Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1957)

GOVERNMENT MODIFIED CRAVEN PLAN PROPOSED • Partial deletion of allocations table suggested • Hyde, Bartley, Lee dissent to Commission action THE FCC last week took a first— but faltering— step toward making a major revision in its five-year-old television allocation plan. It proposed to delete the rigid table of allocations, but with such major exceptions that there was some doubt that the intent of Comr. T. A. M. Craven, who first suggested the move, could be accomplished. Comrs. Rosel H. Hyde, Robert T. Bartley and Robert E. Lee dissented. Comr. Richard A. Mack issued a concurring statement. In effect the Commission invited comments by June 3 on a proposed rule change which would permit the allocation of a tv station on the basis of individual applications rather than a fixed table of channel assignments. But the Commission said, this would not apply to (1) non-commercial, educational reservations; (2) any tv allocation, vhf or uhf, within 250 miles of the Canadian border, and (3) any vhf tv allocation within 250 miles of the Mexican border. Agreements with Canada and Mexico specify that no changes will be made within those areas without consultation between the countries involved. It also specified that no application would be considered if it failed to meet a minimum mileage separation or requested a vhf transmitter closer than 75 miles to an existing uhf transmitter — unless the proposed vhf transmitter site is farther than an existing vhf transmitter and in the same general direction; the principal city served by the uhf station already receives Grade A or better service from no less than two existing vhf stations; or the principal city to be served by the proposed vhf station is already receiving a city grade signal from two or more vhf stations. The FCC said that it believed some limitation on the further spread of vhf service into uhf areas was necessary to preserve the stains quo until it has completed its current allocations study into the feasibility of moving all or a substantial part of tv broadcasting into the uhf band. It also called attention to the fact that it has not found many uhf areas where a new vhf channel, meeting all separation factors, could be used. Comr. Craven first recommended deleting the fixed table of assignments in December last year [B»T, Dec. 24, 1956]. It was Comr. Craven's belief that such a move would put television on a free competitive basis and might permit the addition of anywhere up to 25 additional vhf assignments in markets where economic potential existed. He urged protection of educational assignments where there was promise of use, and of uhf areas. It was also Comr. Craven's suggestion that some moves of existing stations might have to be made. In this way, it was understood, some 65 potential moves could be made to provide new stations without shav Page 68 • April 29, 1957 ing the present mileage separations. The Craven plan, urged by the engineering commissioner who was appointed to the Commission a year ago — after having served previously as a commissioner (1937-1944), proposed also to drop the educational reservations, while protecting those assignments where some interest by educators had been shown. Basic to the Craven philosophy was the thought that government cannot force establishment of tv stations in cities where economic support is lacking, and that it cannot force technical development. The deletion of the table of assignments would, it was held, free tv from doctrinaire government rule and permit it to develop along more natural economic and social lines. This is the method by which standard broadcasting grew. Mr. Craven also held that the development of uhf was a major project which should be pursued diligently — both as to equipment as well as allocation matters. The Commission has indicated that it plans no major change in the present allocations policies until the submission of results of the research project under the sponsorship of the industry's Television Allocations Study Organization. This is expected in a year or 18 months. No Written Dissents None of the three dissenting commissioners issued written opinions. Comr. Mack, who voted in favor of the proposed rule-making, issued a statement in which he declared that whenever a commissioner wished to pose a question to the public and the industry he should have the right to do so. "The fact that I might vote to allow the question to be posed does not in any way prejudice my position in the final action of the Commission," he said. In last week's proposed rule-making, the FCC pointed out: "Five years have elapsed since the adoption of the Sixth Report and Order. The number of operating stations has increased from the 108 'pre-freeze' stations to approximately 500 stations. There are, in addition, about 165 authorized stations which have not yet been constructed. Thus, the Table has served well its purpose of avoiding procedural difficulties and helping to bring television service to almost the entire country at the earliest possible time. It now appears that we should re-examine, in the light of the current development of television service, the considerations leading to the adoption of a fixed Table of Assignments in order to determine whether the public interest might be better served by the initiation of a procedure for allocating television channels on the basis of individual applications. "Approximately 90% of the vhf commercial assignments listed in the Table of Assignments have either been authorized or have been applied for, and most of the balance are in sparsely settled areas, chiefly west of the Mississippi River. Because of the outstanding vhf authorizations, there are very few areas (and again most of these are west of the Mississippi) where additional vhf channels may be added in keeping with the station separation requirements of the Rules. Thus, it is apparent that, at least as far as the vhf channels are concerned, the allocation pattern has been so well established that efficiency in allocation is no longer a compelling reason for a fixed Table of Assignments. And the pattern which has been developed will effectively reserve the great majority of the unclaimed vhf channels for the benefit of the small communities in sparsely settled areas. Moreover, even though uhf authorizations have not come up to expectations, it appears that the uhf allocation pattern has been quite firmly set by the grants that have been made, so that any greater efficiency resulting from use of a fixed table might now be outweighed by the greater flexibility of the application method. This is particularly true with respect to the assignment of low and high uhf channels in neighboring communities, since in many cases the community more interested in establishing local television service has been assigned the less desirable channels. "When the Table of Assignments was adopted, the Commission was faced with a huge backlog of television applications, with an unknown number of applicants ready to file their applications when the 'freeze' was lifted. Only through a fixed table could the Commission have acted as expeditiously as it did in processing applications, with the result that television service was provided to almost all the nation's population in a relatively short time. Now the situation is different. The backlog of pending applications is no greater than the backlog of petitions for changes in the Table of Assignments, many of which request the drop-in of a vhf or low uhf channel. In several instances it has been noted that the rule making process has consumed more time than the processing of an application subsequently filed. Hence, it appears that the Commission's workload might be considerably lessened and the public interest might be better served and television service more expeditiously provided by eliminating the procedural step of rule making to make a channel available for use in any given community. In addition, if a prospective applicant is relieved of the expenditure of time and money in rule making proceedings and assured that any channel is available which meets technical requirements, he might be encouraged to seek out new or underserved television markets. "However, we do not feel that the time has yet come when the Table of Assignments should be completely abandoned. We believe that it is still necessary and appropriate in the public interest to preserve the educational reservations not yet claimed and to protect uhf areas from encroachment by new vhf stations. In our view, any change in the Rules as to availability of television channels must make allowance for such factors." Broadcasting • Telecasting