Come-On in Color

In Japan today, there are exactly six color TV receivers in the hands of private owners. But at 60 railroad stations and other public places within transmitting distance of Tokyo last week, hundreds of thousands of Japanese enthusiastically gathered before sets supplied by the Nippon Television Network and watched two hours of daily color programs.

NTV President Matsutaro Shoriki, 74, had tried the same sort of approach seven years ago when his TV network was just getting started in black and white. He spotted 220 RCA receivers in parks, railroad stations, back alleys. Today, with about 4,000,000 black-and-white receivers across Japan, NTV earns a profit of more than $1,000,000 a year.

For his color project, Shoriki has lined up a regular schedule of baseball games and judo, has signed the taped Perry Como show for a year. With such attractions, he figures that demand will soon drive the price of color receivers down far enough to fit the budget of the average televiewer, is planning to set up color studios all over Southeast Asia. Says Shoriki : "I want Japan to be the first country in the world to have full-scale color TV in operation. I want Japan to beat the U.S. to it."

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