Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan - Mar 1951)

Service ^ &*<mt/c€ijt&ty Ven&uteeAtfy ional Press Bldg. ishington 4, D. C. MARCH 5, 1951 BROADCASTING, Telecasting $7 annually, 25c weekly TV IS STATUS QUO But Final Hearing May Start Soon By LARRY CHRISTOPHER IN SPITE of the rumor mills, FCC really doesn't know exactly when it will be able to lift the television freeze, begin granting new TV stations, or, for that matter, how soon it can begin hearings on city-bycity allocation proposals (last phase of the overall TV proceeding). But, Telecasting last week on authority did learn: # Revised allocation proposals probably will be issued, particularly for "headache" areas like Ohio. # Staff recommendations and reports are nearing completion and may be ready for preliminary consideration by the Commission this week. 0 FCC may not await Chairman Wayne Coy's return from vacation (probably the week of March 12 at latest) to begin preliminary study of reports, if they're ready, but the Chairman most surely will take part in final draft approval. # It's hoped final revisions can be whipped together for public issue by mid-March with "optimistic" goal of starting the city-bycity allocation-proposal hearing in early April. There's a delicate balance of factors involved, however, and any one of several problems could throw the present "estimate" off by weeks, one Commission source indicated. For example: It may be found necessary to revamp the allocation table to such a degree as would require issuance of a formal revised proposal and the receipt of com CARBONATE CUT NPA Curtails Use 20% CUTBACK in the civilian consumption of barium carbonate, which electronic manufacturers use in glass television and radar tubes, was ordered last week by the government in a move to assure equitable distribution of defenserated purchases. The National Production Authority curtailed civilian use of the carbonate 20% and also extended the order to cover barium titanate, a related mineral product used for making condensors and insulators. Consumption of both has been on the upswing since World War II, largely because of its TV application, NPA pointed out. ments, counter-proposals and replies thereto; or, the educational TV issue, favorite field of Comr. Frieda B. Hennock, could throw in a road block by requiring separate allocation consideration and even a special engineering study on the side to determine education's needs. Technical Issues Another snag could ensue in attempting to resolve the many technical issues and other policy conflicts (station spacings, tropospheric propagation, oscillator radiation, directional antennas, standardizing an intermediate frequency (IF), Stratovision, "polycasting," VHFUHF intermixture etc.). Compromises will have to be made in order to get the soundest and most equitable allocation on an overall basis. No FCC representative will guess how long some compromises might take to be resolved. Generally speaking, this is the evolution of the TV situation fi-om here on out: (1) Staff reports and recommendations are in preparation. They're concerned with all aspects — legal, economic, technical, policy. They attack from all angles, constitute alternate proposals and their effects. (2) Possibly this week, they'll be lumped into a single package, passed over chief engineering and legal desks in a shake-down run, then placed before the Commission for its initial review. (3) FCC, together with staff experts, will sift through the drafts, settling broad policy issues first and then biting into the details. A detail, however, such as a crucial engineering factor, could modify policy from the outset. (4) Agreement upon final drafts, directions to staff for preparation of revised report and its issue. Scheduling of further proceeding or cityby-city hearing. (5) City-by-city hearing, possibly to last a month to six weeks at present guess. (6) Last staff and Commission round at settling a final decision and agreement on target date for lifting of the freeze as well as post-freeze procedural policy. (7) Final decision (no initial or proposed decision to be rendered in this case). Specification of "interim" period in which no grants will be made and in which new applications will be accepted before processing commences (this may be 60-to-90 day or more period after decision). Announcement of processing policy ("Lines" could be established as in AM previously if big rush ensues). Scheduling of hearings and further hearings in areas where more bids pend than there are available channels. (8) Grants. The freeze is over. That is, grants if defense needs don't crowd out raw materials to the extent stations can't be built. One Commission spokesman has indicated if allocation table revisions are not too drastic, FCC might forego further delay in the formal-comment procedure by employing the "first report" technique used in the color television decision and swing right into the cityby-city hearing. Comments and counter-proposals would be taken as the hearing went along. It was pointed out, also, FCC need not go as far as a "first report," but merely by informal notice indicate the modifications pro posed and then continue into the last phase of hearing. All indications are FCC doesn't want to delay a moment that really isn't necessary. Coy Review Chairman Coy, in his talk before the New York State Publishers Assn., reviewed in considerable detail the factors involved in settling the TV case [Broadcasting • Telecasting, Jan. 22]. He indicated he hoped the freeze would be lifted and grants commencing before the "third anniversary of the freeze is upon us . . . unless the mobilization program is so large by late summer that it will not be possible to utilize raw materials in the building of equipment and the construction necessary to get television stations on the air." The freeze was imposed Sept. 30, 1948. Last chronology and review of the freeze was published in the Dec. 4, 1950 Broadcasting • Telecasting. Sarnoff Birthday BRIG. GEN. DAVID SARNOFF, board chairman of RCA, was guest of honor Tuesday at a luncheon party of 34 top RCA executives at the Waldorf-Astoria, New York, celebrating his 60th birthday. Group, including 10 of the 12 RCA directors and the top executives of the corporation's operating companies, presented Gen. Sarnoff with a scroll bearing signatures of all present, and a clock-barometer. ASCAP PACT Agreement Hopes Bright HOPES for reaching an agreement over terms of per-program licenses for the use of ASCAP music on television programs through negotiations and of averting a costly court fight were bright on Friday as committees representing the television broadcasters and the society went into the third day of their renewed discussions. Although no details of the discussion were made public pending some settlement of points still being debated, it was learned that the ASCAP group for the first time divulged to the broadcasters the terms of the per-program license which the society had planned to issue unilaterally. These terms are believed to set a very high price on the use of music on an individual program basis in comparison to ASCAP's rate for the overall use of its music under its blanket license. The proposed per-program licenses do not, however, make any mention of payment on announcements adjacent to programs of ASCAP music. That is a vital omission, as it was ASCAP's insistence that fees be paid for such adjacencies and the telecasters committee's refusal to consider Telecasting • BROADCASTING such payments that led to the breakdown in discussions last December. After a two-day meeting of the two committees, Dec. 11-12 in New York, had failed to make any progress in resolving this point, ASCAP broke off negotiations, notifying all TV stations that it had taken this step and that it would shortly issue per-program licenses of its own making. Negotiations were opened at the behest of Clair McCollough, WGAL-TV Lancaster, Pa., who urged telecasters to unite behind the move. March 5, 1951 • Page 53