I have seen several mentions of the difficulties encountered by UK TV manufacturers in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Can someone explain what caused this?
I was reminded of it by reading an article today in Les Echos, a French business-oriented newspaper (
http://tinyurl.com/ybyx7d87 -- in French). It turns out that TV sales in France collapsed by 46 percent in the first six months of this year: total sales of 2 million units compared to 3.9 million units in the year before. This is causing a big buildup in store inventory, especially of high-end sets, and a lot of discounting in the form of cash-back offers.
This is partly because sales were boosted unusually high last year by the switch in the standard used in France for over-the-air TV (from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4) and also by the European Cup football. It is also being blamed, in the long term, on the increasing use of smartphones, tablets and PCs to watch TV.
But the general analysis is that after a big boost last year, sales are likely to stabilize at around 5 million flat-screen units per year, compared to 4.5 million units per year in the days of CRT TVs. So, a mixed picture.