Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL. 16: No. bl 5 Networks CANADIAN NETWORK PLANS: Canada’s 2nd — and first privately owned — TV network will be 49% owned by its 8 affiliates and will use their studio & technical facilities. So said S. W. (Spence) Caldwell, head of the group which received the go-ahead from Canada’s Board of Broadcast Governors to form a network to serve privately owned TV stations in 8 areas coast-tocoast where there are competitive CBC-affiliated outlets (Vol. 16:50 p3). Toronto TV-film producer-distributor Caldwell made these points : (1) The 8 basic affiliates will be offered 49% of the new network’s capital stock “on a pro-rata basis,” with provision for participation by future affiliates. The network will be “99 44/100% Canadian-owned,” all investors being “well-known in business, the arts and social service.” (2) The new network “will not build any production plant of its own, but will, instead, employ those of its affiliated stations & other independent producers.” Thus it will have available to it “some 24 studios, 20 video-tape recorders, 50 camera chains and 8 mobile units.” Because it will have “no capital costs for facilities,” it will put its money into programming and “we have established a program bank to provide funds for the production of pilot episodes of program series.” This fund is expected to make available at all times “a minimum of 10 Canadian-produced program series ready for sale.” (3) The network already has a “basic agreement” with communication companies to provide a 2nd national microwave service with a reversible TV channel, so that programs may be originated at any point. (4) Despite reports that some stations are reluctant to sign with the network, Caldwell says preliminary discussions “have indicated that our proposal has the support right now of a majority of the new licensees, and we are confident that the concrete proposals we will make to these stations will assure their agreement to the . . . plan.” (5) Caldwell hopes to apply next March for permission to form the network company, with first major programming in September. (6) “We are proposing to begin at 10 hours per week with an expansion over the next 2 years to 25-to-28 hours per week. [But] the 8 basic affiliated stations will be primarily local TV services and, therefore, have no need of the all-embracing type of network which occupies 70 to 80% of the broadcast time.” (7) The network will establish a Program Advisory Committee, including representatives of affiliated stations, to work out schedules and to “assist & stimulate” local production. The new network will also buy independently produced program packages. ■ A rumor that Frank Stanton would resign to head the U.S. Information Agency when the Kennedy administration takes over was flatly denied Dec. 15 by CBS. But the rumor easily led all others as a topic of luncheon & cocktail conversation late last week. Feeding the speculation was the report of a friendly talk in Washington between Stanton & President-elect John F. Kennedy, although Stanton — ^at the time — denied that he & Kennedy had made any agreements regarding a govt, position for Stanton. Also in Washington, Stanton’s name was in the news in another connection, when his testimony on Sec. 315 and election campaigns was read to a House Committee (see p. 1). NEWS SHAKEUP AT CBS: The reshuffle of CBS News continued last week in the wake of earlier changes. This time, however, it wasn’t just a re-alignment of correspondents & bui'eau personnel. Named by CBS as chmn. of a new CBS News Executive Committee was corporate affairs vp Richard S. Salant, who has been a familiar CBS spokesman before various FCC & Congressional hearings. In his new post, Salant will run a committee (whose members include CBS Chmn. William S. Paley, Pres. Dr. Frank Stanton, CBS News Pres. Sig Mickelson, and CBSTV Pres. James T. Aubrey) that will make network policy on news & public affairs and speed up the process of planning & scheduling major news specials. Although the network made no mention of it, observers saw the move as part of a long-range plan put in motion by Pres. Stanton soon after CBS took its convention-rating drubbing from NBC (Vol. 16:32 p8). The first indication that the shakeup was in progress came about a month later when several TV newsmen & news executives were shifted into new posts for the pre-election campaign (Vol. 16:35 p9). Then, as the elections came & went and NBC again took blue-ribbon ratings, the shakeup continued (Vol. 16:50 p5) with another re-alignment of rank & file newsmen. The latest move completes the net effect of a quiet revamp of CBS News from the top echelons on down. Sig Mickelson remains as operational chief of CBS News, however, with news vp John F. Day as No. 2 man. Any further changes in the news div. lineup, according to the network, will now be announced through Mickelson’s office. Meeting NBC’s current news strength & the planned expansion of ABC-TV news operations under Jim Hagerty, Mickelson is now, in effect, responsible to a managementlevel committee above him, and has a re-aligned news team reporting to him. Plane Disaster TV-Covered: The mid-air collision of 2 planes inbound to N.Y. Dec. 16 brought mobile units from all 3 networks racing to crash scenes in Brooklyn & Staten Island. Late-morning coverage was confined to audio bulletins; live and filmed picture coverage began in the early afternoon as mobile crews established picture contact with news hqs. Network schedules were quickly juggled to include spot coverage. CBS-TV yanked the originally-scheduled show in its Eyewitness to History series (Fri. 10:30-11 p.m.) and substituted a special 30-min. report on the crash, meanwhile scheduling a running series of bulletins & reports. NBC-TV pre-empted its sponsored Dan Raven Show (7:30-8:30 p.m.), and scheduled a 30-min. digest of on-the-spot films and tapes of live crash-scene pickups at 8 p.m., having earlier kept viewers up to date with bulletins. ABC-TV, which had aired 12 network bulletins on the crashes prior to 11:30 a.m. with continuing bulletins thereafter, telecast a special mid-afternoon report prepared by its mobile crews. CBS newsman Walter Cronkite, who acted as anchor man on a 2-2:30 p.m. on-the-spot roundup on CBS-TV, revealed during the report at least one good reason why he seemed at times emotionally involved in the accident. He had, he stated, intended to return from a trip to Chicago on the jet that crashed in Brooklyn (a United Air Lines DC-8, flight 826, Chicago-Idlewild), but had at the last minute altered his plans and had returned Dec. 15, missing the fatal collision. (The other plane, a TWA Super Constellation, crashed in Staten Island, N.Y.)