What's Ahead for the TV Industry
January 1957 Radio & Television News

January 1957 Radio & Television News

[Table of Contents] Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Radio & Television News, published 1919-1959. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.

What's Ahead for the TV Industry

Dr. W. R. G. Baker takes optimistic view, expects growth, but also change.

In his report to the fall meeting of the Institute of Radio Engineers and the Radio-Electronics-Television Manufacturers Association, Dr. W. R. G. Baker, president of RETMA and vice-president of the General Electric Company, anticipated a bright future for all facets of the TV industry. He accompanied his predictions with the observation that many forecasts for the electronics industry made in recent years turned out to be not optimistic enough.

Since Dr. Baker was unable to appear in person, his report was delivered by Arthur V. Loughren, president of IRE. Some of the highlights, statistical and non-statistical, included the following "guesstimates":

As compared to about 7 1/2 million TV sets being sold annually now, about 10 million a year will be the annual sale by 1960.

Closed-circuit industrial TV will quadruple over the next four years, with sales, now at the $6 million mark, reaching $24 million by 1960.

With the rapid development of scatter transmission techniques, trans-oceanic TV broadcasts are only a matter of time.

With many other nations throughout the world ready to begin TV broadcasting for the first time in 1957, the sales potential for foreign markets will continue to forge upward.

Truly portable transistorized TV sets will be on the market within two years.

Color TV will always cost more than monochrome receivers, and there will surely be no drastic downward revision of color prices in the immediate future, although eventually less expensive color sets are in the offing.

Looking into the immediate future, 1956 will end up as one of the best years for TV receiver sales despite the slackening off that characterized the first 9 months.

On the u.h.f.-v.h.f. dispute, Dr. Baker advised a go-slow attitude until a thorough study has been made.

Stating that there has been no precedent in industrial history for the growth of electronics, Dr. Baker pointed out, "Ten years ago it was an industrial infant and now it provides employment for one-and-three-quarter million Americans, which represents one person in every 40 in our total work force. And the amazing thing is that 75 percent of these jobs didn't exist just 10 years ago."

Posted February 2, 2022
(updated from original post on 6/20/2013)