Word: fcc
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Half the nation is without television because of a construction "freeze" imposed in 1948 by the Federal Communications Commission. The ban on building new TV stations, supposed to last only a few months, actually lasted 3½-years, while FCC officials and the industry wrestled with the problems of color television, war scarcities and a shortage of TV channels. This week FCC finally lifted the ban, announced that in July it will start considering applications for new TV stations...
...there are only 108 TV stations in the U.S. The new FCC ruling assigns a total of 2,053 stations to 1,291 communities, which will virtually blanket the U.S. and its possessions, from Alaska to Puerto Rico, with TV. Two hundred forty-two stations are to be set aside for noncommercial "educational use." To make sure there is room enough for everybody, FCC is also assigning 70 new ultra high frequency channels to television...
...That the FCC would now suddenly relinquish the idea of educational television is doubtful. Nor is the main difficulty one of choosing between different areas, for there is a fairly clear idea of where these channels will be located...
...greatest problem concerns control of the new stations. Until two hundred new channels suddenly appeared, networks, newspapers, and other television-minded groups have been thoroughly frustrated by an FCC freeze on TV station licenses. Despite an ever-expanding market, these organizations have not been able to acquire new channels. Naturally the possibility of new channels has released a good deal of energy, most of which is focused on the FCC...
Boston is a case in point. At least four commercial groups, notably CBS, have petitioned the FCC for use of Channel 2. Although this pressure is not of itself sufficient to sway the FCC from its original purpose of educational television, when combined with the uncertainty of local educational groups, it may achieve that result anyway. For, if the Lowell Institute Council--which includes most of the colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston--does not take advantage of Channel 2 within a year or so, the commercial stations will probably be allowed to move...