Broadcasting Telecasting (Jul-Sep 1958)

GOVERNMENT continued purpose has been kicked about in congressional cloakrooms for sometime. At the time Sen. Potter's resolution was introduced over a year ago [Government, June 24, 1957] ODM entered an objection on the grounds it was unnecessary and would cover ground already gone over in a 1956 classified study. ODM also said at that time if such a commission were set up, its scope should encompass the entire spectrum. 940 Kc, 1 550 Kc Now Open for Daytime Use The FCC last week opened up clear channel frequencies 940 kc and 1550 kc for daytime stations — notwithstanding its prohibition on processing daytime applications on Class 1 frequencies pending solution of the long-pending daytime skywave case. The Commission ordered that the two frequencies be exempted from the rule deferring action on applications involving clear channels. Although 940 kc and 1550 kc are clears, both Canada and Mexico have priorities on their use under the 1950 North American Regional Broadcast Agreement. Canadian priority on 940 kc is at Montreal, Que., and on 1550 kc at Windsor, Ont. Mexican priorities for both channels are at Mexico City, D.F. There are no U. S. Class 1 stations operating on these two wave lengths. Actually the rule listing the frequencies on which daytime applications are deferred, passed early in the post-World War II era, referred to all the clear channels, including 940 kc and 1550 kc. The Commission's action was taken when the subject became an issue in a comparative hearing involving the application of WBOF Virginia Beach, Va., to change from 1600 kc with 1 kw daytime to 1550 kc with 5 kw daytime. WBOF petitioned the Commission to permit its operation on 1550 kc, if it succeeded in winning its case, on the ground that the rule was in error in including this frequency. Since the hearing began, one of WBOF's competitors has dismissed its application, and the third application for 1570 kc at Denbigh, Va. is not in conflict. Rep. Hale's '56 Victory Upheld, Faces Same Opponent Next Month Just six weeks before the same two principals face each other again in the Sept. 8 Maine general election, the House Elections Subcommittee last week declared Rep. Robert Hale (R-Me.) defeated his 1956 First District Democratic opponent, James A. Oliver, by 1 1 1 votes. The subcommittee boosted Rep. Hale's previously-announced 29-vote majority after investigating 4,087 contested ballots. The subcommittee decision will be acted on Wednesday (Aug. 6) by the parent House Administration Committee and then by the full House. Rep. Hale is a member of both the House Commerce Committee and its investigative arm, the Legislative Oversight Subcommittee. Mr. Oliver was a Republican member of Congress in the 1930's before switching to the Democratic party. NO TAKERS SEEN FOR SPORTS BILL • Little chance for blanket antitrust protection • Fellows pushes industry's side as hearings end Hope of commercial sports promoters for an antitrust blank-check were dwindling at the weekend as Congress speeded up activity in an effort to adjourn by mid-August. The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee considering antitrust exemption (HR 10378, S 4070) wound up hearings last Thursday (July 31). While a heavy share of subcommittee testimony favored passage of the bill, NAB and the Dept. of Justice have opposed the antitrust exemption because it would permit promoters to black out much of the nation's population from radio and tv coverage of games. In testifying last week, NAB President Harold E. Fellows contended commercial sports should be subject to antitrust laws. A large number of letters and wires from stations in opposition to the bill were received by the subcommittee, headed by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-Tenn.). As four weeks of hearings wound up July 31, Chairman Kefauver said a closed meeting of his subcommittee was scheduled Aug. 1. A number of amendments have been proposed, including proposals to spell out blackout permission for baseball, football, hockey and basketball. Last week the U. S. Trotting Assn. asked to be included in the antitrust exemption. Pay tv entered the hearings when Sen. William Langer (R-N. D.) introduced an amendment that would ban sports programming on payas-you-see television. NAB sent a letter to the subcommittee, at the request of Sen. Joseph C. O'Mahoney (D-Wyo.), citing an estimate that advertisers are spending about $35 million this season for radio and tv coverage of major league baseball. Radio and tv incomes of major league clubs amounted to more than $7 million. NAB said on the basis of data provided by Chairman Emanuel Celler (D-N. Y.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committe. Rep. Celler's bill providing antitrust exemption for pro sports where a "reasonably necessary" requirement existed was sidetracked in the House in favor of the blanket exemption. NAB cited a statement by Bert Bell, National Football League commissioner, that league radio-tv income totaled $1,810,260 in 1957. Station Representatives Assn. told the Senate subcommittee in a letter last week that restricted sports broadcasts would rob the public of interesting programs and deprive stations of substantial revenue (see page 55). The letter was sent by Frank M. Headley of H-R Representatives, president of SRA. A tribute of broadcasting's power to stimulate interest in sports and attendance at MR. FELLOWS Page 52 August 4, 1958 games was paid by Maurice Podoloff, president of National Basketball Assn. The final witness at the hearings, Mr. Podoloff said "television has encouraged people to go to games and radio, too, has stimulated attendance." Next season NBA will broadcast 16 games plus four playoffs on NBC Sunday afternoons. Mr. Podoloff negotiates the broadcast contracts, the network paying $12,000 a game and $15,000 for playoffs. Home cities are blacked out on tv with the exception of some New York, Philadelphia and Detroit games. When the U. S. Trotting Assn. testified July 30, Joseph A. Neville, chief counsel, said radio-tv coverage has been a factor in the swift growth of the sport. "Broadcasts have done us a world of good and no harm whatsoever," he said on questioning by Theodore T. Peck, counsel to Sen. Everett M. Dirksen (R-Ill.). "They have gone out of their way to give us help. We are very grateful to the television and radio industry for what they have done for us." Mr. Fellows was flanked in his committee appearance by Vincent T. Wasilewski, NAB government relations director. He opposed blanket exemption from antitrust laws for professional sports on the ground such agreements "should stand the scrutiny of reasonableness in order to be in the overall public interest." Contending professional sports contests are now subject to antitrust laws, he saw no reason to modify the situation. He listed the history of baseball blackouts since 1946 when the major league's Rule ID was adopted, recalling the Justice Dept. received many complaints from the public. The rule was modified at Justice Dept. insistence and later the clubs abandoned it altogether. Professional football has never appealed the federal court decision giving National Football League the right to restrict telecasts into home areas the day a club is playing at home and forbidding any radio restrictions. "I assume professional football has been able to live with reasonable restrictions," he said. Mr. Fellows said the House-passed bill would permit "any collusive determination" the clubs desire without regard to the public interests. He said the Justice Dept.'s blackout map shows that baseball clubs could blackout broadcasts from 90% of the population, though only half of it at a time or where home team restrictions might prevail. The bill, he contended, "would grant to the professional sports people the right to virtually preclude a large segment of the American public from all chance to hear on radio or view on television the bulk of pro Broadcasting