Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 252 Channel Distribution Rights

In fact, the first TV shows were transplanted from the radio.

With the addition of some broadcast material for visual elements, the original TV program was pieced together.

In the early days, because the development of television was still in its infancy, most of the programs were broadcast live, usually on weekday evenings, for a few hours.Until later, with the popularization of television sets, the form of TV programs expanded from the original weekday evenings to daytime and weekends, and the forms became more colorful, but still mainly transplanted radio programs.

Relying on the experience summed up by radio, the talents cultivated by radio, and the funds provided by radio advertising, TV programs quickly caught up with radio in terms of variety.

The programs transplanted from the radio include music, variety shows, drama and burlesque performances, quizzes and some programs that the audience can participate in, as well as news reports and special programs that broadcast major events and live events.

It can be said that without the accumulation of broadcasting in the "golden age of radio", there would be no glory of television later.

The era of television's true prosperity was, in fact, the era of entertainment programming.

In order to attract audiences and thereby attract advertisements, TV stations have vigorously developed drama entertainment programs, and various reality show variety shows emerge in endlessly.

This is why Ferro Farnsworth often criticizes television in the later period.

Of course, just as the newspaper industry resisted broadcasting, the early film industry also did not welcome television. At that time, the major film studios and independent producers felt the potential threat of television and refused to sell the latest films to TV stations, resulting in Film sources for TV shows have never been sufficient, with only early film content available.

This also led to the development of TV sitcoms later.

Since the film industry doesn't cooperate, I will shoot the TV series myself.

Radio brought a host of sitcoms straight from the air to the screen, and the show set the standard for television comedy for decades to come.This makes TV dramas the second pillar of TV development after entertainment programs.

……

In the face of what Ke Lin instilled, it is the crystallization of decades of future TV development.

William Paley felt greatly benefited.

As the person in charge of CBS, he is very clear about the context of this industry, and it is precisely because of this that he can better feel that the development prospects created by Ke Lin in the TV description are really achievable.

"Forgive my gaffe, Mr. Colin..."

Taking a deep breath and trying to suppress his excitement, William Paley apologized to Colin.

"If the future development of TV is really as good as you said, how can we ensure that our cooperation with each other can go on smoothly? As far as I know, not only CBS, but also NBC Red and Blue Network are also trying to produce TV programs. .”

"Channel."

Facing the doubts raised by William Paley, Colin also had a well-thought-out plan.

In fact, this is why he took the initiative to seek cooperation with CBS.

"Just as radio broadcasts need to be adjusted, TV channels also need to be manually searched, and as a TV manufacturer, they can be arranged in a fixed way."

"Arrange channels independently!"

Colin's words made William Paley's breath, which had finally calmed down, become a little quicker again.

Band, frequency range, although it looks inconspicuous.

But for the radio station, it is a vital existence.

Thinking of this, William Paley couldn't help but glanced at Colin in front of him. He finally understood why the other party was so interested in TV.

As long as they have mastered the distribution of TV channels, the other party has indirectly mastered the dominance of the entire TV.

In the future, as long as the radio station enters the TV market, the TV channel in Ke Lin's hands will be needed.

Even William Paley couldn't help being a little moved by the interests involved in this.

"I see, Mr. Colin, I'll relay all this to CBS Radio..."

Speaking of this, William Paley took a deep breath: "I believe they will also make a prudent decision."

Although he didn't reply right away, judging from William Paley's attitude, he had apparently been persuaded by Colin and indirectly expressed his support.

"I also look forward to CBS's decision, after all, our cooperation has been very pleasant before this."

Colin's words made the smile on the corner of William Paley's mouth harden a bit.

Although the other party didn't say it out, William Paley is very clear that once there is a problem with the TV cooperation, there may be twists and turns in the follow-up cooperation of the "Superman Adventure" radio drama.

……

"Television, next radio!"

The day after the talk with CBS Radio, the Daily Courier ran a front-page story about the television.

"In 1921, a 14-year-old boy who was plowing potato fields in his hometown was distractedly thinking about a difficult problem: How to design a novel radio so that it can transmit moving pictures and sounds together?"

"On September 1927, 9, a young man named Ferro Farnsworth successfully used electronic technology to transmit the image of a glass plate with a line drawn on it from the camera to the receiver, successfully inventing the world The first electronic television set. This is a cross-age invention, and Ferro Farnsworth has also become the owner of this cross-age invention. Now, this great invention has officially entered the manufacturing stage. In the near future will be released..."

Although, it will take about half a month before Ferro Farnsworth actually produces a commercial TV.

But this does not prevent Colin from launching the publicity in the previous step, fulfilling the promise he made to Ferro Farnsworth at the beginning, and placing the name "Father of Television" on his head.

As the de facto largest newspaper in New York today, the "Daily Courier" has no doubts about its influence.

Although most of its influence comes from the accumulation of "Superman" serials, this does not prevent readers from watching other contents of the newspaper after chasing Superman's comics.

At the end of the day alone, the name Ferro Farnsworth was discussed by more than tens of thousands of people.

And television, something unfamiliar in the past, has also been remembered by the citizens of New York City with the publication of the "Daily Courier".

Of course, because there is no official production relationship, most people's discussion about the TV is still about its name and weird shape.

For the Daily Courier on the front page, for the frenzy of television.

Many people just think it's a little too exaggerated. After all, the "Magic Box" has been released for some time, but it didn't cause much discussion before that.

Some people may have heard the name of a television, but have not actually seen it.

More people saw the TV for the first time, but they saw the real appearance of the TV in the photo attached to the report of Ferro Farnsworth published in the "Daily Courier".

It is indeed like a square box.

Discussions among New Yorkers are more limited to the shape of the TV.

But on the other hand, the atmosphere at RCA was not so congenial.

"Who can tell me what all this is all about?"

In the Radio Corporation of America, President Vladimir Svrogin pointed to the report on Ferro Farnsworth in the "Daily Courier" and questioned everyone.

At present, American Radio Corporation has reached a critical stage in the manufacture of televisions, and it will not take long to develop them. At the same time, the company has already made preparations for publicity. As soon as the televisions are manufactured, they will start action immediately.

However, the news report of the "Daily Courier" broke the original plan of the Radio Corporation of America.

Vladimir Svrogin, as the president, is naturally aware of the source of inspiration for American Radio Corporation's current TV sets, so he is even more angry.

Frowning and rubbing his forehead, Vladimir Svrogin asked David Sanov, who was in charge of TV production in the company, "How is our current progress?"

Bowing his head and scanning the photo of Ferro Farnsworth in the "Daily Courier", David Sarnoff organized the language and said: "Zorikin has completed the development of image technology, as long as it is moved to the TV It should be able to let the TV transmit images..."

Zorikin was the 'industrial spy' who went to visit Ferro Farnsworth in San Francisco. He also worked for the radio company and was responsible for the development and research of television sets.

After all, he was the only one who had seen Ferro Farnsworth's invention in the first place.

"How long will it take?"

Vladimir Svrogin, as president of the Radio Corporation of America, was no unknown.

In fact, he was also an inventor, and even the machine he invented was also called a television, but obviously his invention was not successful.

"It's still a few months away."

David Sanov's words made Vladimir Svrogin frowned.

A few months, if it was before the report of the "Daily Courier" came out, he might not care too much about this little time.

However, with the news of the "Daily Courier" fermenting and brewing, and waiting until a few months later, the American radio company is producing a TV set, it is obvious that the initial opportunity has long been missed, and everyone will think that Ferro Fine Swarth is the inventor of television.

Although, this is an undeniable fact.

But this is obviously not a fact that Radio Corporation of America is willing to admit, not to mention that once Radio Corporation of America admits it, any TV produced by Radio Corporation of America must pay Ferro Farnsworth a certain patent fee .

The loss behind this is not something that Vladimir Svrogin, the president of the company, can bear.

Therefore, he must find a way to prevent the further development of this situation.

Otherwise, he, the president, will be done. In order to develop televisions, the American radio company has invested a lot of money, which is not an easy task during the Great Depression.

"Maybe we can try to make contact with Philo Farnsworth?"

Eyes fell on Ferro in the newspaper, David Sarnoff suggested.

"What, pay for his TV patent?"

Since RCA used Zorikin to steal Fero Farnsworth's invention, it naturally didn't think about paying patent fees.

"What's more, the current situation is that even if we are willing to cooperate with Ferro Farnsworth, the other party may not necessarily agree."

Vladimir pointed to the report in the "Daily Courier", which clearly mentioned that Colin and Ferro Farnsworth met and cooperated.

"What about Colin Luper?"

After glancing at the report Vladimir pointed to, David blurted out subconsciously.

But soon he realized that what he said was completely wishful thinking.

"At this point, the only way to go is the law."

After a while, Vladimir Svrogin spoke with a sigh.

"The legal way?"

Hearing Vladimir Svrogin's method, David Sanov was a little puzzled.

"But we don't have a TV patent right now. If we rashly engage in a legal battle, there is a high probability that we will fail."

The high probability mentioned by David Sarnoff is still a euphemism. In fact, based on the current situation of Radio Corporation of America, the patent lawsuit with Ferro Farnsworth has no other possibility except losing.

"My intention was never to win this lawsuit."

Naturally, Vladimir Svrogin was also well aware of this result.

"The purpose of the legal battle is just to muddy the water. Once it enters the judicial process, we can use it to promote that RCA is the actual owner of the TV patent. Even if we lose the lawsuit, it will be several years later. During this period, RCA could already produce a large number of televisions to seize the market."

"What's more, once it enters the judicial process, Ferro Farnsworth will not have so much time to concentrate on his own TV invention, which also gives us time for research and development. As long as we can develop a TV, even It’s just a prototype, and we will have an advantage in the public opinion market, after all, most people don’t pay much attention to the judicial results.”

Although it was Vladimir Svrogin's helpless move to go to court at first, but after analyzing it, he gradually realized that this might really be a good way.

What Vladimir Svrogin did was in fact the same process in which Radio Corporation of America and Ferro Farnsworth competed for television patents.

It's just that Ferro Farnsworth, the patentee of television, was the one who sued at that time.

Today it is the Radio Corporation of America.

"Arrange lawyers and let them immediately collect relevant information to prosecute Ferro Farnsworth. I will let him spend the rest of his time in legal battles."

(End of this chapter)