Amerikaanse toestanden: De eerste slag in de strijd om commerciële televisie

In 1955, the municipality of Rotterdam organised the exhibition National Energie Manifestatie 1955 (E55). With this, Rotterdam wanted to show all that had been achieved and built up in the ten years since the war. Trade, commerce and industry were prominently represented. In addition, a number of attractions were presented, including television. The Dutch television companies assumed they would be responsible for the presentations. They were wrong. At the initiative of Philips, the business sector had founded TV55, a foundation that also wanted to show television during the exhibition - but commercial television. Many meetings foliowed, after which the organisation finally selected TV55. This was the first battle to be lost in the prolonged war of the public television companies against the coming of commercial television in the Netherlands. In his article American Situations, Leo Akkermans gives a detailed sketch of how Hilversum came to taste defeat.