The Big Picture

The insatiable appetite of Western Europeans for television has made one major contribution to a united Europe. Electronics, respecting no borders, has spawned a loose-knit TV network that links--through a system of coaxial cables and microwave relays--all the non-Communist countries of Europe except Spain, Portugal, Norway and Finland.

Called Eurovision, the international hookup was born in 1950. Individual countries can arrange for transmission of special events. For example, if a championship Italian soccer team goes to play in Britain, the Italian stations can arrange for a telecast, usually send an Italian announcer to provide the on-the-spot commentary.

The Brussels World's Fair has brought Eurovision's busiest beaming so far. A broadcast of the mid-April opening-day ceremonies was seen by an estimated 30 million in twelve countries, was described by announcers in six languages. This week, from the fair, Eurovision will crack the language barrier by telecasting a pictorial quiz game intelligible to all viewers. Though direct telecasting between Soviet Russia and Eurovision countries is not yet possible, Eurovision breached the Iron Curtain last month when Czechoslovakia and Hungary were hooked into the network.

The video boom is far more than Europe-wide. At latest count, the U.S. Information Agency reports a total of 417 TV stations and 15.5 million receivers in operation in the free world overseas (i.e., exclusive of the U.S. and Canada). By year's end, estimates the USIA, headlong expansion will push the figures to 537 stations and 25 million receiving sets. In the Communist bloc, television is burgeoning almost as rapidly. Red countries are now estimated to have 87 stations, are expected to add 28 more during 1958; they have nearly 3,000,000 receivers in use.

Though there are still some vast TV blanks in heavily populated parts of the world (see map)--notably India, China and southern Africa--antennas are sprouting in unlikely places. A considerable number (27) of stations have been erected by the U.S. armed forces for the families of military personnel attached to air and naval bases, or military advisory groups in far-flung areas. Though their programs are almost entirely old films or filmed shows from the U.S., the natives have rushed to buy sets for themselves, even when they know no English. After an armed forces transmitter went up at Asmara in Eritrea, Americans found their opposite numbers coming to them with a familiar complaint: the children were neglecting their homework and skimping meals because it was impossible to drag them away from the great grey tube.

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