Development of television service standards and application to design of a television broadcast network

IN APRIL 1952, the Federal Communications Commission released its final report and order in television (TV) allocation proceedings which had been instituted in May 1948. In the intervening 4-year period, almost every shred of engineering information and evidence relative to the TV broadcasting service problem was examined and further explored by the industry itself and by working committees composed of industry and government members. This was, in part, the period of the famous, or infamous, TV “freeze” during which public clamor for TV service was at times reflected in Congressional rumblings. An examination of the data used by these engineers, and a study of the hypotheses wrought, yields an insight to the TV service standards of today as they are being applied in the development of TV broadcasting in the United States. We are now just entering upon the proof-of-performance phase for these standards. From the five stations operating before and during World War II, through the artificial period when the number of TV stations hovered around the 100 mark during the freeze period, we have emerged during the past year to a point when the number of stations operating has reached approximately 200, the total number of stations authorized has reached approximately 500, and the present channel assignment table of the Federal Communications Commission provides for 2,000 stations in 1,285 cities and towns.