[GreenKeys] Slightly OT: Colour TV

[Richard Knoppow]

     The first color TV I ever saw was larger than 12" but was probably 
around 1960.  It should be pointed out that the only people to make any 
money from color TV were the patent holders and manufacturers; the 
broadcasters didn't make squat.  U.S. broadcasting makes it money from 
advertising. What stations and networks have to sell is the audience. 
Advertising revenue depends on the size of the audience. Color did not 
increase the audience size at all. Some people got color sets and 
watched programs in color but most people continued to watch in B&W. 
Both CBS and ABC waited until there was a substantial audience for color 
before adopting it. That is, they waited until sticking to B&W would 
reduce the audience size. A wise move. While color might be a more 
effective sales tool I think, for the most part, it was a minor influence.
     The FCC and industry group, the NTSC, probably did a good job in 
choosing the combination of systems they did. It allowed a lot of 
improvement over several decades.  The CBS sequential system would have 
been dead in the water pretty quickly and RCA's original system left a 
lot to be desired.  Like TV altogether, I think color came before the 
technology was really advanced enough but those holding patents did not 
want to see them expire before earning some profit from them.

On 3/24/2017 5:50 PM, Dave Horsfall wrote:
> RCA introduced the colour TV, way back in 1954; with a 12" screen and
> costing a mere US$1,000, it remains to be seen whether the world was
> thereby made a better place...
>

-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL