Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

NEW SERIES VOL. 3, No. 10 TELEVISION DIGEST— 5 License Fees Up Again: Though industry was vociferous & virtually unanimous in opposition to FCC’s proposal to charge for its licensing activities (Vol. 2:7 p2), Commission staff again recommends adoption of plan. It’s understood they are putting following before commissioners: (1) Broadcasting — no change from proposal (Vol. 2:7 p2), except noncommercial stations operated by taxe.xempt organizations would be e.xempted. (2) In safety & special services, there’d be no fees for Police, Fire, Forestry-Conseiwation, Highway Maintenance, Local Govt., State Guard, Hospitals, Disaster Relief, nonprofit Ambulance, Rescue, Beach Patrol, School Buses, RACES. (3) For Amateurs: novice applications cut from $5 to $2; modifications cut to $3; special call signs raised from $5 to $20. All others remain at $5. (4) Citizens Band applications remain at $10, except for Class A, which goes to $15. (5) Ship Inspection — no fee. (6) Commercial operators — no change. (7) Experimental — no fee. (8) Common carrier — Sec. 214 applications cut from $25 to $10 for telegraph, from $100 to $50 for telephone. (9) Common carrier & private point-to-point microwave applications both set at $50, $5 for renewals. (10) Domestic Public Land Mobile — cut from $1.50 to $100, renewals from $75 to $25. E Alleged blackmail attempts by principals of WALATV & WALA Mobile will be subject of FCC revocation hearing. Commission announced that there are charges (denied by station) that some of its principals: (1) Demanded money from local architectural firm as price of stopping stations’ editorial attacks on firm’s work on municipal auditorium. (2) Tried to coerce candidate for sheriff to buy time. (3) Charged 50% extra for political time, violating Communications Act. (4) Gave candidate for city commissioner preferential treatment. In addition, FCC said, 100% owner W. 0. Pape is ill, doesn’t control station. Overseas TV stations in 1962 jumped from 2,047 to 2,641, an increase of 29%, according to 52-page USIA report, “Overseas TV Developments in 1962.” Of these, 2,092, including 426 new, were in non-communist bloc nations, while 549 (168 new) were in communist countries. Seven nations & territories initiated TV in 1962: Gibraltar, Malta, Trinidad-Tobago, Morocco, Indonesia, Taiwan and Kenya. TV’s most spectacular growth was in Japan, where 4,151,100 new sets were added, making total of 12,837,100 sets in use. FM simplex operation for storecasting, etc., is about to be proposed to FCC by its staff. Also due soon is proposal to require joint AM-FM operators to divest themselves of AM or FM station, eventually. Neither proposal stirs any enthusiasm among commissioners. TvB will hold all-day sales clinics in 101 cities from April through June this year, increase from 17 cities in each of last 3 years. Six transistorized RCA TR-22 TV tape recorders have been purchased by MGM Telestudios to replace existing equipment. FTC's Toned-Down Sandpaper Order: Federal Trade Commission eased off in Colgate Rapid Shave “sandpaper” decision (Vol. 2:48 p3), issued modified order after original blunderbuss decision was sent back by Boston Circuit Court of Appeals. Case involved use of TV mock-ups to compensate for deficiencies in photography — substitution of sand-coated plexiglass for sandpaper to demonstrate shaving cream. FTC issued order forbidding Colgate & agency Ted Bates from using “spurious mock-ups or demonstrations for any product.” Court remanded case to FTC, told agency to be more specific. In new proposed order last week, written by Comr. Elman, Commission agreed original finding could be interpreted to exceed scope of FTC’s intent. Under new order, Colgate & Bates are forbidden to use mock-ups to demonstrate claims for specific quality of a product. However, FTC now states that mock-ups are permissible if no direct representation is involved. It notes: “There is nothing objectionable in showing a person drinking what appears to be iced tea, but for technical photographic reasons is actually colored water, and saying ‘I love Lipsom’s tea,’ assuming the appearance of the liquid is merely an incidental aspect of the commercial, is not presented as proof of the fine color or appearance of the tea, and thus in no practical sense would have a material effect in inducing sales of the product.” Commission added that if it should prove too difficult to present truthful demonstration to prove claim for a product, “the seller may be obliged to forego use of the demonstrated form of advertising in that medium.” a — Bob Hope entertained TV-radio executives with stream of “inside” jokes at March 6 banquet of International Radio & TV Society, at which he received organization’s Gold Medal Citation. In turn, he paid tribute to “you men who gave stomach acid to the world.” Referring to banquet as “a Newton Minow rally,” he quipped: “At $30 a plate, this may be the start of pay TV. If you’re not satisfied with the seating arrangements, don’t complain to the committee — complain to Nielsen.” Commenting on “great changes in TV these days,” he obsez'ved: “We have Telstar international TV, and CBS is trying out color. They didn’t jump right in — they sent in Lassie first to see if it was safe. . . . When Frank Stanton saw color on Ch. 2, he sent for a repairman.” Video tape advances: Dropout compensator which plugs into TV tape recorders and eliminates dropouts, caused by dirt or balling effect on oxide tape coating, has been announced by Minnesota Mining’s Mincom div. at $3,250. Using tunnel diode and delay circuit, device substitutes information from preceding scanning line when dropout occurs. Meanwhile, commercial packager A1 DeCaprio announced that 30 different scenes were used in single commercial on Feb. 24 GE True Hour by means of Editec electronic editor — a feat previously impossible. Editing was done at Videotape Center, N.Y. First GE Talaria color-TV projector for National General Corp’s theater-TV network (Vol. 3:9 p3) will be installed in Grauman’s Chinese theater in Hollywood, NCG Pres. Eugene V. Klein said last week. He estimated NCG’.s initial investment in projectors at about $10 million.