THE BEGINNING OF COMMERCIAL TELEVISION

by

R. J.. Reiman, Historian

World War II had brought the growth of television broadcasting to a halt, but it stimulated advancements in television technology. At the end of the war, the television industry began gearing up for production. RCA, GE and Dumont began designs of studio and transmitting equipment. AT&T was busy constructing its L-I coaxial cable network which was capable of distributing television programs throughout the country. The FCC announced it would begin accepting applications for commercial television stations.

Because of the higher cost of TV station equipment compared to radio equipment, the larger operating costs including staff, the lack of facilities to distribute TV programs, and the few TV sets in use by the public, only a few stations went on the air. Six were on the air in 1946 and four more in 1947. A further problem existed: Should the broadcasts be monochrome or color?

William Paley of CBS, a brilliant business leader, and Peter Goldmark, CBS' senior engineering executive, were proponents of the field sequential color TV system, which had continued development during the war. It was a mechanical system that used rotating color wheels at the camera and the receiver. It was capable of producing attractive pictures with brilliant color up to a limited extent. Would RCA telecast with monochrome? If so, what set should the public buy? CBS went ahead with color and petitioned the FCC for authorization of commercial TV, while RCA did the same with monochrome.

This set off a standards battle similar to the one on radio broadcasting, but CBS stood alone, with RCA and the others opting for monochrome. The FCC ruled that the CBS color system, and the UHF band were not sufficiently perfected to begin commercial broadcasting. With the way clear, on-the-air stations increased until 124 were authorized by 1952. The public was buying sets with enthusiasm with RCA leading the way.

The FCC began to hear complaints of co-channel interference with "venetian" bands appearing on the set as a result of interference. RCA tried detuning the carrier frequency of one of the co-channels, and this made the offending "blinds" barely visible. The FCC ban on further allocations addressed frequency assignment policies and color transmission standards and lasted four years until April 11, 1952. After a number of attempts which were bitterly criticized, the FCC's Sixth Report and Order was favorably received. The report achieved the elimination of serious interference between co-channel and adjacent channel stations, it opened up the UHF band for broadcasting, and its reallocation of VHF for crowded centers like New York City and Chicago, opened up the way for a third network, ABC, to compete with NBC and CBS. The number of VHF stations alone increased to over 500 commercial and 100 public stations and this was matched by the sales of receivers with almost 70 million sold by 1965.

The development of UHF would take time and color TV would replace monochrome.