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by Bruce Tyson

Created on: January 09, 2010   Last Updated: January 10, 2010

Since the 1920's when television was first gaining traction in modern society, the need for television repair has been present. Together with radio, television helped create new business opportunities and new occupations. While most people alive have never taken a television in for repair, and even fewer have ever had a repairman visit their home to work on their television, TV repair is not a thing of the past as many people might think. Consistent with the nature of almost every segment of the economy, television repair has evolved over time.

= Reasons why demand for TV repair developed =

Two factors were involved in the creation of the television repair market: the several aspects of expense and technology and quality.

* Expense

The need for television repair exploded with the burgeoning availability of television sets and television programming during the first half of the twentieth century. As more people acquired televisions, more demand for repair developed.

Early television sets were very expensive for several reasons. First, television service was new and in high demand. In light of a short list of television manufacturers, supply was limited, pushing prices higher. Furthermore, earlier televisions were also considered as furniture. Being in the days before particle board and laminates, these units were made of solid wood were nice additions to living rooms everywhere. Finally, the technology in televisions made them expensive. Although the vacuum tubes, capacitors, resistors, and tuners used seem archaic to us, they represented the bleeding edge of technology. As with any new technology, the cost of production was quite high. Television repair became an industry of its own during this time because the cost of televisions made repair more economical than replacement when units stopped working properly.

* Technology and quality

The technology involved in the design of television sets was new and took decades to perfect. Because of this, designs sometimes were not only inefficient, but unstable and failure prone. Components that had either never had been produced before or had never been produced in such a high quantity before were required to manufacture televisions, introducing even more quality problems.

= Reasons why demand for TV repair plummeted =

Even as incremental improvements in technology and quality were witnessed through the 1930s to the 1960s, the demand for televisions continued to increase at a steady rate, resulting in increased demand for television repair. Although the cost of repairs tended to decline, the number of repairs increased, making the occupation of television repair person a viable one. Still, the writing was on the wall, and the market for television repair saw sharp declines beginning in the 1970s. In fact the same factors that worked to create demand for television repair ended up reducing that demand.

Two factors were involved in the decline of the television repair market: the several aspects of expense and technology and quality.

* Expense

As manufacturing processes matured and became streamlined, the cost to produce televisions went down. This mean that more television sets could be produced at lower costs. More television manufacturers entered the market, many of them overseas, in effort to maintain profit through economies of scale. This inundation of supply into the market drove prices down to unprecedented levels.

The demand for televisions leveled off as the market became thoroughly saturated. Almost everyone who wanted a television had one, so the maturing market was fueled primarily by replacements and upgrades rather than by initial purchases. This decrease in demand accelerated the decline in the purchase cost of television.

Previously, people would spend several months' income to purchase a television, now the cost of a television could be earned in a matter of weeks, days or hours. People began opting to buy new, better performing television sets rather than repairing their old ones.

* Technology and quality

Even as the advances in technology contributed to the reduced cost of televisions, those advances made televisions last longer before failure. In fact, the primary reason for purchasing a new television changed from replacing a broken television to replacing a working television with a unit with better technology. The trend toward fewer unit failures continues to this day.

As the cost of televisions declined and quality increased, the cost of repairs remained the same and the number or repairs decreased. As repair services worked to lower their cost, fewer could stay in business, leading to the decline of - not the demise of - the television repair market.

= Reasons why TV repair is still needed now. =

Television repair is still around today and probably will be, although on a minuscule scale compared to its heyday. That the same two reasons that created and reduced the market for television repair are the same reasons why that market continues to exist is not surprising.

* Expense

Some televisions sold are very expensive. Whether their cost is due to size or specialization, certain televisions on the market will continue to be more economical to repair than to replace.

* Technology and quality

The market for older televisions will always continue. Some people might collect older units. Other television owners want to keep their sets for sentimental reasons. Others will need to repair television sets for sale on the secondary market.

Regardless of quality, televisions will never last forever. Regardless of cost, not every television will be replaced. TV repair is alive and well.

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