Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL. 16: No. 3 7 Networks More about CBS EDITORIAL PLANS: In a move designed “to serve the public interest by stimulating thinking & decisionmaking about important public issues,” CBS has evolved a set of ground rules for handling on-the-air editorials by its o&o stations. Here are highlights of the new CBS policy, as drafted by the network’s Editorial Board: 1. CBS o&o’s don’t require network approval to air editorials, although the network’s editorial board is available for consultation. Nor need there be a “uniformity of editorial views” among the stations. 2. TV-radio industry topics and national issues without local angle are not to he treated by station editorials. (That function will be handled by network editorials.) 3. Station management, not individual shows or personalities, will decide when stations will editorialize. All editorials must be “clearly identified as such.” 4. Apart from “consensus editorials” (with which no group is likely to disagree), all “partisan editorials” should be handled with “painstaking concern for fairness & balance” although the concept of equal time, CBS stated, “does not apply to editorials.” 5. When partisan editorials are being aired, stations may dress up the treatment with production gimmicks, but should “make use only of those production techniques within the framework of the realistic limitations of opposition production.” Well-balanced editorial programs, however, are not thus limited. 6. CBS o&o’s should not “support candidates” for office, although stands may be taken on issues before the electorate. Editorials should also not be delivered by news personalities “whose impartial presentation of the news may thus be questioned.” 7. Suggested length for editorials: “Only rarely” less than “5 mins, long.” Copies of the ground-rules memo — latest in a string of policy memos at CBS — have already been sent to the managers of CBS o&o’s and are now in effect covering editorials on both the TV & radio outlets, we were told last week by Richard D. Heffner, CBS consultant on editorials who helped frame the directive. CBS has no plans to circulate the memo to non-o&o affiliates except on a byrequest basis. Network TV daytime billings gained only 4% in Oct. over Oct. 1958, pulling the cumulative increase for Jan.Oct. down to 23.1% compared with 1958’s first 10 months, TvB reports. As a measure of Oct.’s daytime performance (reflecting a catching-up with ABC’s Oct.-1958 expanded programming), Aug. billings were 28.2% ahead of the year-ago month. Sept. 20.1% ahead; cumulative gain for 1959’s first 9 months was 26.1% (Vol. 15:51 p9). Cumulative gross time charges show daytime billings of $166,735,280 for Jan.-Oct. 1959 vs. $135,440,502 for 1958’s same 10 months. Oct. 1959 daytime billings totaled $18,914,305 compared with $18,183,000 for the year-ago month. Nighttime billings rose 16.8% in Oct. to $40,116,447 vs. $34,343,147 for Oct. 1958; year-to-date billings of $343,400,912 were 5.6% ahead of the $325,202,285 nighttime business recorded in Jan.-Oct. 1958. Leading TV network advertiser in Oct. 1959 was Procter & Gamble, with $3,908,934 in gross billings. Anacin tablets was the leading net-advertised TV brand, with $905,809 in billings. 3neak Preview of ABCs Plans: With ABC-TV’s program shopping for 1960-61 under way, programming vp Tom Moore told us last week that there’s “a strong desire on the part of advertisers to find warm situation comedies that have the residual value of public-service shows.” He cited as examples Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver. One such property already lined up by Moore for the fall is Harrigan and Son, Desilu-produced father & son situation comedy starring Pat O’Brien. ABC-TV’s fall plans include an expanded version of The Pat Boone Show, continuation of Take A Good Look and “the possibility of employing additional live shows.” The network’s nighttime-specials schedule will be upped “from 14 this year to about 18, certainly no more than 20,” informed Moore, but ABC-TV will not follow the other networks’ lead in daytime specials — except for the possibility “of at least one Dick Clark daytime special.” Commenting on ABC-TV’s expanded film production supply base (Vol. 16:2 pl2), Moore confirmed — and added to — our list. Negotiations with Paramount & Revue for production of one pilot with each show are now in the works, he reported. Although ABC-TV has no “contract of exclusivity” with Warner Bros., the program vp indicated “no change” in the network’s “satisfactory relationship with the studio” which has 10 film series on ABC-TV. NETWORK SALES ACTIVITY ABC-TV “The Citadel,” & “Ninotchka,” 90-min. adaptations, Feb. 19, 8:30-10 p.m. & April 20, same time. General Mills & Westclox (BBDO) Who Do You Trust, Mon.-Fri., 3:30-4 p.m., 3 weekly participations for 13 wks. starting in March. Peter Pan Foundations (Ben Sackheim) CBS-TV Markham, Thurs., 9:30-10 p.m. eff. end of Jan. Renault (Kudner) Tomorrow, six 60-min. public affairs specials for 1960-61 season. American Machine & Foundry (Cunningham & Walsh) Tightrope, Tues., 9-9:30 p.m., alt. wk. sponsorship. American Tobacco Co. (Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bayles) Person to Person, Fri., 10:30-11 p.m., full weekly sponsorship eff. Feb. 19. Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Parkson) The Verdict Is Yours, Mon.-Fri., 3:30-4 p.m., alt. wk. 15min. segs. Lever Bros. (Ogilvy, Benson & Mather) Captain Kangaroo, Mon.-Sat., 8:15-9 a.m., alt. wk. 15-min. segs. Arnold, Schwinn & Co. (George Bond) 1960 Masters Golf Tournament, April 9 & 10, full sponsorship. Travelers Insurance Co. ( Young & Rubicam) NBC-TV “One Loud Clear Voice,” Sunday Showcase presentation, Jan. 17. Procter & Gamble (Benton & Bowles) NBC Opera, “Cavaleria Rusticana,” Jan. 31, 3:15-4:30 p.m. & “Don Giovanni,” April 10, 2-4:30 p.m. Florists Telegraph Delivery Assn. (Keyes, Madden & Jones)