Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1956)

GOVERNMENT no waived hours, were WFLB-TV Fayetteville, N. C; WTOK-TV Meridian, Miss.; WTAP-TV Parkersburg, W. Va.; KCJBTV Minot, N. D.; KRBB (TV) El Dorado, Ark.; KRBC-TV Abilene, Tex.; KQTV (TV) Fort Dodge, Iowa. Those receiving 15% with no waived hours: WCBI-TV Columbus, Miss.; KLIXTV Twin Falls, Idaho; KENI-TV Anchorage, Alaska; KFAR-TV Fairbanks, Alaska; KMID-TV Midland, Tex.; WCTV (TV) Thomasville, Ga. (Tallahassee, Fla.); KHAD-TV Laredo, Tex.; KRDO-TV Colorado Springs, Colo.; WJDM (TV) Panama City, Fla.: KSBW-TV Salinas, Calif.; KVSO-TV Ardmore, Okla.; WDAM-TV Hattiesburg, Miss.; KSWS-TV Roswell, N. M. Stations which received 10% compensation, with no waiver of hours, were KXLFTV Butte, Mont.;. KUAM-TV Agana, Guam; KID-TV Idaho Falls, Idaho; WMSLTV Decatur, Ala.; KFSA-TV Fort Smith, Ark.; KIVA (TV) Yuma, Ariz, Receiving 30% with no waived hours: KTBC-TV Austin, Tex.; WFIE (TV) Evansville, Ind.; KNOE-TV Monroe, La.; WKNY (TV) Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; WHIZ-TV Zanesville, Ohio. NBC had a contract with WDAY-TV Fargo, N. D., for 33% % compensation, with no waived hours, and with WBTV (TV) Charlotte, N. C, for 25% of gross station network rate billed to sponsor before discounts, rebates and agency commissions and with no waived hours. The subcommittee staff said ABC-TV is expected to submit affiliation contracts soon which have been standardized throughout. The House group's staff already has sorted out CBS-TV affiliation contracts according to type. CBS-TV has been moving toward standardizing its contract form with affiliates (based on 30% of gross time charges, with the station waiving five hours a week). But many CBS-TV contracts still in effect are worked out on a sliding scale in which the network, instead of requiring a minimum number of hours be waived, merely pays a lower percentage on the first hours, with the percentage increasing on a sliding scale as the station telecasts more network programs. — «=*rt- „• ; NON-STOP BETWEEN NEW YORK AND CHICAGO Capita/ g AIRLINES Page 76 • October 29, 1956 For instance, three stations, WJW-TV Cleveland, WJBK-TV Detroit and WBRCTV Birmingham are paid 10% for the first 5 hours, 20% for the next 5 hours and 37V2% for all hours over 10. WBNS-TV Columbus receives 10% for the first 5 hours, 20% for the next 5 hours, 10% for the next 5 hours, 34% for the next 10 hours and 36% for all hours over 25. WHEN-TV Syracuse waives the first 5 hours, gets 3316.% for the next 25 and 35% for all hours over 30. WTAR-TV Norfolk, which has no option time in its contract, gets 10% for the first 5 hours, 20% for the second 5 hours and 35% for all hours over 10. KFMB-TV San Diego gets 30% for the first 5 hours, 33%% for the next 10 hours and 35% for all hours over 15. All the tv networks have explained that some stations are able to get better "deals" through their bargaining power as an outlet in a one or two-station market. Where some stations appear to be getting less than others in comparable markets, the difference has been laid to the high cost of the line haul interconnecting the station with the network. MINORITY PROTESTS 'DRAFT' BY EVINS Republican members of House Small Business Committee accuse subcommittee head of playing politics. THE five Republican members of the House Small Business Committee last week charged Rep. Joe L. Evins (D-Tenn.), chairman of a subcommittee which has been studying federal regulatory agencies, with use of his position "for unadulterated and unadorned political purposes." The GOP minority members of the committee made the charges in entering a "vigorous protest" to release Oct. 19 by Rep. Evins of a "draft" report alleging White House influence on the FCC and other federal regulatory agencies, which he said fostered monopoly in the industries under their regulation and removed the agencies themselves from congressional control [At Deadline, Oct. 22]. Rep. Evins released the "draft" of a proposed subcommittee report with an accompanying statement in which he charged an "earlier" draft of the document had been "leaked" to persons outside the committee, among them CBS and NBC. He added that it had been reported officials of the networks "are reviewing, criticizing and perhaps advising persons in responsible positions on courses they desire to be taken regarding this report," which he felt amounted to "lobbying" against issuance of the report. Release of the "draft" was acknowledged by Rep. Evins as his own idea and he noted it had not been signed by the other two members on the three-man subcommittee. Both networks denied seeking or seeing the report or engaging in the activities alleged by Rep. Evins. The protest last week was signed by the committee's five Republicans — Reps. William S. Hill (Colo.), R. Walter Riehlman (N. Y.), Horace Seely-Brown Jr. (Conn.), William M. McCulloch (Ohio) and Timothy P. Sheehan (111.). The GOP members said the draft was filed without adequate time for consideration by the minority members and for minority views as required by House "rules and precedents." H. Res. 114, authorizing the committee's activities, allows reports only by the full committee, they added. Arguing that minority members should have a "reasonable and respectable time" to study reports and present their views, the GOP statement said the Oct. 23 "deadline on a report received on Oct. 22 is arbitrary and unwarranted." The statement noted that the draft report refers to "thousands of pages of documents and hearings [and] we anticipate a timeconsuming task in making the detailed analysis which we believe is necessary." One difficulty in drawing conclusions from testimony before other congressional committees, the GOP members said,' is testimony to the House Antitrust Subcommittee. They said they were advised by Rep. Emanuel Celler (D-N. Y.), chairman of the Antitrust Subcommittee and the parent Judiciary Committee, that members have come to no conclusions on the testimony and such conclusions, when made, may be "entirely different" from those made in the Evins draft. The GOP members concluded: "In the name of small business and fair play we urge that this unhappy attempt to use the House Small Business Committee for unadulterated and unadorned political purposes be stopped. We expect at the proper time to call this matter to the attention of the House of Representatives." The statement, a telegram, was addressed to Chairman Wright Patman (D-Tex.) of the House Small Business Committee. Reports from Rep. Celler indicated last week that the GOP statement is correct in stating Rep. Celler and other members of the House Judiciary Committee will not come to a conclusion on the Anitrust Subcommittee's investigations until members have examined the complete hearing record. It was noted that the record not only is "voluminous," but that additional documents were added to it. The draft report issued by Rep. Evins had charged excessive control by the Ex^ ecutive Branch over federal regulatory agencies, which he said were created by Congress to be delegated authority resting in the latter body. He said control had shifted largely over to the White House partly through enactment of proposals made "in the name of 'efficiency' " by the Hoover Commission and through other more gradual processes. The draft report recommended several measures to restore control to Congress. The Evins subcommittee held hearings last spring after charging it had evidence of White House influence in FCC decisions. CBS and RCA-NBC files were subpoenaed, but the FCC never was called to testify [B»T, March 26]. The House Antitrust Subcommittee heard a number of witnesses, including the tv networks and the FCC, in its hunt for monopoly in the broadcast industry, winding up hearings in New York last month [B»T, Oct. 1]. Broadcasting • Telecasting