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FHIHAX A.T 5 High Court Upholds FCC on Equal Time Washington, D.C. — The Supreme Court decided last week to leave the FCC exemption for the president's Oct. 18 speech unchallenged by refusing to hear the Goldwater plea for equal time under the Communications Act. Justices Arthur J. Goldberg and Hugo L. Black dissented. Earlier, the U.S. Court of Appeals in a split 3-3 vote technically upheld the FCC decision. Although the Appeals Court issued no written comment, and withheld record of the vote, the Supreme Misuse of Broadcast Ratings Hit by FCC Washington — The FCC has given a short-term license renewal to WIFEAM-FM Indianapolis for deceptive use of broadcast ratings in time sales to advertisers. FCC says the station ordered a Hooper three-month survey but used figures based on preliminary two-days' phone calls, in selling time. Also, the station "hyped" rating prospects by putting on a $113,000 giveaway contest just previous to the Jan. 6 starting date of the survey. WIFE protested the FCC charges, said it was "continuously" running giveaway contests and claimed that even the small-sample Hooper figures turned out to be "highly accurate" at the end of full rating period on ranking of eight Indianapolis stations. WIFE president Don W. Burden said he informed staff the figures covered only two days of sampling phone calls — but he admitted that he did not i warn them to make this fact known to customers. FCC accepts none of the WIFE defense claims. The commission says the fragmentary survey was represented to agency timebuyers in New York. Chicago and Indianapolis as a , -TfiorJn's survey, and did not tell about the giveaway contest. Also, Hooper had warned the station president not to use the two-day ratings outside. Station's alleged "validating" of the Hooper findings were simply a matter of going over figures on Hooper call sheets, FCC said. As to accuracy, it was not shown that WIFE's share of audience has declined, and that of the isecond-ranking station increased beItween January and June, 1964, FCC Isaid. Court dissent flatly disagrees with the FCC's exception in favor of the Johnson speech on foreign affairs. Justice Goldberg says the law "plainly" requires licensees to give equal time to all qualified candidates. "No exemption is made for a legally qualified candidate who is the incumbent president." Justices Goldberg and Black do not agree with the commission decision that the Johnson broadcast came under the "bona fide news" exemption category set up in 1959. In view of FCC inconsistencies in equal time rulings, the two justices would have preferred to hear argument denied by the majority. The dissent parallels that of commissioner Rosel Hyde, the only FCC member to dissent from the exemption decision. Both the U.S. Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court rushed into action, with unprecedented speed, within hours of the appeals from the Goldwater attorneys for a chance to argue the FCC decision. I Nielsen Defends Ratings | Radnor, Pa. — Defending both ratings and sampling methods used to determine ratings, A. C. Nielsen, Jr., head of the research firm, argues that the sample technique is a basic tool of research and that the methods used for tv ratings are comparable to the techniques his firm uses to predict estimated consumer sales for 658 manufacturers. Declared Nielsen in a Tv Guide magazine article: "Our tv ratings are reasonable estimates of the public's viewing habits . . . [and] our customers tell us that the accuracy is about right for their purposes." Admitting a margin of error, Nielsen said that when a program has a 30 rating, for example, the rating services estimate that 30 percent of all homes with tv sets are tuned to the show. Mathematically, he said, 19 out of 20 times such a rating taken from a probability sample will be off less than three points. To cut the margin of error in half, he concluded, would require a fourfold sample, and clients would not pay for this. FCC Urged Yes' on CATV Federal Regulation Washington — Monday was deadline at the FCC for comment on whether federal regulation is needed for wired CATV systems, and whether broadcasters should be permitted to own systems. As in the previous week, the flow of pleadings said "yes" to both questions. New aspects were shown in the NAB's monumental study of the CATV financial impact on local tv service. It is substantial, according to researcher Dr. Franklin M. Fisher. Equipment manufacturers' association (TAME) pleaded for a freeze on the "hundreds" of local CATV franchise applications in process until federal regulation decision is completed. The Fisher report proves scientifically "what everyone has known all along," said one economist: the close relatedness of tv audience to revenue. The two move up the scale together in such close tandem as to vindicate networks' shivery preoccupation with audience rating points, vis a vis revenue. In a broadscale study of all tv stations, relating revenues to audience, the researchers found that every single tv home in prime time adds $27 to a station's annual revenue. A correlation of station revenues (carded anonymously to protect trade secrets) from the FCC with American Research Bureau audience measurement figures, showed that changes in audience accounted for 90 percent of change in revenues. As for CATV impact, the study breaks down impact of an additional 1000 CATV homes in one and two station markets to show these average revenue losses: In a one-station market, where the station is not carried on the CATV channel, revenue drops an average of $14,000 annually. When the single station is carried but programing is duplicated (to the average extent of 35 half-hours weekly in prime time) on another CATV channel, loss is about $9400 annually per 1000 CATV homes. In a two-station market, the 1000 CATV home impact cuts a local station revenue by $8000 when the station is not carried; and by $2900 when its programing is duplicated on other CATV channels. November 2, 1964 CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE