 In smaller markets, with a limited number of stations, DuMont and ABC were often relegated to secondary status, so their programs got clearance only if the primary network was off the air or delayed via kinescope recording ("teletranscriptions" in DuMont parlance).Adding to DuMont's troubles was the FCC's 1948 "freeze" on television license applications.This was done to sort out the thousands of applications that had come streaming in, but also to rethink the allocation and technical standards laid down prior to World War II.