Re: Why Did UK TV Sales Collapse in late 50s/early 60s?
There's some discussion of the effects of late-1950s Government "stop-go" economic policy on TV sales in "The Setmakers".
Basically, purchase-tax [which made up a large proportion of the sale-price of a TV] and the deposit needed for a hire-purchase or a rental, were varied several times in short order.
Imagine if VAT went from 8% to 40% to 45% to 10% to 40% in a period of 3 years, and at the same time you alternatively needed 1 month's, 5 month's, a year's a month's and 9 months upfront deposit if renting.
[Remember also that a TV was still an expensive item so if you were saving for one and the price suddenly shot up you'd might find you needed to save for quite a few months more before being able to afford it]
Industry trying to plan production in this environment would get into a mess: there was at one time a massive stockpile of unsold TVs when a market-slump happened because of sudden changes in Government tax policy.
There was also the 'ramp-up' in sales/rentals with the coming of ITV - after a few years, once the demand for ITV-capable TVs was largely satisfied a market slump set in.
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