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Economic Impact of Radio '95 |
Appendix 2 . The Colour Television Experience
The last major change in television transmission standards was the change from monochrome to colour, with the first colour broadcasts beginning in 1967. There was also a contemporaneous technology change as picture quality went from 405 to 625 lines. Colour services could only be received on new colour sets and on 625 line monochrome sets, although the latter were only capable of displaying colour services in monochrome. Old 405 line monochrome sets were not capable of receiving the colour broadcasts.
The purchase of colour televisions was promoted by a number of factors:
TV set replacement cycle
A number of early adopters chose to upgrade to the new colour television sets soon after its introduction. Moreover, as existing sets reached the end of their life cycle, consumers tended to choose the models capable of receiving colour. 405-line TV sets were gradually withdrawn from production, although 625 line monochrome sets continued to be produced.
The same programmes (BBC 1 and ITV) were simultaneously broadcast in 405 line monochrome and 625 line colour.
BBC 2 was launched in the 625 line standard in 1964. This service was the first to be colourised in 1967 with the extent of colour broadcasting gradually being increased across the programme schedules of all channels over the next few years.
405 line VHF transmission were shut down some 15 years after the introduction of 625-line services. By that time, only a few thousand residual 405-line set households remained. The final closure plans were in part determined by the performance of VHF transmitters which did not always get replaced as they failed.
The transition of consumers from monochrome to colour sets took rather longer than the 405 to 625-line switch, and is considered further below.
The displacement of monochrome sets
It is difficult to assess the relative improvement to the consumer of the transition from monochrome to colour pictures against that offered by a move from analogue to digital television. Moreover, the retro-compatibility of colour broadcasts with 625-line monochrome sets provides a further difference to the comparison. Analysis of the colour television experience does, however, provide some useful insights into the issues and problems involved in replacing an existing generation of television receivers with a new generation of more expensive ones. In this sense, it raises issues of relevance to the planned transition from analogue to digital.
The advent of colour was accompanied by the introduction of a new colour television licence from January 1968. Figure A2.1, below, shows the diffusion of colour television in terms of the increasing number of colour television licences in force and shows the decline in the number of monochrome only households.
Figure A2.1
Source: Post Office.
The chart clearly shows how the take-up of colour television followed the classic sigmoid (S-shaped) pattern familiar to many new product introductions. Initial take-up was slow, due in part to the price premium of colour sets over monochrome and in part because of the unfamiliarity of consumers with the new technology. The take-up rate accelerated markedly around 1971, as colour became the technology of choice when replacing the main television set.
What the chart also clearly shows is that the displacement of monochrome sets was a gradual rather than a sudden process. Even in 1987, some twenty years after the introduction of colour, 2.4 million monochrome licences (equivalent to 23% of total television households) remained in force.
Moreover, many of the colour TV licence households retained their existing monochrome set(s). The typical pattern was for the new colour television to become the main set situated in the living room, while the old monochrome set would be moved to the bedroom or kitchen. In the context of analogue closure, it is important to consider not only the number of households that have switched but also the number of analogue sets remaining in use.
Figure A2.2 shows the colour television experience with respect to the number of monochrome and colour sets in use. Comparison with Figure A2.1 shows that the displacement of monochrome was even longer when measured by the number of sets in use. In 1987, 8.5 million monochrome sets remained in use, equivalent to a set penetration rate of 44% of television households.
Source: BREMA
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