Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1958)

EDITORIALS Forcing the Pay-Tv Issue IF the opponents of subscription television think they have won their case, they have foolishly underestimated the tenacity of Eugene F. McDonald. Mr. McDonald, president of Zenith Radio Corp. and foremost advocate of subscription television, was only invigorated by the blow he received when the House Commerce Committee stopped the FCC from approving toll tv tests early in February. After pausing to change tactics, Mr. McDonald has re-entered the subscription television fight with a vengeance. We are in possession of a letter he has written to newspaper editors and publishers [Closed Circuit. March 31]. In essence, the letter warns the newspapermen that television threatens the position of newspapers as the dominant editorial force in the U. S. Further, the letter charges, television's editorial power is in the dictatorial control of two men, the heads of CBS-TV and NBC-TV, because they have an economic stranglehold on their affiliates. "This network monopoly," the letter reads, "is, in fact, a threat to freedom of speech — of vital interest to every printed publication." Mr. McDonald's letter is plainly intended to enlist newspapers on his side in the subscription television fight by the device of scaring them into believing that their own welfare is at stake. It is a device which shows signs of working. Congressmen are inserting in the Congressional Record newspaper editorials supporting subscription tv. Congressmen are also speaking about alleged abuses of television's editorial power. On this subject, the Congressmen are simply borrowing the ideas of Eugene McDonald. In other parts of his letter to newspapermen, Mr. McDonald charges that it was an abuse of editorial power for television stations to oppose subscription tv. Television has been put into editorial competition with newspapers by the clever prodding of Mr. McDonald. It must face the challenge of that competition or yield the field, without struggle, to the medium which has exclusively occupied it for so long. The issue of subscription television has now been inextricably associated with the issue of freedom of speech or, to be more specific, freedom of the air. Telecasters must fight for their position on both issues. To surrender on one is to invite certain defeat on the other. Is television to become an editorial force? It can be if individual broadcasters make it so. It won't be if individual broadcasters refuse to carry the serious responsibilities which editorializing imposes on the editorialists. It is scandalously untrue, of course, to say that two men control television in America. But that charge, however false, will be given currency if the hundreds of broadcasters in control of individual stations fail to assert their individuality through vigorous editorial programs on many subjects — including subscription tv. Affiliate Responsibility Too IT took talk of the possible demise of the American Broadcasting Network to awaken both government and industry to the realization that radio networks are indispensable in our way of life. Since the coming of age of television, network radio has been in trouble. There must have been times when all of the networks wondered whether it could ever come back. Some old-line radio affiliates went independent, where money could be made. But NBC and CBS stuck to their guns and the majority of their affiliates took painful cuts in compensation and stuck along with them. Now these networks are doing better. They may not reach the pre-tv Deaks any time soon, but there is new optimism and new acceptance from national advertisers. NBC President Robert W. Sarnoff. in one of his periodic letters to radio-tv editors 10 days a<?o. »ave network r?d;o the strongest shot of adrenalin it has had in some time. Thanks to the zeal of its Page 1 14 • April 7, 1958 Drawn for BROADCASTING by Sid Hix "Better change my sign. I hear pay tv isn't popular with the American public." new radio management and the team-work of affiliates who wouldn't quit, NBC Radio is on the road back, and affiliate compensation has quadrupled over what it was two years ago. ABN has cut back its programming to reduce its losses. It is searching for the formula that will enable it to retain nationwide interconnected service. MBS, sold last year as a network, minus owned-and-operated stations, and recently reorganized a second time, is seeking the formula that will enable it to remain afloat. Whether there will be four networks or three or two, only time will tell. But it is clear that NBC and CBS, with unflagging faith in the future and in the necessity of maintaining radio service, will continue to put all steam possible behind their operations. Emerging, too, from the current discussion is the realization that network radio is a two-way street. There can be no network without affiliates in key markets providing the circulation that the advertiser is willing to buy. This has been one of the serious roadblocks in the path of ABN's successful operation. Affiliate responsibility therefore is equal in importance to network responsibility. Networks have had difficulty in retaining affiliates in major markets and in several instances have been forced to buy stations to get essential clearances. NBC, Mr. Sarnoff said, put the question of clearances to its affiliates bluntly: if they wanted to maintain the NBC Radio network service, they would have to carry more programs in network option time. Clearance of network programs has since increased an average of 15%, he reported, and national advertisers have found the network an increasingly valuable buy. The discussion provoked by the ABN plight elicited not only the strongly optimistic Sarnoff statement but also a speech by Sen. Schoeppel (R-Kans.) in the Senate urging ABC to "continue its radio network's role as a vital link in the chain of man's knowledge and understanding." And there was yet another development that may have been stimulated by the radio network discussion. The FCC, in considering license renewals of radio stations in Atlanta, withheld regular licenses to eight stations for purported program imbalance. That means they had little or practically no public service programming (i. e., educational, agricultural, religious). Two major network affiliates and one independent in Atlanta did receive renewals. Network schedules include full-scale news reporting, public service susiainers and other program resources unavailable to the average independent, although there are notable exceptions. There are serious, even sinister implications in the network radio picture. The government could not condone a condition whereby network radio service might be sharply curtailed. Nationwide radio service is too fundamental to our national welfare in a world torn with discord. There would be moves toward subsidy to retain adequate service, and that would lead inevitably to limitation of profits or something tantamount to public utility control. That broadcasters do not want at any price, for with it would go the freedom of broadcasting. Broadcasting