Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

PROGRAM SERVICES NEW 'GRAY GHOST' LICENSE PLAN • CBS Television Enterprises shoots at new level • Items handled in retail stores of program sponsor CBS Television Enterprises, the merchandising and licensing division of CBSTV, is adding what it calls "the second dimension" to a business that already is a multi-million-dollar off-shoot of television. When Sydney Rubin, director of CBS-TV Enterprises, first pondered the licensing and merchandising potentialities of The Gray Ghost, the new CBS-TV Film Sales series on the Civil War, he observed that two of the larger regional advertisers were retail grocery chains— Loblaw's in upstate New York and Colonial Stores in the South. Immediately, Mr. Rubin was struck by the possibility of extending merchandising and licensing activities to an area he believes is untapped — retail stores which are also sponsors of a series. Mr. Rubin told Broadcasting that conventionally, licensed items are sold either as premiums or in all types of retail establishments, but to his knowledge, the arrangement he subsequently established with both Loblaw's and Colonial Stores marks the first time this activity is being conducted with a retail advertiser of a specific program. He is convinced the project will benefit the grocery chains by building in-store traffic and the program by stimulating local interest. The stores are setting up special Gray Ghost counters in ABOVE: A Gray Ghost cap, fast-seller to the younger fan set. BELOW: A display of some of the toys licensed by CBS Enterprises. each area where they sponsor the series and offer many of the 30 items associated with the show. Loblaw's is sponsor in four upstate New York markets where 110 of its stores are located and Colonial in 13 markets, the sites of about 300 of its stores. The Gray Ghost venture is the most current for CBS Television Enterprises, formed about two years ago by the network to cash in on the strong impact of television personalities and programs on viewers, particularly children. Mr. Rubin was the sole employe for a brief time and the organization has grown now to four executive employes MR. rubin plus secretarial help. Murray Benson is sales manager; Paul Rosen, business affairs manager, and Howard Berk, publicity-promotion director. This year, according to Mr. Rubin, retail sales on products licensed by CBS-TV Enterprises are expected to reach about $40 million. Customary licensing practice is to pay an organization like CBS-TV Enterprises 5% of the wholesale selling price. CBS-TV Enterprises has licensing agreements with more than 150 manufacturers who produce a total of more than 300 items, including toys, games, wearing apparel, records, jewelry, comic books. More than 30 CBS-TV and CBS-TV Film Sales programs are involved in merchandisinglicensing, including Captain Kangaroo, Mighty Mouse Playhouse, You'll Never Get Rich with Phil Silvers, Gunsmoke, What's My Line?, See It Now and Air Power. The licensing roster also includes the hit Broadway play, "My Fair Lady" and the motion picture, "Around the World in 80 Days," in both of which CBS Inc. has a financial interest. Mr. Rubin acknowledges that most licensed items are slanted toward the children's market, though some of the items, such as jewelry and certain games, also have adult appeal. He contends that a child entering a store and seeing a licensed item builds up "a personal identification" immediately. "Take two toys exactly alike," Mr. Rubin pointed out, "and place a tv hero's identification upon one of them. I defy anyone to set these before a tv-conscious child — and who isn't? — without realizing that the tv toy must win out." He acknowledged there is responsibility on the part of CBS-TV Enterprises to be "selective" about the items it approves. He makes it a policy to seek out the leaders of an item in its field and decide on an article Page 80 December 0. 1957 that provides a logical identification with the tv program. For the future, Mr. Rubin envisions a growth of licensing-merchandising activity in television but is insistent that there must be an accompanying accent on quality and selectivity of items. Crosley Corp. Equipment Buy Sets TelePrompTer Sales Mark TelePrompTer Corp., New York, last week reported the largest single transaction for tv station equipment in its six-year history, as Crosley Broadcasting Corp. signed contracts to use the new Mark V TelePrompTer in its five stations and bought five TelePro 6000 rear-screen projectors. Stations to be equipped are WLWT (TV) Cincinnati, WLWD (TV) Dayton, and WLWC (TV) Columbus, all Ohio; WLWA (TV) Atlanta and WLWI (TV) Indianapolis. Herbert W. Hobler, vice president in charge of sales for TelePrompTer, said the new transaction means that TelePrompTerequipped stations now serve more than 86% of all U. S. tv homes. John T. Murphy. Crosley vice president, commenting on the purchase, said the New TelePro, combined with the Mark V, would be used by Crosley stations to "maintain their pre-eminence in the coverage of news." The Mark V and TelePro units are designed to provide an integrated package for studio production. C-C Pay Tv Expected to Clear Another Preliminary in L. A. Los Angeles city council tomorrow (Tuesday) will hear a second reading of ordinances designed to put into effect franchises authorizing the installation of two closedcircuit toll tv systems in the city. First reading of the ordinances was made last Tuesday. If there is no objection, and none is anticipated. Skiatron Tv Inc. and International Telemeter Co. jointly with Fox West Coast Theatres will have passed all of the legal preliminaries to setting up pay tv operations in Los Angeles. There is one other requirement, however, an agreement with the telephone company for the right to install cables on its poles for the transmission of program service from some central point to the homes of subscribers to the toll tv systems. Despite many conferences between officials of the toll tv companies and Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co., PT&T has not yet announced what kind of service it is willing to make available, when it will be available and at what price, or indeed that it will offer any service to toll tv companies at all [At Deadline, Nov. 25]. This uncertainty as to what PT&T will do is the reason that Harriscope Inc., third organization to have been granted a toll tv franchise by the Los Angeles City Council, has not filed its $100,000 performance bond with the city, Burt Harris, Harriscope president, said Thursday. Once the bond is filed with the city, he said, it cannot be Broadcasting