TOPICS & TRENDS World electronics sales will more than double in next 6 years to $40 billion from current $19 billion, I in opinion of Ampex Pres. William E. Roberts. He emphasized "constantly changing" shape of world markets, however, added: "Today the U. S. is the largest market for microwave components, but withI in 10 years Europe will be the largest. In the past, the U. S. has been the dominant market for TV & radio, but now it is Europe. The European market for military electronics & computers is growing faster than the U. S. market. " To retain leadership as supplier of some 2/3 of world electronic pro' duction, U. S. companies, Roberts said, must make all "major management decisions on the basis of I worldwide opportunity. " i