Why even in 1976-1982 color tv where still expensive for people from USA?

[maxhifi]

TVs used to be considered expensive, growing up in a middle class family, we only had one TV, and it was nearly 20 years old before it was retired. Also, there was a group of people who had only ever had black and white, and wanted the new one to be the same. I heard the justification that black and white is cheaper to repair, well into the 80s.