Chapter 773 Commercial Use of Television
Since Germany was defeated in World War I, the Allies at the time, under the insistence of the French, imposed quite severe restrictions on Germany, including prohibiting the research of any heavy firepower weapons.
The heavy firepower weapons here do not only refer to those aircraft and tanks, but also machine guns, large-caliber rifles and small artillery.
To put it simply, in addition to being equipped with rifles and pistols, the current German army is basically prohibited from developing other weapons.
The birth of submachine guns in history was largely due to the restrictions imposed by the Allies on Germany.
After the Germans were unable to research larger-scale weapons, they could only find another way to invent a new weapon, that is, a submachine gun that uses pistol ammunition but has a firing rate comparable to that of a machine gun.
Britain and France do not care about the submachine guns that the Germans are researching. On the one hand, Germany's intelligence work is very good, and the data of the latest submachine guns being studied has not been leaked.
On the other hand, Britain and France do not care about weapons such as submachine guns. After all, there is also a certain development of submachine guns in Britain and France.
However, the two countries did not attach as much importance to this weapon with relatively large limitations as imagined.
The firepower of the submachine gun is strong, but the killing range and lethality are much smaller, and it is not suitable for large-scale combat battlefields.
The stage-like intelligence personnel's lurking and espionage war that is more suitable for submachine guns is also the reason why Britain and France gradually relaxed the Germans' research on submachine guns.
Hitler did not know this. In his eyes, this is the fear of Britain and France for himself and Germany.
Coupled with the great success of Italy, Hitler was determined to develop more powerful weapons to increase the combat effectiveness of the German army.
Because he had withdrawn from the World Alliance, Hitler understood that he had to find one or more allies with similar consciousness to bear the pressure for himself and give himself enough time to develop.
Italy is a good choice, but Hitler was a little hesitant. After all, the performance of the Italian army in the war can only be said to be unsatisfactory, but it also has the advantage of similar ideology.
In the end, Hitler decided to meet with Mussolini in person to talk. If Germany can get an ally in the Mediterranean, it would be a good thing.
But Italy cannot be relied on completely. Looking at the European situation map in his hand, Hitler felt so eager for the Austrian region for the first time.
The current Austrian Empire still has the strength of a great power. If Germany can unify the whole of Germany and annex Austria, the integration strength will definitely not be weaker than the former German Empire.
Compared with the cooperation with Austria during World War I, the current Hitler is more keen to directly annex Austria and let Germany control the war.
But Austria is not so easy to annex. Especially now Austria is not as fragmented as it was in history, and most of Czechoslovakia is still under the rule of the Austrian Empire.
In this case, if Britain and France can still allow Austria to be annexed by Germany, it can only be said that Britain and France have given up the hope of winning.
This is actually the reason why Arthur did not support the division of Austria after World War I. As long as Austria is relatively unified, the difficulty for Germany to annex Austria in World War II will increase infinitely.
As long as Germany cannot annex Austria and Czechoslovakia, Germany's industry will not return to its peak level, and it is even more impossible to quickly arm a large army.
Although the situation in Europe is relatively chaotic at present, it is still difficult to have a large-scale war.
As the two most powerful countries, although Britain and France are independent and have conflicts with each other, they are unwilling to have a serious conflict with each other.
Under the influence of Britain and France, the various struggles caused in Europe have basically ended peacefully, and Europe will not be in chaos in a short time.
Under such circumstances, Arthur is happy to focus on Australasia and pay attention to domestic development.
The biggest good news in the country at present should be the development of entertainment, that is, the commercialization of television.
Televisions have been born for several years, but how to reduce the cost of televisions and make televisions stably receive and broadcast pictures are important factors affecting the full commercialization of televisions.
In this regard, after several years of hard research, Baird still has quite outstanding achievements.
Under Arthur's instructions, Baird established Baird Television Co., Ltd., which is responsible for the research and development and manufacture of new televisions.
Because of the experience from later generations, Arthur still attaches great importance to television. Even if the current television is just a relatively bulky black and white TV with a small screen, it can still bring great changes to people's entertainment life.
The role of television will be more extensive than radio. In terms of cultural output and external influence, television can do much more than radio.
On February 2, 1931, Arthur personally came to Baird Television Company to watch the latest television that Baird said.
This private enterprise that seems to have nothing to do with the royal family is actually the largest shareholder and controller of the royal consortium.
According to previous practice, the royal consortium invested 2 million Australian dollars as the initial capital of the television company, accounting for 98% of the shares of the television company.
The remaining 2% of the shares were given to Baird as a reward, which was also a motivation to encourage him to develop more new televisions and accelerate the technological progress of the television industry.
The news of Arthur's coming was conveyed to Baird in advance, making Baird very excited and decided to organize some senior executives and employees of the company to welcome him.
If Baird didn't know that Arthur didn't like to make too many people, he would have even planned to organize the entire company's employees to welcome Arthur.
At noon on this day, Arthur's convoy finally arrived at the gate of Baird TV Company.
This company is located in an industrial area on the outskirts of Saint Arthur Castle, occupying a very good place.
Because the industrial area is relatively large, Baird TV Company not only has a large storage area, but the company's gate also looks very high-end.
For this company under his control, this is Arthur's first visit. The current feeling is pretty good, proving that Baird still attaches great importance to this TV company.
It's normal to think about it. After all, Baird also owns 2% of the shares, and the current value has exceeded 40,000 Australian dollars.
As long as Baird works hard for the TV company and strives to develop more new TVs, the value of his shares will only increase.
Moreover, up to now, the TV company has not sold any TVs.
As long as the TV sets released can gain the trust of the public, the company's market value will soar and its profits will increase.
"What about the latest TV set?" Arthur couldn't wait to ask Baird when they met.
The first TV set disappointed Arthur a little, but according to Baird's description, the latest TV set has a big improvement in size and screen area, which re-awakened Arthur's interest.
"It's all ready in the experimental area, Your Majesty." Baird introduced with a smile: "At present, our latest TV sets can ensure that the cost is controlled below 150 Australian dollars per set, and in our previous tests, the radio wave signals received by all TV sets are very stable, and there will be basically no problems in use."
Arthur nodded, and was quite satisfied with such a cost.
Although the cost of the TV set at the beginning was less than 140 Australian dollars, the Australian dollar did not experience much depreciation at that time.
Although 150 Australian dollars now seems a lot, for most people, it is more than a year's income, which is an affordable expense.
Of course, the actual selling price is definitely not more than 150 Australian dollars. But the price of TV in Australasia would not be so exaggerated.
After all, Arthur wanted to use TV to realize his own public opinion and information control, and export cultural works to the outside world, rather than just relying on selling TV to make money.
"How big is the current TV screen? Will there be freezes and blurs in the middle of the screen?" Arthur continued to ask.
When the TV was first tested, it would occasionally freeze and blur when receiving and playing the screen.
After all, the TV was the most initial version at that time, and it was several years ahead of the world, so Arthur didn't care, but asked Baird to solve these problems as much as possible.
But now, TV is not a leading technology in the world.
There are definitely TV industries in various countries, but the products they manufacture do not meet the expectations of the people. Or the price is too expensive, and the potential audience is not most civilians for the time being.
But for those capitalists and nobles who have a lot of money in their hands, TV is just a pastime that does not cost much.
"At present, the screen of our latest TV has been enlarged to 1.5 times the size of the previous one, which is about the size of six apples." Seeing Arthur's unsatisfied look, Baird continued: "But we have also made improvements to it. At present, there are two models of the latest TV, namely the regular version and the enlarged version.
The regular version of the TV screen is about the size of six apples, and the enlarged version of the TV screen is about the size of eight apples. It should be the TV with the largest screen in the world.
The regular version and the enlarged version only differ in screen size, and the cost difference is 10 Australian dollars.
According to your instructions, the price of the regular version of the TV will be set at 178 Australian dollars per unit, and the price of the enlarged version of the TV will be set at 188 Australian dollars per unit.
According to our tests, the two new TVs are very stable in receiving signals and playing pictures, and there will be no freezes or blurs."
Using apples to describe the size of the TV screen actually started when Arthur first saw the first generation of TVs and lamented that the TV screen was only the size of four apples.
It is precisely because of this degree of aptness that Baird took the initiative to say that the screen size was equivalent to the size of several apples when describing it, so that Arthur could make a judgment.
In fact, for the current TV industry, a TV screen the size of eight apples is really not small, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the largest screen.
If there is no interference and participation from Australasia, the rise of the TV industry will have to wait for several years, but it has been advanced by several years.
Soon it came to the actual test phase of the TV.
Although it was only a black and white TV, Arthur, who had not seen a TV for a long time, was still looking forward to it.
Although TV series and movies are played on the same screen, there is still a big difference between the two.
Although there is no limit on the length of movies, the length of Australasia movies is generally 2 to 3 hours, and there are basically no movies that are too long or too short.
After all, the highest goal of most film manufacturers is to make money, and the length of the movie will also affect people's desire to watch movies.
Because of the copyright and profit issues of movies, most movies are definitely difficult to watch on TV.
This also creates the biggest difference between movies and TV series. As a home appliance, TV sets must enter people's homes.
For Arthur, the cultural influence and output role that TV series can play is much higher than that of movies to a certain extent.
Moreover, a large number of TV series that Arthur needs to shoot a certain concept can subtly influence people's ideas.
To put it bluntly, it is brainwashing. Through this brainwashing method, people will be more relaxed and willing to accept it.
As long as TV sets can be put into commercial use in large quantities and are widely accepted by the public, Arthur will immediately start shooting a large number of TV series about promoting the national concept of Australasia.
I believe that under the influence and bombardment of a large number of TV series, people's acceptance of the national concept of Australasia will become higher and higher.
Impact on adults and education for children. I believe that within a few years, there will only be one nation left in Australasia, and that is the Australasians.
Arthur can also easily control the public opinion of the whole country with various information output devices including televisions.
Even if war breaks out in the future, with the help of public opinion, Arthur can easily mobilize the national sentiment of the whole country, unite the country into a rope, and better deal with the war.
"How is the current production line construction? When can these TVs enter mass production?" After the final test was completely completed, Arthur was already looking forward to further controlling public opinion through TVs in the future.
"At present, we have built four production lines, and it is expected that the maximum weekly production of 3,500 TVs can be achieved." Baird replied.
"Not enough, Mr. Baird." Arthur shook his head and said somewhat dissatisfiedly: "Our domestic TV market alone is definitely more than tens of thousands of units.
Looking at the world, the sales of TVs can easily exceed hundreds of thousands of units. I hope that in the next period of time, you can focus on the task of building production lines and strive to make the production of TVs exceed 10,000 units per week."
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