Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1958)

GOVERNMENT continued WESTINGHOUSE Broadcasting officials present for Barrow hearing gather around Donald H. McGannon (seated, c), WBC president, who presented testimony. L to r: seated — Rolland V. Tooke, vice president, Cleveland; Mr. McGannon; Joseph E. Baudino, vice president, Washington; standing — Ralph N. Harmon, vice president, engineering; Harold C. Lund, vice president, Pittsburgh; John W. Steen, counsel; Charles C. Woodard Jr., assistant to president, and Wilmer C. Swarthy, vice president, Boston. Wayne, WIND Chicago, and KEX-AM-FM Portland, Ore. A statement also was filed by E. V. Huggins, board chairman of WBC and vice president of WEC in charge of the broadcasting arm. Mr. Huggins charged that the Barrow Report took an "emotional approach" to multiple ownership and criticized the report's recommendations against option time. WEC owns stations, he said, because WBC stations are outgrowths of the nation's first radio station, KDKA, founded in 1920. WEC, naturally, wishes to recover a return on its investment in broadcasting; WEC has a desire to render public service. Mr. Huggins added that Westinghouse wishes to associate its name with broadcasting stations which serve public needs because this "reflects credit on the company's reputation, adds prestige to its name and generally contributes to its overall health and well-being." Mr. Huggins added that the Network Study Staff in its investigation never sought information from WEC and "very little" from WBC. Mr. McGannon said it is WBC's "strong opinion" that the Network Study Staff "elicited only such facts and information as best served their pre-conceived conclusions" and called on the FCC to re-examine the report "in a most incisive manner." On option time, Mr. McGannon said it is a vital factor to tv broadcasting and the Barrow Report recommendations "should not be permitted to place the industry in a defensive position or this practice in an atmosphere of being inherently wrong without ample evidence of injury to the public interest." He also defended must buys. WBC believes, Mr. McGannon said, that the question of local ownership should be expanded to include the concept of local management — the latter term being the focal point about which must pivot the station's sensitivity to the needs of the community and knowledge of it. Mr. McGannon said he felt multiple owners are in a position to and in fact do render a better service than single-station owners. He felt the Barrow Report's recommendation to limit ownership of tv stations to three in the first 25 markets to be "discriminatory and totally lacking in any factual or evidentiary basis that WBC is not rendering the fullest possible service to each of its markets." This recommendation, he said, affects no other present non-network multiple ownership except Westinghouse. WBC, he said, agrees with these Barrow Report proposals: requiring licensee to continue ownership of a station "for a reasonable minimum period"; requiring networks to file affiliation criteria with the FCC; asking broader distribution of network commercial shows, with safeguards against undue infringement on a regular network affiliate's exclusivity; authorizing FCC to apply fines and other sanctions short of license revocation for not complying with requirements. Navy Starts Guam Translator The Navy started its tv translator station on Guam April 4 on ch. 10, with 500 w, to re-transmit programs from Guam's commercial station, ch. 8 KUAM (TV) Agana. The Navy translator is atop Mount Alutom and serves all of the military installations on the island. The FCC noted that the establishment of the Navy translator is subject to the usual condition that its operations not cause interference with any non-governmental station. Commission Takes WANB to Task The FCC cracked down on WANB Waynesburg, Pa., last week, directing the station to "attain strict compliance" with the FCC rules which require at least "one radiotelephone first-class operator in full-time employment and at the station." WANB was asked to notify the Commission of its compliance with the order within 30 days. Halvick Proposes Toll Tv Twist That Would First Solicit Viewers A West Coast firm, Halvick Industries, has approached the FCC with a new pay tv idea that suggests that networks try to sell better shows on a toll basis instead of resorting to free methods. Calling its system Toll Vision, Halvick would act as a "brokerage, underwriting and clearing exchange" in a plan in which the public would be given the opportunity to pre-subscribe to pay tv shows of its choice, which would be produced by the tv networks or independent promoters over network facilities. Pay tv shows would be paid for prior to their airing, through the use of previously purchased subscription cards good for any show. If enough people expressed interest in a planned show, so that a profit could be assured, it would be broadcast for all to see, even those who had not pre-subscribed. In the event that a projected production aroused only minimum interest, the pay tv show would be replaced by an "old fashioned" product-sponsored program. Halvick Industries contemplates the possibility of both pay and free tv co-existing together at the same time and over the same network facilities. Certain portions of the country would get the pay tv show for which they had voted, while others would get the sponsored show. Admiral Signs, FTC Approves Picture Tube Consent Order Admiral Corp., Chicago, may not sell its television sets without making "adequate disclosure" of the true size of picture tubes, under terms of a consent order signed by the manufacturer and approved by the Federal Trade Commission a fortnight ago. Admiral has denied allegations of the FTC complaint [Government, Nov. 25, 1957] that its advertisements deceive the public by the manner in which tube measurements are listed. By signing the consent order, which is for settlement purposes, the manufacturer has not admitted any violation of the law. The FTC order says that when a diagonal measurement is used in advertisements either this fact or the viewable area in square inches must be conspicuously disclosed in immediate connection with the measurement. The original complaint charged Admiral with listing diagonal measurements in ads with asterisks referring to a footnote which disclosed that the measure was diagonal and stating total viewable area in square inches. FCC Hearing Branch Upgraded The Hearing Branch of the FCC was reestablished as a Hearing Division in the Broadcast Bureau last week, a return to the status the Hearing Branch held prior to Feb. 6, 1956. The Hearing Branch has been in the Broadcast Facilities Div. since that time. The current change, effective immediately, does not involve any of the present broadcast hearing staff, under Robert J. Rawson. Page 56 • April 14, 1958 Broadcasting