Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1957)

FOREIGN FILM MARKETS balance of trade was weighed in favor of the U. S.. which is a heavy exporter, but there has been a movement in the U. S. to have foreign countries relax these rules. Mr. Michelson acknowledged that on infrequent occasions U. S. companies use complicated methods to "unfreeze" their currency. (One favorite story in motion picture circles is that one company with blocked currency in Finland arranged to have Bibles printed in English and subsequently shipped them to the U. S. for sale.) Many of the active advertisers in overseas markets are American companies with foreign affiliates, including such "blue-chip" names as Proctor & Gamble, Sears, Roebuck, Esso Standard Oil, National Biscuit Co., Standard Brands, Ford Motor Co., Richard Hudnut, Borden Co., Westinghouse Electric Co.. General Electric Co., Pet Milk, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and and Lever Bros. Distribution companies generally direct their overseas operations from New York, with either full-time or part-time representatives in various countries, who make business trips to adjacent markets. Ziv's inter national division is headquartered in Cincinnati. Since most distributors consider Canada within the purview of domestic operations, the following breakdown of activities by leading companies will concentrate largely on operations in Europe and Latin America and touch upon other smaller world markets: CBS Television Film Sales: The firm's Vice President Harris reported there are 14 CBS Film programs running in Britain and claimed that "our programs are the backbone of the Independent Television Authority and are largely responsible for it getting out of the red and into the black within a year." He listed / Love Lucy, Assignment Foreign Legion, Gunsmoke and Amos V Andy as "top-rated" programs in England, and others carried including Range Rider, Phil Silvers Show, Person to Person, See It Now, Champion, Annie Oakley, CBS News, The Millionaire, December Bride and Brave Eagle. American tv films in Britain, he said, are on an unofficial quota of 20% of total program time. He characterized prices as "low," with the highest sum paid for shows such as Lucy and Silvers approximating $5,000 each while most programs are sold for less than $1,000 for full United Kingdom rights. CBS Films has found it advantageous because of the quota and the currency restrictions to produce in England, and to date has sold about $700,000 worth of films in that country and spent about $1 million in film production there. Films produced in England do not come under the 20% rule, according to Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris said that Germany, with 17 television transmitters, is the second largest European market (estimated number of sets: 700,000) and has transmission "technically superior to ours, producing a beautiful picture." But as in Italy and France, one knotty problem in Germany is the high dubbing costs, as compared with the price the German network can pay. He estimated that it costs about $1,200 to dub a halfhour program in German while the network will pay a top price of $1,000 a film. Germans seem to prefer cultural and educational programs, such as You Are There and those "with scenes of violence getting bad reactions." France, with more than 400,000 sets, has only one CBS program running — Brave Eagle, which is also being carried in Frenchspeaking Canada, Mr. Harris said. It costs about $1,400 for dubbing a film and $800 would be "a high price" for a French tv outlet to pay, he added. Mr. Harris said CBS Film toyed around with the notion of selling these French-dubbed films in Canada, but discovered that French Canadians resented the Parisian accent. There are about 328,000 sets in Italy. Mr. Harris reported that Italians like cultural programs such as CBS Films' See It Now and You Are There and are also "enthusiastic viewers of westerns." Dubbing is expensive, he said, and some sales have been made at a low fee without dubbing but "in the main, Italian sales are at a loss at present." Ziv Television Programs: Ziv is regarded universally as the pioneer in selling the Latin American market, having been active south-of-the-border for more than four years. This area is considered a profitable one for Ziv and other syndicators in that dubbing costs generally are lower, ranging from $750 to $1,000, and a well-produced film can command about $1,200. It is believed a syndicator can break about even on the first exposure of the film and make a profit on sales to other Spanish-speaking countries. According to Ed Stern, director of Ziv's international divisions, some idea of the growth of Ziv's overseas operations can be ascertained by this observation: The business done in each month in 1957 to date is nearly twice as much as all the business signed in the entire year of 1953, the first full year of activity abroad. Though he declined to reveal Ziv's foreign gross, it is reported to be about $3.5 million in Latin America and about $1 million in all other areas combined. Ziv is active in Europe with four series running in England: two in West Germany: TV ACROSS THE PACIFIC MR Japan QUINN ind the Philip COMMERC1AL television has jumped the Pacific and is establishing itself on the eastern shores much as it did a decade ago in the United States, Stanley J. Quinn Jr., vice president of J. Walter Thompson Co., Los Angeles, said on his return from a busman's holiday on which he called on JWT branches in Australia ( where he had served a term before the First World War as radio director), pines. Although less than a year old, tv in Australia has already attracted great interest and a lot of business from advertisers, both domestic and international, Mr. Quinn said. Australian tv has adapted much from the United States, both in programming and in commercials, Mr. Quinn reported. Kraft Tv Theatre in Australia uses the same commercial techniques that were developed by JWT in New York. Major difference is that both programs and commercials are filmed in Australia, not live as at home. The agency has its own tv workshop in Sydney, modeled on the New York original, where commercial techniques are tried and perfected. "At the moment they're so fascinated with pictures that they are slighting the words, but they'll get over that with a little more experience," Mr. Quinn stated. The growth of the tv audience in Australia is being hampered by import restrictions which have made receivers both scarce and expensive, but this condition is viewed as only temporary. "The Australians are great movie goers and great sports fans and it's inevitable that they'll be great televiewers as well," Mr. Quinn observed. Programming at TCN Sydney is divided about 50/50 live and film, with the filmed programs about 60% of American origin and 40% British. Tv costs are currently extremely low by U. S. standards, he said, as wage scales for tv workers have not yet been established and certified by the government, but that won't last long, he predicted. Japanese television is very commercial, with no apparent limits on the amount of time that may be devoted to advertising, Mr. Quinn said. Animation is inexpensive there and is used even more widely in Japan that at home, he reported. He had little time for watching tv but the programs he saw seemed amateurish and unimaginative, he reported. "The acting in a drama I watched was very broad by our standards," he said, "although my ignorance of the language may have made me unduly critical. The lighting was flat and reminiscent of the very earliest days of tv at home. But the camera work was excellent." Television is developing much more slowly in Manila than in either Australia or Japan, Mr. Quinn said, with only about 400,000 tv homes after three years. Again, import restrictions are to blame, he noted, but domestic manufacture of tv sets is getting started and 1.5 million sets are expected in use within a year. Page 28 • May 6, 1957 Broadcasting • Telecasting