Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1956)

Happy 1957, With Reservations ON THE EVE of a new year, it is customary to be optimistic. We share the popular belief that the thing yet to be experienced is more apt to be good than bad. We felt so on Dec. 31, 1955, and events since then have confirmed our expectations. Television business has continued to expand. Radio has rallied strongly. In the main it can be said that for both radio and television 1956 was a good year. Judged only by economic forecasts, 1957 (at least the first half) should be a good year too. U. S. business as a whole appears sound. This promises an expanding advertising economy which in turn promises more dollar volume for radio and tv. Unfortunately, however, the destinies of radio and television are not shaped by economic conditions alone. The attitudes and actions of government have a significant effect on these media. In considering the Washington outlook, we find our optimism somewhat diluted. Within the next month or so two Congressional committees which have extensively investigated broadcasting will issue reports. These are the House Antitrust Subcommittee and the Senate Commerce Committee. If these reports do not recommend legislation, they will certainly contain strong advice to the FCC. At mid-year the FCC's own network study staff is expected to report on its long investigation. What this staff will recommend is, of course, conjectural. We strongly doubt, however, that any of these three reports will suggest that things are fine as they are. To do so would imply that the investigations were useless. So changes will be urged upon the government. The nature of these changes, if any actually come about, could have a profound effect upon broadcasting. Until the course of government becomes clearer, we must greet 1957 with reservations. As Congress Convenes AREALlalpSC approach to television allocations is being exhibited in both official and trade circles as a new session of Congress convenes to pick up where it left off last session. And at the last session there was more travail about television than in any other Congress The root of the tv problem is scarcity — not so much in the number of channels available as in the number of desirable assignments that can be made under existing allocation standards, pending determination of the use that can be made of uhfs 70 channels in effecting nationwide, competitive service. The FCC has before it as unfinished business the proposals for deintermixture in 14 markets. These, at best, would constitute only a partial solution of the basic problem if, indeed, they could be effected without protracted litigation. Deintermixture, it is now obvious, was contrived to get the FCC off the Congressional hook until it could find some way out of the allocations wilderness. A big effort in that direction was the formation of the Television Allocations Study Organization (TASO) to measure both uhf and vhf service and provide for the FCC an engineering and research foundation upon which to devise more efficient allocations. But this overall task necessarily is time-consuming. In the interim, there must be other relief — the licensing of additional stations in underserved areas to enable adequate competition. The alternative will be more rigid regulation — the inevitable price when scarcity affects an area in which government franchises are involved. There is a plan before the FCC, as reported exclusively in last week's B«T, that holds out hope for this kind of relief — not on an interim, but a long range basis. It is the Craven plan. It would drop the table of assignments in the Final Television Report of 1952 which anchor assignments to particular markets, a sort of planned economy. The Craven plan would permit applications without regard to the assignment table, so long as milage separations and engineering standards were adhered to. This would mean voluntary shifting of some operating stations to procure clearances. Necessarily, the unused educational reservations would be erased. Based on the preliminary studies, at least two dozen new assignments would be available, with a potential of possibly 65 moves that could be made to provide new vhf stations without resorting to reduced separations. The benefits appear to far outweigh the drawbacks. The plan certainly warrants serious consideration. The Page 90 • December 31, 1956 ^Wt^ Drawn for BROADCASTING^ TELECASTING by Sid Hix "We knew the construction engineer was from Italy, but we never asked what city." stakes are large, because unless there is relief, complaints will be heard again in Congress and the result could be ill-conceived legislation that would shackle tv with greater regulatory burdens. The Craven plan would not preclude benefits which might accrue through the development of uhf, as envisaged by the TASO program. It encourages uhf development and fosters manufacture of the all-channel receivers. Meanwhile, other moves are being made. The Assn. of Maximum Service Telecasters has implemented its organization and is establishing permanent headquarters in Washington. It is fortunate in getting Lester W. Lindow, vice president-general manager of WFDF Flint, as its fulltime executive director. Mr. Lindow knows broadcasting and he knows Washington. He will be on the scene to foster full development of all tv — both uhf and vhf — but on guard against any move to reduce standards and separations. While these projects move forward, it becomes more evident than ever that redoubled efforts are needed to kill the excise tax on all-channel tv receivers. Mere filing of statements with congressional committees won't do it. That's been tried before. What is needed is expert testimony showing, as it must, that by eliminating the 10% excise on all-channel receivers (and keeping it on others) manufacturers will be stimulated into large scale promotion. Set sales should boom. Manufacturers and retailers will pay in income taxes far more than the $100 million excise taxes they now pay. Backing up this expert testimony, all television broadcasters should indoctrinate their Congressional delegations on the importance of this action in the future of television. Without uhf there can be no tv on a footing comparable with radio. Without tax relief, uhf may not survive. Big Time TIME Inc., phenomenon of publishing, becomes an important entity in broadcasting with its acquisition of the Consolidated (Bitner) stations in Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Grand Rapids. The transaction should get FCC clearance without undue delay since Time Inc. simply picks up where Crowell-Collier was forced to leave off in its bid for the same properties with the collapse of that publishing empire. Moreover, Time Inc. is already an. accredited licensee having been in the broadcast field for several years with a less imposing string of three-city properties, one of which now must be sold under the FCC's multiple ownership' regulations. Time Inc. will wind up with radio and tv properties in five excellent markets. It has allowed its stations to become integral parts, of their communities without interference from headquarters. Top direction is entrusted to one of Time's experienced executives, Weston C. Pullen Jr. Wayne Coy, former FCC chairman, is not only directing head of KOB-AM-TV Albuquerque, but also Time's top consultant. In Hugh Terry, who heads KLZ-AM-TV Denver, Time Inc. has a most talented broadcaster. We wish Time well as it enters Big Time broadcasting. Broadcasting • Telecasting