Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

Pay Tv 'Guinea Pig' Offer Turned Down by Commission AN OFFER by WFMZ-TV Allentown, Pa., (ch. 67) to serve as a guinea pig for subscription television [B*T, Aug. 1, 1955] was turned down last week by the FCC as "premature." The whole question of pay tv is being considered under a rule-making proceeding, the FCC said. Therefore the proposal to test subscription tv on an experimental basis cannot be accepted until the Commission makes up its mind on the "complex issues" involved, the FCC declared in a letter sent to the uhf station. "Owing to the voluminous record which has been created in the rule-making proceeding on subscription television," the FCC wrote, "the Commission will require more time to review the many comments on file and to consider the complex issues involved, before it will be possible either to make decisions concerning the further conduct of these proceedings, to determine whether it would be useful to authorize experimental subscription television operations, or to establish the standards, criteria and rules which should govern such experimental operations. WFMZ-TV, which is 32% owned by Ben Strouse, vice president-general manager of WWDC-AM-FM Washington, D. C, proposed to operate on a pay tv format for 56% of its time, and with normal broadcast service the other 44% of the time. The uhf station ceased operating in April 1955. The plan to use WFMZ-TV and Allentown as the proving ground for fee tv was conceived by Raymond F. Kohn, station president-general manager. Rep. Anfuso Rejects Pay-Tv REP. VICTOR L. ANFUSO (D-N. Y.), in a statement entered in the Congressional Record last week, said the subscription tv idea should be regarded as "the camel's nose under the tent" and "stopped before it gets started." He said that although he feels the tv industry has not given the public the entertainment it deserves, the quality of programs would not necessarily be improved under a pay tv system. BOXSCORE STATUS of tv cases before FCC: AWAITING FINAL DECISION: 14 Bristol, Va.-Tenn., ch. 5; Canton, Ohio, ch. 29; Corpus Christi, Tex., ch. 10; Miami, Fla., ch. 10; Norfolk-Portsmouth, Va., ch. 10; Omaha, Neb., ch. 7; Peoria, 111., ch. 8; Seattle, Wash., ch. 7; Springfield. 111., ch. 2; Jacksonville, Fla., ch. 12; Raleigh, N. C, ch. 5; Elmira, N. Y., ch. 18; Redding, Calif., ch. 7; Caguas, P. R., ch. 11. AWAITING ORAL ARGUMENT: 10 Boston, Mass., ch. 5; Charlotte, N. C, ch. 9; Hartford, Conn., ch. 3; Indianapolis, Ind., ch. 13; New Orleans, La., ch. 4; Orlando, Fla., ch. 9; Paducah, Ky., ch. 6; San Antonio, Tex., ch. 12; St. Louis, Mo., ch. 11. AWAITING INITIAL DECISION: 3 Hatfield, Ind. (Owensboro, Ky.), ch. 9; McKeesport, Pa. (Pittsburgh), ch. 4; San Francisco-Oakland, Calif., ch. 2. IN HEARING: 10 Beaumont-Port Arthur, Tex., ch. 4; Biloxi, Miss., ch. 13; Cheboygan, Mich., ch. 4; Mayaguez, P. R., ch. 3; Onondaga-Parma, Mich., ch. 10; Pittsburgh, Pa., ch. 11; Toledo, Ohio, ch. 11; Lead-Deadwood, S. D., ch. 5; Caribou, Me., ch. 8; Coos Bay. Ore., ch. 16. ""It from the "greatest money winner of all times"* a great new money-maker for TV stations . . . THE SAM SNEAD SHOW If you've ever seen Sam Snead draw the galleries during a tournament, just watch him draw the viewers with this unique, new television series. To America's 20,000,000 golf fans what could be more entertaining and informative than 39, five-minute golf lessons by the man with the "prettiest swing in golf." Today golf is America's fastest growingsport. To millions of sports-hungry men and women who every day become golfing fans, what could be more timely and interesting than THE SAM SNEAD SHOW? Even the non-golfing, non-sports minded, casual TV viewer will find much to enjoy in this action-packed, outdoors series filmed in color, on location, at The Greenbriar, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and at Indian Creek Country Club and La Gorce Country Club, Miami, Florida. Is it any wonder that THE SAM SNEAD SHOW has been called the show with "built in audience loyalty." And (with unlimited, built in merchandising and publicity opportunities, too! The kind that are possible only with a star and a personality like Sam Snead, golf's "greatest money winner of all times," and one of the most publicized men of our era. * Source: "TIME" magazine. For complete information and audition prints, write, xvire, or call your nearest RCA Recorded Program Services office. distributed by recorded program ervices RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA RCA VICTOR RECORD DIVISION 155 East 24th Street, New York 10, New York 445 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 11, Illinois 522 Forsyth Building, Atlanta 3, Georgia 1907 McKinney Avenue, Dallas 1, Texas 1016 N. Sycamore Avenue, Hollywood 38, California MUrray Hill 9-7200 WHitehall 4-3530 LAmar 7703 Riverside 1371 OLdfield 4-1660 TMKS.® Broadcasting • Telecasting March 12, 1956 • Page 67