DuMont: Difference between revisions

The fourth network from the early days of television (1946-1956) in the United States, though actually the third to come to the air. It eventually failed, as its problems included [[No Budget]]; an FCC ruling restricting the number of stations it could own (because of part-ownership by Paramount, which itself owned two VHF TV stations); not having an associated radio network to bring over affiliates, programs and performers (and absorb costs); and a forced over-dependence on UHF stations in an era when the tuners weren't standard equipment. (The All Channel Receiver Act required UHF from 1964 onward, but by then eighty of the first 100 UHF TV stations launched in 1953-54 had gone bankrupt, most in their first year of operation). As the majority of established VHF TV stations were owned by affiliates (mostly existing local radio and newspaper operators), the lack of a radio network left DuMont at a disadvantage as existing [[NBC]] and [[CBS]] AM radio network affiliates usually chose to remain with NBC and CBS, the dominant networks of the era, for their primary television affiliation.