RCA Color TV Petition To

BEFORE THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D. C. PETITION OF RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA AND NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC. FOR APPROVAL OF COLOR STANDAR_3S FOR THE RCA COLOR TELEVISION SYSTEM JOHN T. CAHILL ROBERT L. WERNER RAY B. HOUSTON EUGENE E. BEYER, JR. Attorneys for Petitioners June 25, 1953 www.americanradiohistory.com BEFORE THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D. C. PETITION OF RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA AND NATIONAL BRO,4DCASTING COMPANY, INC. FOR APPROVAL OF COLOR STANDARDS FOR THE RCA COLOR TELEVISION SYSTEM JOHN T. CAHILL ROBERT L. WERNER RAY B. HOUSTON EUGENE E. BEYER, JR. Attorneys for Petitioners June 25, 1953 www.americanradiohistory.com www.americanradiohistory.com BEFORE THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. PETITION OF RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA AND NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC. 1. Radio Corporation of America and National Broadcasting Corn- pany, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "Petitioners ") petition the Commission to institute rule-making proceedings for the purpose of adopting new technical signal specifications as standards for commercial color television broadcasting. A copy of the technical signal specifications proposed for adoption as color standards is attached as Exhibit 1. 2. Petitioners have developed the RCA color television system which operates on the color standards proposed in this Petition. These standards have been approved by the NTSC. The RCA color television system is a compatible color system and programs broadcast using the RCA system can be received in natural color on color receivers and in high definition black and white on the more than 24,000,000 black and white receivers already in the hands of the American public without changing these black and white receivers or adding to them in any way. 3. The RCA color television system satisfies all of the criteria for a color television system specified by the Commission in its Public Notice 65008 of June 11, 1951. Technical and field test data supporting this con- clusion are contained in the attached statement of Dr. C. B. Jolliffe, Vice President and Technical Director of Radio Corporation of America, and in the Exhibits and Appendixes attached to and made a part of this Petition. 4. The color standards proposed in this Petition are technical signal specifications approved February 2, 1953, by outstanding engineers and scientists of the radio and television industry, including members of Peti- tioners' staffs, through the National Television System Committee (NTSC). Petitioners know of no responsible engineer or scientist in the radio and television field who proposes adoption of any other color standards. 5. The high standards adopted by the Commission in 1941 for black and white television broadcasting have made possible the miraculous growth and development of the present black and white television service to the American public. Petitioners submit that the Commission should now take a similar stand in respect of adoption of standards for color television and adopt new standards for color television broadcasting which will encourage rapid growth and development of color television as a service to the American public. 3 www.americanradiohistory.com 6. Petitioners have already expended almost twenty -one and a half million dollars in research and development work on and field testing of the RCA color television system and the proposed color standards. On the basis of this research and development work and field testing, Petitioners believe adoption of the proposed color standards by the Commission would serve the public interest by affording the public the advantage of color television now and not interfering with or diminishing the present monochrome service to the more than 24,000,000 black and white television set owners. 7. If the Commission approves the proposed color television standards: Petitioner Radio Corporation of America will expedite production of color receivers, tricolor tubes and broadcasting and studio equipment for sale to the public, to television manufacturers and to broadcasters. As was the case with the introduction of black and white television apparatus, mass production and experience in the television industry will result in improved apparatus and lower prices. The sooner compatible color standards are approved and the actual start of production can be made the sooner the factors of mass production and experience will assert themselves throughout the industry. Petitioner National Broadcasting Company, Inc., will commence broadcasting compatible color television programs which it will offer to commercial sponsors and its affiliated stations throughout the United States. Forty -one NBC affiliated television stations have already amended their network affiliation agreements to provide that they will, on approval of the proposed standards, make the relatively minor modifications to their transmitting apparatus to enable them promptly to commence broadcasting net- worked color television programs. 8. Petitioners believe that the present field sequential color television standards based upon an incompatible color television system are sterile and that their continuance is not in the public interest. First, the more than 24,000,000 black and white television receivers now in the hands of the American public, representing an investment by the public of billions of dollars, would be "blind" to incompatible color broadcasts. Second, the present incompatible color system is unsatisfactory from a technical, engineering and commercial standpoint. This is demonstrated by the fact that in the face of undoubted public demand for color television, Petitioners know of no television broadcaster who is broadcasting or plans to broadcast any incompatible color television programs and of no television receiver manufacturer who is now manufacturing or plans to manufacture receivers designed to receive incompatible color television broadcasts. 9. The Commission's Public Notice 65008 of June 11, 1951 would require Petitioners to put a color signal on the air in Washington, D. C., for the purpose of demonstrating Petitioners' color television system. Peti- tioners request that the Commission waive this requirement for the following reasons: 4 www.americanradiohistory.com (a) There is no studio in Washington equipped to demonstrate the RCA color television system. Moving the equipment in Petitioners' New York color television studios to Washington, and installing this equipment in Petitioners' Washington facilities, would delay Commission consideration of this Petition, would delay Petitioners' preparation for commercial color broadcasting and would require Petitioners to make substantial expenditures. (b) Networking a color signal originating in Petitioners' New York color television studios to Washington, and there putting it on the air, would result in a signal which could be affected by the quality of intercity network facilities, a condition over which Petitioners have no control. Networking a color signal to Washington would also require Petitioners to make substantial expenditures for radio relay or coaxial cable, which it would be necessary for Petitioners to lease from the Telephone Company, for every transmission from New York to Washington. These expenditures, and the existing commercial schedules of Petitioners Washington station, would make it costly and impractical to broadcast a regular series of experimental color television programs in Washington. (c) Petitioner National Broadcasting Company, Inc., under authoriza- tion granted by the Commission, is now remodeling its Washington monochrome transmitting facilities by raising the height of its antenna and installing additional equipment to give improved service to the Washington area. During this construction period it would not be practical to adjust and use the Washington transmitter to broadcast color television test programs nor would test programs broadcast under such conditions furnish accurate data on the performance of the RCA color television system or the proposed color standards. 10. Petitioners believe that only in New York are full facilities available for Commission study of all aspects of the RCA color television system and the proposed color standards: (a) Petitioner, National Broadcasting Company, Inc., maintains studios in New York fully equipped with apparatus to demonstrate and test the RCA color television system. Petitioner knows of no other studios which are fully equipped to demonstrate and test the RCA color television system or the proposed color standards. (b) The transmitting facilities of Station WNBT, Channel 4, New York, owned and operated by Petitioner National Broadcasting Company, Inc., with antenna located on the Empire State Building, New York, are equipped to broadcast RCA color television signals using the proposed color standards. (c) The transmitting facilities of Station WPIX, Channel 11, New York, owned and operated by WPIX, Inc., and affiliated with the New York Daily News, with antenna located on the Empire State Building, New York, are now being equipped to broadcast RCA color television signals. Thus, New York City will be the only city in which comparative tests of the RCA color television system and the proposed color standards can be made off the air on more than one television channel. 5 www.americanradiohistory.com (d) Petitioners maintain a laboratory for color television test purposes in Astoria, Long Island, 2.8 'miles from

Load more