Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

4 JANUARY 4, 1960 There will be fewer Westerns, less violence, more family series and a resurgence of comedy — even in dramatic shows. Producers will also look for offbeat (but not uncommercial) series, musicals and musical dramas. Odds are for reduced production of 60-min. series because of undistinguished records of most such new shows last year. Producers, despite their reluctance to invest in pilots, will again find this the best way to sell a show, particularly since most series sold via presentations last year did not make good. The independents will continue to dominate TV film, with Revue an odds-on favorite to retain its No. 1 rank, and Screen Gems will lead the majors. Networks' TV-film subsidiaries will increase production, but won't approach the volume of the top independents. There will be considerable turnover among executive personnel at the telefilm companies, come the spring show-casualty season. TV guilds will get part of the higher residuals & minimums they seek. Some major film studios may go out of production but remain in the business by financing & releasing independents' pictures. They will thus be able to sell their post1948s without fear of guild reprisals. Universal-International probably will be the first to sell. There will be more concentration on vehicles than stars, as a result of disappointing series premieres by Jime Allyson, Joel McCrea, Keenan Wynn, Dennis O'Keefe, Betty Hutton. Tape will make little progress toward infiltrating the TV film industry this year. The movie & TV-film industries will finally reach agreement on establishment of a registration bureau to avoid title conflicts. Syndication: Limited growth of domestic syndication market is seen by most large syndicators for 1960. Network expansion into marginal early-evening & late-night time slots and network logjam in 2station & 1-station markets will continue to keep sales field tight. There'll be some advance in number of syndicated comedies & documentaries laimched (paralleling network trends) but most new syndicated shows will be tailored to familiar action-adventure formulas. Overseas film syndication will grow noticeably in terms of percentage sales gain over 1959, but still won't amount to more than 25% of the domestic market value. Daytime TV market, particularly in stripped reruns of comedy shows, will be expanded by syndicators at station level. Features will again be in short supply with no early end in sight to the wrangling between Hollywood majors & talent guilds on TV residual formulas for release of post-1948 movies. Educational TV: ETV will continue to grow. At least 5 (possibly more) new educational stations certainly will be on air before 1960 is out, bringing total to 50 or more (vs. 35 at end of 1958). It will be year of ETV's most ambitious ventures, too: $7-million "Stratovision" experiment in midwest, launching of $20million electronic campus project centered at Princeton. Increasing blue-chip financial support for ETV stations will come from corporate formdations in addition to Ford Foundation, whose multi-million dollar outlays will continue. And there's good chance that House Commerce Committee will remove blocks from final Congressional passage of twice-pigeonholed bill by Sen. Magnuson (D-Wash.) for $51 million in grants to states for ETV facilities. Senate-approved measure may be revised in House to require states to match federal funds, but ETV advocats who have pleaded for years for federal help won't argue about that. Boosters & Community Antennas: FCC's proposed vhf booster (translator) rules will be come final with little change, and booster operators will be given plenty of time to conform. Western station and CATV operators will finally call off their debilitating feud when the latter agree to keep from duplicating programs carried by stations in their communities. Pending CATV-regulation bills will then be shelved or drastically watered down — and most pending litigation will be called off or settled through compromise. CATV systems won't increase greatly in numbers, but customers-per-system will show steady but unspectacular growth. It will be a record year for system sales & swaps because CATV systems are running out of depreciation; if they buy or swap they get a new lease on depreciation — and a fine tax break. TelePrompTer will become a name to reckon with as it buys more systems. Closed-Circuit TV: More diversification in closed-circuitcasting — including regularly scheduled medical seminars, heavy usage in 1960 political campaigns & growing number of permanent TV installations in ad agencies for commercial experimentation — will be seen in 1960. But real backbone of the closed-circuit business will still be business-&-sales meetings, with production budgets being steadily increased. Overall billings in industry should hit $12 million this year, up 30% from 1959. TNT Telesessions & TelePrompTer both expect to go over the $3-million mark in 1960. Most closed-circuit firms plan to increase their creative & service staffs this year to meet demands of non-broadcast TV customers for everything-under-one-roof facilities.