Pretty Picture

For the millions of Americans who wonder when the price of color television will come down, the TV set manufacturers cite the title of one of the popular network shows: The Price Is Right. As far as they are concerned, it seems to be. They are selling all the sets they can produce -- at any price.

Because the makers are unable to keep up with rising demand, many frustrated customers now find they must wait up to six weeks for delivery. Says Zenith President Joseph Wright: "Everybody underestimated the strength of the color market for the last two months of 1964, and the demand has carried over into 1965."

Instead of slumping as usual after the Christmas rush, color-TV sales have continued to climb, are running at a rate 70% ahead of the record established last year (1,400,000 color sets sold). This industry expects a further lift this fall, when 96% of NBC's prime-time shows will be in color and CBS and ABC will also greatly increase color programming (TIME, March 19). Zenith's Wright predicts that the number of U.S. families with color sets will jump this year from 2,800,000 to 5,300,000--or one U.S. family in nine.

Though many would-be purchasers grumble about the high cost of color, price seems to be secondary to style and quality in the eyes of most buyers. Discount houses commonly offer small, 19-in. color sets for less than $300, and RCA last week temporarily cut the list price of its cheapest set from $400 to $380 in a one-shot promotion. These stripped-down, metal-encased models do not move as fast as the higher-priced ones; the hottest sellers are the walnut or mahogany models that have such popular accessories as remote controls and automatic demagnetizers and sell for $500 or more.

Practically all the large, living-room TV sets now sold are color. Black-and-white has been relegated to the family's back rooms; fully 70% of the monochrome models sold today are portable sets that list for $150 or less and are meant for bedrooms and dens. Because of the high volume of portables and the trend toward multi-TV families, black-and-white sales are up 12 1/2% this year, are expected to reach 8,000,000 sets. "The beautiful part about color television," says Motorola's Vice President Sylvester Herkes, "is that it has not displaced the black-and-white market." This year, however, most manufacturers expect that the dollar volume of color sales will top that of black and white, reaching $1.2 billion v. monochrome's $1.1 billion.

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