Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

\Ati LmnAn r Television WEEKLY with Consumer Electronics . . . (starts page 7) I APRIL 29, 1963 NEW SERIES VOL. 3, No. 17 The authoritative service for executives in all branches of the television arts & industries IN THIS ISSUE: Broadcasters With Community Antenna System Interests (p. 3) SUMMARY-INDEX OF WEEK^S NEWS Broadcast Consumer Electronics RATINGS— DAMAGE SUITS, USER REACTION: WAME Miami sues Nielsen & Pulse; Harper, Codel, plea for competitive services; NAB Research Committee, Harris Subcommittee meet today (p. 1). NO FCC-NCTA AGREEMENT ON CATV LAW, but some operators see 'glimmer of hope.' Fact-finding committee to show Commission probable results of regulation in multiple-station markets. Canadian govt.industry conflict coming to head (p. 2). RADIO RIDDLE PONDERED by puzzled industry: Why are sales running 14% behind last year? Among suggested causes: Imports, saturation, dealer reluctance, bad weather (p. 7). Two-month figures show phono sales up 40%, TV up 6% (p. 10). 23-IN. COLOR TUBE scheduled for production next month by National Video; Motorola to use it in high-end models, with 21 -in. in other color sets. Tube to be offered to other set makers by end of year, about $10 higher than 21-in. Rauland color output in May (p. 8). UHF PROSPECTS & PITFALLS checked off by AFCCE Pres. Steel, who says 'go first class' in station equipment. All-channel committee developing steam (p. 3). TOP TV BRANDS-IN-USE in 15 markets shown in annual newspapersponsored Consolidated Consumer Analysis; 13 TV set brands ranked according to percentage of households owning them (p. 8). ANNENBERG $1.5 MILLION ETV GIFT-complete facilities of WFIL-TV Philadelphia going to WHYY-TV in Fall when Triangle stations move to new plant (p. 5). MORE RECORD QUARTERS: Magnavox & Zenith open 1963 with new highs in both sales & earnings; Zenith Chmn. Hugh Robertson reports upbeat business, puts April volume $3 million ahead of 1962 (p. 11). RATINGS — DAMAGE SUITS, USER REACTION: Repercussions of Washington ratings hectrings brought these developments among others last week: (1) First suits against Nielsen & Pulse, by radio station, seeking damages. (2) Growing body of reaction by ratings users — agencies, reps, stations — against govt, intervention in the business and for maintenance of a non-user-connected competitive ratings system. First to file suit, possibly first of many, was radio WAME Miami, whose Murray Woroner was one of first to testify before Harris Subcommittee. Filed in Circuit Court of Dade County by Miami lawyer Irving J. Whitman, suit seeks $250,000 each from Nielsen & Pulse, plus punitive damages, charges misrepresentation, says methods used didn't give true listening audience, states that advertising agencies rely on ratings in buying time, asserts systems are "comparable to fraud." We hear that many other stations contemplate suits. At convention in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. last week, A AAA Chmn. Marion Harper, one of ad agencies ablest spokesmen, called for govt. -hands-off and asked that rating services be allowed to compete in free marketplace (see p. 5). Stations' national sales reps, prime ratings users, surprisingly absent from witness stand (though quizzed by investigators earlier), maintain a "wait & see" attitude, according to Edward Codel, Station Representatives Assn, pres., Katz Agency TV dir. He strongly opposes establishment of a single industrysupported measurement, told us: "A single system would work a great hardship on the business. There would be no recourse. No one has a foolproof service. The different methods, offering a competitive service, is still the best system." After NAB convention, several broadcasters had told Harris they'd like to see a single "ideal" system drawn up by CCNY Prof. Dr. Herbert Arkin, Subcommittee statistical consultant. Some Subcommittee members are incensed over A. C. Nielsen Jr.'s blast at their hearings (Vol. 3:16 pi). He changed that Subcommittee "already decided we were guilty" before firm testified, that hear