State Committee for Cinematography
Like in the United States, this period is notable for great many television plays broadcast on Soviet television. For example, in 1951–1954 the Central Television Studio broadcast three to six plays a week. As time went on, the quantity and quality of the theatrical television productions diminished. The reasons were technical, social, and economic. Staging a new production in a television studio every other day was expensive. The shortage of mobile cameras often precluded broadcasting live performance from a theater. Theaters became increasingly reluctant to offer their shows to television, claiming that television draws the public away from theaters. Some theatrical directors prohibited actors to participate in television shows. Theaters started demanding payment for broadcasting of their plays, and by the end of 1960s the frequency of theatrical shows fell to one show a week. Because the State Committee for Cinematography would hold freshly released movies from television broadcast, television studios started producing their own made-for-TV movies.