Trouble & Television

In Manhattan papers last week, television shoppers saw some eye-catching ads: "From 24% to 60% discount . . . Save from $50 to $445." One store cut RCA's 7-in. table model from $250 to $139.95, Philco's 10-in. "Ensemble" from $329.50 to $219.95. Some of the sales were clearances of older and "one-of-a-kind" models. But other televendors were slashing prices because the rush to buy sets had slowed to a walk.

At the first hint of sliding sales this year, TV setmakers had shaved prices, stepped up production of low-priced models to entice the middle-income group. Nevertheless, customers waited for deeper slashes, cheaper models. Inventories piled up all along the line. Last week, to let sales catch up with production, General Electric laid off 350 workers in its 2,500-man television assembly division. Other producers were also cutting back.

Wall Streeters were also taking a hard second look at once-tempting television stocks and getting rid of them. Hard hit was Magnavox. In four months its stock had dropped from a high of 17 1/8 to 8. Last week it broke 2 1/8 points in one day of heavy selling, ended at 5 1/8|. This week it edged a little higher.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.