Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

INTERNATIONAL continued company has a long-term agreement with Motorola Inc., Chicago. Mr. Brophy also is president of the Canadian operations of the Netherlands Philips radio organization, Philips Canadian Industrial Development Co. Ltd., and former chairman of Rogers Majestic Electronics Ltd., Toronto. A new plant is being built for the Canadian Motorola organization in Toronto's suburban North York area. International Surveys Issues Data on Canadian Audiences International Surveys Ltd., Toronto, has published its second issue of Seasonal Listening and Viewing Habits in Canada. Facts, maps and graphs are given on both media for all of Canada, for the combined Montreal-Toronto-Vancouver area and for the three major markets separately. The 77-page broadcasting survey offers seasonal, hourly, patterns for regions, cities, average days in the nation and daily segments. Other features are composition of audience, top network shows and figures on sets and set location in homes. International Surveys, which claims it was the first research organization in Canada to publish regular 1 5-minute station time-period audience reports, says its Seasonal Listening and Viewing series also is the first of its kind in that country. CBC Board Will Consider Restriction on Giveaways A regulation to limit giveaway programs is to be considered at a public meeting of the board of governors of CBC at Ottawa in February, A. D. Dunton, CBC chairman has announced. The proposed regulation would "prohibit broadcasting of any offer of any prizes, gifts or bonuses or any contest, except a contest involving skill only, provided that all the participants are present in the broadcasting studio and take part in the broadcast concerned, or that entries are made in writing and the award or size of all prizes depends on the examination and judging on their merit of all such entries." The decision to consider the proposed regulation follows a warning of Sept. 30 that formal regulations and disciplinary action may follow unless certain minimum standards are met on giveaway programs. The minimum standards have the support of the Canadian Assn. of Radio & Tv Broadcasters, representing most independent stations. The proposed regulation does not eliminate the use of box tops and similar items in contests. The Sept. 30 warning had included a stipulation that contestants must not be required to pay any sum of money or have proof of purchase such as box tops to enter the contests. Canadian Tv, Radio Sales Up in October, Says RETMAC Television set sales in Canada in October marked the first upward move in more than a year, with 70,537 sets sold, according to figures of the Radio-Electronics-Television Manufacturers Assn. of Canada. Total tv set sales in the first 10 months of 1957 amounted to 365,875, compared with 498,340 in the same 1956 period. Ontario accounted for 135,973 sets out of the total, Quebec 101,249, British Columbia 32,599, and the remaining seven provinces 97,000. Radio receiver sales were up again in October to bring the January-October total to 452,637 sets as compared with 433,620 sets in the 1956 period. Portable set sales in the first 10 months of 1957 amounted to 46,002 as compared with 36,341 in the 1956 period, and automobile sets were 105,823 in the January-October 1957 period as against 93,043 in 1956. CBC Ordered to Pay $3,000 In Invasion of Privacy Suit Friday the 13 th was not a good day for CBC. In Quebec Superior Court at Montreal Dec. 13 the CBC was ordered to pay $3,000 and costs to 77-year-old Dr. Evelyn E. Robbins of Montreal. The court found that the privacy of the doctor had been intruded upon following an incident Feb. 8, 1956, when his name and address had been flashed on the screen in the CBC's tv network program Tabloid. The late Dick McDougall, the program's emcee at the time, urged viewers to write or telephone Dr. Robbins "to cheer him up," after reading a letter of criticism the doctor had written the program's producer. The case came before the Montreal court Dec. 12. The doctor claimed damages of $10,000 for invasion of privacy, humiliation, and loss of income. He testified that within minutes after his name and address appeared on the tv screen, he received telephone calls, unordered taxicabs, and even barbecued chickens. He said his phone rang steadily for three days and that he finally had to ask for a new number. He claimed to have received 103 letters in a few days, his health suffered and he had lost $300 a month in income since the incident. New European Headquarters Opened by Nielsen in England A. C. Nielsen Co. Ltd opened and dedicated its new European headquarters (Nielsen House) the past fortnight in Oxford, England, amid a gathering of some 400 advertisers, agencies, tv program contractors and Nielsen's U. S. and foreign representatives. The company noted the "insistent demand" from both American and foreign manufacturers for more marketing research in European countries. Unilever Ltd., Nielsen's first client in the United Kingdom, is also the market research firm's largest throughout the world, according to Lord Heyworth, Unilever chairman, who presided at the ceremonies. Save for the 220 field workers and the London client service staff for the Nielsen Television Index, the whole British staff is accommodated in the new 53,000-squarefoot Oxford headquarters. A. C. Nielsen, founder and chairman of the American and British firms, pointed out the latter company now employs 900 persons. All Nielsen overseas operations are funneled through the British firm. ABROAD IN BRIEF TV COUNT-OFF: Sets and prospects: East Germany, 125,000, total held down by high prices, "propaganda programming," according to observers; Austria, 15,000, growth tripled this month, with 3,500 set sales; Switzerland, 30,000, annual growth rate of 20,000, which may increase if "breakthrough" is reached (Several new tv transmitters currently are being added in Switzerland); Philippine Islands, slightly under 15,000 (Pan American Broadcasting Co., international station representative, credits a recent increase in set sales to importation of American programs by DZAQ-TV, the only commercial tv station in the Philippines); Japan, 630,000, a total increasing by more than 30,000 a month. BETTER BELGIAN COVERAGE: Eight million of Belgium's total nine million population will be in reach of a tv signal by April 1958, according to a plan released by the country's official broadcasting service. Current 2 and 6 kw transmitters will be boosted to 20 kw each, and some will be relocated. TV'S TOLL: Tv competition has forced more than 100 British movie houses to close in the past seven months, according to testimony given by a government trade spokesman before the House of Commons last week. TOKYO TOWER: A 1,082-ft. tower is under construction by the Nippon Television City Corp. in Tokyo, it has been announced. Included in the total height is a square, 241 -ft. antenna. FIRE IN PHILIPPINES: Four stations of the Manila Broadcasting Co. went off the air Dec. 16, when fire razed the central transmitter for an estimated $100,000 loss. They were DZRN, DZPI, DZMB and DZHE. Origin of the fire was undetermined. RED RECIPROCITY: Communications ministers of Communist countries agreed last week to exchange radio and television programs, it was reported by Tass news agency. Telecommunications and mail service exchanges also were set up for Soviet bloc nations, which include, besides the U.S.S.R.: Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania. Bulgaria, Hungary, Mongolia and Red China. Yugoslavia last fall announced it would adopt the 7-mc bandwidth of Western European countries (Soviet satellites are on an 8-mc width), and it was reported planning links with Italy and Austria but not with the Soviet bloc [International, Oct. 7]. TWO MILLION TARGET: With registered television sets in West Germany past the million mark, manufacturers have set their sights on two million, a goal they expect to reach late next year or early 1959. This goal is based on record sales for this year [International, Dec. 9] and prospects for free enterprise broadcasting, if present legislative Page 66 • December 30, 1957 Broadcasting