Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1958)

PROGRAM SERVICES CONTINU day he had asked the Justice Dept. to "seriously consider" seeking a preliminary injunction against the merger. He also urged passage of prc-merger-notification legislation now before the Senate Antitrust & Monopoly Subcommittee of which he is chairman. An INS official estimated that only about 10% of the total INS force of about 600 editorial, business and operational employes will be retained by UPI. UP said none of its staff would be discharged. The United Press was created in 1907 by E. W. Scripps, who also was the founder of the Scripps-Howard Newspaper Group. Controlling interest in the UP and the newspaper group is still retained by E. W. Scripps Co. INS was founded in 1909 by the late William Randolph Hearst. It was wholly-owned by the Hearst Corp. UP services about 1.900 radio-tv station clients. No figure was available on INS' station list but it is estimated to be "less than 100" and includes the four radio networks. The INS wire reportedly was used by stations largely as a supplemental wire. A UPI official said all INS contracts will be assumed by the new agency. He stated these contracts will be "negotiable" between UPI and its clients, where duplicate coverage existed. He said in the event that stations subscribed to both UP and INS, UPI would attempt to sell the station a supplementary wire, such as sports, business, or local, that the client might not already have. Telenews was regarded as probably the This is another WMT spectacular. (WMT is that CBS radio station in Eastern Iowa whose mail address is Cedar Rapids, and whose national representative is The Katz Agency.) most active broadcast unit of the Hearst Corp. Telenews serviced 158 stations and ABC-TV with daily newsfilm strips running from five to 12 minutes; a weekly news review program of 15 minutes and a quarterhour "this week in sports" program. The organization also supplied a 15-minutc farm news filmed show, which recently completed a 13-week cycle on 64 stations under the sponsorship of The American Cyanamid Corp. Robert H. Reid, who was television sales manager of INS, covering Telenews, has been named general sales manager of Hearst Metrotone's Telenews operation. He was in the process of assembling a staff, since former Telenews salesman had been on the INS payroll and had been discharged. It is likely that some of the INS personnel will be hired by Mr. Reid. Hearst Metrotone also distributes "news of the day" newsreel to theatres. Telemeter's Novins Confident That Pay Tv Still Has Future Shutdown of the Bartlesville, Okla., closed-circuit community toll tv system after eight months [Program Services, May 26] has not discouraged International Telemeter Corp., developer of the Telemetering coinbox system of pay tv. On the contrary, Louis A. Novins, ITC president, said last week that the Bartlesville experience with service offered for a flat monthly fee confirmed Telemeter's belief that "an effective pay television system must (1) identify each program purchased by each subscriber; (2) provide the means for varying prices depending on the attractiveness of the entertainment offered and (3) provide the viewer with complete freedom of choice as to the selection of his programs." Mr. Novins asserted that "around the end of this year, Telemeter will be in operation in several communities" with such a system. His office declined to identify these communities until all details for the installations have been fully worked out. This caution is not surprising after the experience of ITC and Skiatron in Los Angeles where, after fighting for months to get city franchises to install their systems, they then found themselves faced with a public referendum battle and surrendered their franchises instead [Program Services, March 3]. Commenting that one conclusion of the operator of the Bartlesville toll tv system was that other types of programming than motion pictures are needed for success, Mr. Novins said: "Telemeter is now actively engaged in organizing a separate corporation with experienced personnel to develop and obtain a wide variety of live programs, both local and national. In a matter of weeks. Telemeter will make announcements signifying that pay television is moving from conversation into hardware, from planning into the market place." Goodson-Todman Set Busy Summer Goodson-Todman Productions, New York, has announced it will have 22 halfhour programs running weekly on the tv networks this summer (up from last sum mer's 17 half-hours weekly), claiming this to be a record for an independent package producer. Seven live and two film series are involved. The firm has sold Number Please to CBS-TV for the Tuesday 8:30-9 p.m. period starting in early July as the replacement for Wingo, now defunct. Other series set this summer include Beat the Clock, Play Your Hunch, To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret, Undercurrent and What's My Line, all on CBS-TV, and The Pi 'ice Is Right and Jefferson Drum on NBC-TV. Weaver Gets Double Tv Exposure On Camera and as Film Producer Sylvester L. (Pat) Weaver Jr., former NBC president and board chairman and now a tv consultant, will get a "double exposure" this week, on tv itself and as the supervising producer of a new live tv film series being offered for sale next season. Mr. Weaver will be the guest on next Sunday's (June 8) Mike Wallace Interview on ABC-TV (10-10:30 p.m.) Mr. Wallace currently is host of a special series on the theme of "Survival and Freedom" presented by ABC-TV in association with The Fund for the Republic. Said Mr. Wallace, "We plan to ask him how well he feels television is living up to his idea, expressed several years ago, that it must be the instrument which prepares us for progress into tomorrow's good society or steels us to fight for our democratic way of life." Mr. Weaver's new live tv series — a pilot will be made today (Monday) in New York — is called Are You a Star? The series, starring comedian Jim Backus, is being prepared by Mr. Weaver's Program Service Inc., which is responsible for production supervision, and is aimed for the fall season. Producer is George McGarrett. The series will have fledgling actors or actresses competing with one another in comedy sketches in which professional talent will be employed. Truman Urges Toll Tv Trial In Letter to Virginia Paper Ex-President Harry S. Truman last week reiterated his belief that pay tv should be given a trial because it has "great possibilities." In a letter to his old Democratic friend, Clayton Fritchey, publisher of the Northern Virginia (Arlington) Sun, Mr. Truman said "there is no reason why this could not be accomplished under proper safeguards established by the FCC." Last October Mr. Truman voiced these views in a talk to the NAB regional meeting in Kansas City [Trade Assns., Oct. 14, 1957]. At that time he told broadcasters he felt they should "at least have the opportunity to conduct pay tv" since they are subject to federal regulation. He contended the public should make the ultimate choice. He told broadcasters at that time that he knows little about subscription tv and "probably cares less." Mr. Fritchey is a former editor of Democratic Digest, party organ, and held the top Defense Dept. public relations post during the Truman administration. Page 76 • June 2, 1958 Broadcasting