Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1955)

FILM TRADE ASSNS. mained with MPTV as vice president in charge of sales until early this year, when Guild Films assumed the tv exhibition contracts of MPTV feature films. In his years with Mr. Fox and in his current association with Guild Films, Mr. Ezzes always has tried to accentuate what he calls "creative selling." He explains this by saying that a tv film distributor must create "a profitable programming need." As examples, he cited a sales approach in which stations were shown that a feature film may be programmed during the morning and afternoon as well as the evening and build audiences, provided that the program slant for the time period is appropriate. At Guild, he said, some 191 Looney Tunes cartoons have been sold to stations as one package on a library basis, with stations permitted to use them as often as they want. Guild supplies program formats. Mr. Ezzes observes that Looney Tunes currently has tv exhibition contracts of approximately $2 million. Mr. Ezzes married the former Thelma Dunleavy in 1941. They have two children, Steven, 9, and James, 5. The family home is in Westport, Conn. Mr. Ezzes is a do-it-yourself fan and particularly enjoys woodworking. His favorite sport is skiing. He is a member of the Radio & Television Executives Society, the Sales Executive Club and International Variety. NCAA AGAIN PLANS LIMITED TV GRID FARE Association's outgoing television committee votes for 'national television program' for 1 956 in resolution to be offered at national convention in January. THE NATIONAL Collegiate Athletic Assn. is seeking continued limitation of the nation's football television fare in 1956 — for the fifth consecutive year. The association has declared that the 1955 program "in general worked well and was satisfactory" in its various districts and that no adverse action by the U. S. Dept. of Justice is anticipated. Work toward some form of national limitation of live grid telecasts was begun in Chicago last week by NCAA's present tv committee. It voted for a "national television program" for 1956 in a resolution to be submitted to the association's national convention in Los Angeles Jan. 9-11, at which time a new tv committee will be named. If the resolution is adopted on the convention floor, a new tv committee will be appointed by the NCAA council to draft a plan subject to approval in a mail referendum of council members (by two-thirds majority of those voting.) Under the resolution the new committee could prepare a national-regional plan similar to the one brought forth this year or one along different lines. The association will vote in January for the ninth consecutive time on KHOL TV'S New Satellite Station, Built by Viewers' Funds, Gives You Bonus Coverage at No Extra Cost in Nebraska's 2nd Big Market KHOL-TV and Satellite Station cover rich Central Nebraska — the State's 2nd Big Market. KHOL-TV picks up where Omaha leaves off — you buy no duplicate coverage. One buy on KHOL-TV gives you bonus Satellite coverage at no extra cost. Investigate Nebraska's 2nd Big Market today — contact KHOLTV or your Meeker representative. KHOL-TV Owned and Operated By BI-STATES CO. CBS • ABC CHANNEL 13 • KEARNEY, NEBRASKA Channel 6 Satellite Station, Hayes Center, Nebr. Represented nationally by Meeker TV, Inc. Page December 5, 1955 whether "to retain the principle of controlled I telecasting of collegiate football games." As in I the past, the new tv committee will be urged I to study possibilities of "delayed, subscription j and closed TV." Nine of the NCAA tv group's 12 members, headed by E. L. (Dick) Romney, Mountain i States Athletic Conference, and including Walter Byers, executive secretary, attended the Chicago meetings Monday and Tuesday. The committee sifted reports from eight NCAA districts and worked on its report and recommendations for the 1956 convention. Mr. Byers stressed that the committee's appraisal of the 1955 program is based on "preliminary information" and any final analysis would have to hinge on attendance figures and other reports. Thus far, however, the 1955 program seems to have been a "successful one," he said. Mr. Byers denied that NCAA was beset with any "disputes" in the closing weeks of the football season, or that there were any evidences of widespread dissatisfaction with NCAA policy. Antitrust aspects emerged during the news 1 conference in reference to WJIM-TV Lansing's dispute with the NCAA. The station charged restraint of trade under the Sherman Act in a blackout of the Michigan State U.-Illinois game and submitted an exchange of correspondence to the lustice Dept. [B*T, Nov. 21.] Asa Bushnell, Eastern College Athletic Conference and NCAA tv program director for] 1955, claimed "all our plans have always been submitted to the lustice Dept. for study and the department hasn't taken any action." Mr. Byers said he felt NCAA's program was "less: restrictive" than practices of the National Pro-]!' fessional Football League (blacking out home A telecasts) in the past. Suggestions To Be Made NCAA's outgoing television committee will pass along suggestions to the new group with respect to unauthorized pickups of NCAA games next year, Mr. Byers said. He alluded to the instance in which KRNT-TV Des Moines carried CBS-TV Big 10 regional coverage of the Iowa-Minnesota game Nov. 5. NCAA's Tv committee heard a report on the incident. NCAA has referred the matter to legal counsel as a means of developing future "safeguards" against "pirating" rather than for the purpose of filing any lawsuit, Mr. Byers said, adding "we are not interested in suing anybody." The same holds true for CBS-TV's refusal to black out KVTV (TV) Sioux City on the IllinoisWisconsin game Nov. 12 because of sponsor commitments, he added. Mr. Byers said the existing agreement with CBS-TV had been breached by the KRNT-TV incident and was no longer binding. Permission was extended by NCAA under its "sellout game" and 90-mile radius rule provisions for nine contests this past season, Mr. Bushnell reported. Other requests were rejected, he added, under NCAA's "appreciable damage" rule. Mr. Bushnell said most athletic directors and coaches felt the 1955 national plan was "pretty successful." He added that arrangements calling for two-network coverage (NBC and CBS) also were "successful." In response to a question, Mr. Byers denied claims that NCAA favors some form of subscription television as a solution to controlled football tv problems. He said the association has taken no official stand, one way or another, on toll tv. Attending the meetings in Chicago were: Dist. 2 — Robert J. Kane, Cornell U. Dist. 4 — Douglas R. Mills, U. of Illinois. Broadcasting • Telecasting