Broadcasting (Apr - June 1950)

RENEWAL contract for 52 weeks of Chevrolet Newsreel and Chevrolet Western over WRGB (TV) Schenectady, N. Y., is set by Joseph Harriden (seated), president of Tri-State Advertisers and owner of Mohawk Chevrolet. Standing are (I to r) R. B. Hanma, WGY-WGFM (FM)-WRGB stations manager; George Hunt, vice president of Mohawk Chevrolet, and E. P. Weil, supervisor of sales for WGY WRGB. Tri-State Advertisers represent 29 Chevrolet dealers in WRBG service area. POSTER used to promote The World of Yesterday, 15-minute, once-a-week film seen on WNBK (TV) Cleveland and sponsored by Hudson automobile dealers in Cleveland-Akron area, is inspected by (I to r) A. S. Nelson, TV director, Fuller & Smith & Ross Inc.; Robert Miller, NBC sales, and Harry O'Grady, Fuller & Smith & Ross. The show opens with an animated film showing the 1950 Hudson and then goes into the documentary, covering important history-making events dating as far back as the San Francisco fire of 1906. Program and promotion were planned and executed by Fuller & Smith & Ross. PLANS to sponsor audience participation show Everybody's Doing It on KPIX (TV) San Francisco are made by Carl Schuster (seated), pres.. Acme Breweries. Standing (I to r): Sherwood Anderson, George Richardson, Foote, Cone & Belding; Eliot Staurenburgh, Acme prom, mgr.; Lou Simon, KPIX com), mgr.; Ben Alexander, show's star. CONTRACT for purchase of Cisco Kid television series, scheduled to start on NBC's WNBW Washington in the fall, is completed by WNBW General Manager William R. McAndrew (seated). With him are Bud Rifkin (I) of Ziv, packager of the series, and Charles de Lozier, WNBW sales manager. '^^r' BOX OFFICE TV Skiatron Proposal Filed, Rivals Phonevision SECOND pay-as-you-see television system — a competitor to Zenith's Phonevision technique — was disclosed to FCC last Tuesday by Arthur Levey, president of Skiatron Corp., New York. Indicating Skiatron's "SubscriberVision" method "will dissipate the menace of monopoly by Zenith's Phonevision, which has doubtless been a source of concern to the Commission," Mr. Levey told FCC a pilot receiver would be ready for demonstration sometime this fall. He said Skiatron also would request FCC for "the same experimental public test privilege in New York City as Zenith has obtained in Chicago." Chief feature of SubscriberVision, it was explained, is that all picture elements can be broadcast over the air "without the necessity for any intervening telephone connections." A special key inserted in the receiver supplies the code to unscramble the picture, Skiatron explained. The key would be replaced periodically. Zenith's Phonevision technique requires a telephone line to supply a signal which unscrambles the telecast picture. Meanwhile, on Thursday the Skiatron development drew from Commdr. Eugene F. McDonald Jr., Zenith president, the comment, "We are glad to see that others have recognized the need of a box office for home television to provide programs which are too costly for advertising sponsorship. Commdr. McDonald explained Zenith has experimented with various types of TV decoders for 19 years and observed a subscriber to a system such as Skiatron's is "limited either to a subscription system, in which he pays a fixed charge for available programs, or to special shows for which he gets the key in advance." Services Compared The Zenith president said he believes Phonevision, as a wireservice "already available in the average home," has more flexibility in selection of programming and charges only for shows which the viewer orders from the telephone operator. Regarding Skiatron's method, Commdr. McDonald said that "if the subscriber were compelled to secure his key for special programs in advance, then he would have to decide several days ahead of time what TV programs he was going to watch." The Zenith executive indicated it would be unfair to entertainment producers and the public "if every subscriber were charged the same fee . . . since a $5,000,000 motion picture or ah opening night at grand opera certainly warrants a higher admission price than run-of-the-mill theatrical entertainment." Skiatron indicated its Subscriber-Vision is based on U. S. Patent 2,251,525, issued Aug. 5, 1941 under the title "secret television system" and with Adolf Heinrich Rosenthal of London listed as inventor. Mr. Levey wrote to the Commis sion that "in view of FCC's recently expressed attitude on Zenith Corp.'s premature exploitation of Phonevision [Telecasting, June 5], you may be pleased to hear that we are proceeding energetically on a pilot model of our Subscriber Vision system." He continued, "We believe Skiatron Corp. owns the only practical, patented system for providing a special TV service to paying subscribers." He explained Subscriber-Vision "does not depend on telephone lines or cable and therefore requires fewer electronic circuits. As a result, this system is much simpler and more economical than any 'method which proposes to use telephone wires." Mr. Levey noted that Zenith previously told FCC "it would prefer to deliver the entire television signal over the air, without the necessity for utilization of the telephone plant, if it could devise a feasible method of employing 'pay-as-you-see' television in this manner. . . ." Will Offer Licensing The Skiatron president told the Commission his firm "will of course offer other manufacturers in the TV industry licensing arrangements at a reasonable royalty in accordance with the terms of the consent decree under which Paramount Pictures Inc. and General Precision Equipment Corp. (20th Century-Fox) were divested of their interests in our patents precisely because the Government charged them with suppression and refusal to permit broad licensing of these unique devices." Mr. Levey noted that Commdr. McDonald stated Zenith's only purpose in asking manufacturers to include Phonevision decoder outlets in new receivers was that otherwise "it would cost the public millions of additional dollars to have their sets accommodated to Phonevision." Skiatron president commented that SubscriberVision "will entail merely the replacement of a simple inexpensive receiving tube (for synchronization) in the millions of TV sets already in use." 1 i 3 5 i ;' 1 I ii DO a a a m 4 i Los Angeles TV Month IN RECOGNITION of what is termed the "fastest growing industry in this area," Mayor Fletcher Bowron of Los Angeles proclaimed the period from June 15-July 15 as "Television Month" in the Los Angeles area. Event is sponsored by the Electric League, television trade association. 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