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Bid for Growth. Though Zenith helped pioneer the development of radio, it has been inclined in recent years to let others do the costly research and development of new products. It counted on making the same products later—and better. But under Wright's prodding, Zenith has more than doubled its research outlay. One result is a new system for broadcasting stereophonic FM. Anticipating a mass switch by stereo buffs from records to radios, Zenith is preparing to produce a new line of stereo-FM radio receivers.
Zenith's most daring bid for continued growth is pay TV. Though other TV-equipment makers profess to see little future in pay TV, Zenith has spent more than $10 million perfecting its Phone-vision system, which transmits by air a jittered picture that is then decoded by a device installed in each subscriber's set.
To test the potentialities of pay TV. Zenith got FCC permission to conduct a three-year test in Hartford, Conn. The experiment has been stalled by lawsuits brought by local theater owners, but Wright hopes to be able to push on with it within nine months. If the Hartford test is successful. Zenith will be in the enviable position of holding patents for the nation's first proven system of over-the-air transmission of pay TV to private homes.