Broadcasting (Apr - June 1960)

PROGRAMMING BALABAN TUNES IN’ ON TORONTO Paramount stockholders told pay tv there will show profit The pilot pay tv operation in Toronto stole the show at Paramount Picture Corp.’s stockholders meeting last week. The motion picture studio management, at the annual meeting in New York, devoted minimum time to its chief product (movies) and the most attention to International Telemeter Corp. which is 100% Paramountowned. Also getting attention were the revenues from Paramount Pictures’ pre1948 library sold to and distributed by Music Corp. of America. The pilot Telemeter venture has been operating in Toronto’s suburban Etobicoke since Feb. 26 (Broadcasting, Feb. 29). Some 1,000 homes had initially been wired in an area in which Telemeter had targeted 40,000 homes eventually to be connected. Barney Balaban, president of Paramount, told stockholders that Famous Players Canadian Corp. Ltd. (largest theatre chain operator in Canada and 50% owned by Paramount) now has installed units in about 3,700 homes and was trying to catch up with a 5, Barney Balaban Says Canadian caper pays off 54 400 subscriber backlog. He said the firm has made only 6,000 units and suspended further order taking. Potential ■ Mr. Balaban at one point stated pay tv has a potential of a “$2 billion industry” but, he warned, this figure would represent all elements including producers, distributors and all pay tv operators. At a stockholder’s persistence, Mr. Balaban admitted he expected the Toronto operation would prove profitable. He was critical of theatre exhibitor attempts to curb pay tv’s advance. Mr. Balaban said: “While we have many requests from representative theatre owners for Telemeter pay television franchises, others — who are far more vociferous — are joining together for the purpose of holding back the attracting of this untapped audience to motion picture viewing.” He intimated that when the “right time comes,” they would fall into line and “avoid the shortsightedness” the motion picture industry “used with respect to radio and television.” The Justice Dept, has made inquiries of film producers via its antitrust division asking what arrangements they were making to get into pay tv. The interest, it was presumed, stemmed from a meeting a month ago with Justice by an exhibitor group (At Deadline, May 23). A major portion of Mr. Balaban’s report to stockholders was devoted to a survey conducted in Canada for Paramount based on the first “normal cycle of collections which began in the middle of May and cover about half of our subscribers.” Box Office Effect ■ The survey revealed that pay tv is not having any harmful effect on local theatre receipts, and that Telemeter families where adults haven’t gone to the movies (32% of the homes) spend much more to see movies on the coin-box system than the average family spends at theatres. It was noted that Famous Players, which operates the theatres in the Etobicoke area as well as the Telemeter operation there, did not find any deleterious effects of pay tv on movie house attendance. Mr. Balaban made a point of Paramount’s belief that pay tv instead of cutting into the theatre box office could supplement theatre attendance. He detailed survey figures to show percentages of subscribers who paid to see a motion picture on television in the Toronto system. They ranged from a low of 22% to see “Peyton Place” after the movie had all of its theatrical runs to a high of 50% for “The Ten Commandments,” after that picture also had its theatrical runs. The price to see a motion picture on the Telemeter system still is $1. Mr. Balaban indicated operators would stick to that until they learn what effect ■ varying admission prices has on grosses. j| Other points made at the meeting: ■ A motion picture (“Sink The Bismarck”) playing on one channel received a cumulative “rating” of 43% S' of all subscribers while at the same time, but on another channel, a telecast of a Toronto Maple Leaf hockey game was seen by 27.7% of the subscribers. ■ Average percentage of subscribers viewing Telemeter programs on days when three programs were offered simultaneously: 43% of subscribers. ■ Telemeter in the fall plans to initiate a variety of sports and entertain i ment programming not yet made avail ! able to Toronto subscribers. ■ “There can be no doubt about the public acceptance of the principle of ! . pay television,” Mr. Balaban said. ■ Paramount to date has received ' about $11.1 million net before taxes j J from sale of its pre-1948 library to EKMA Ltd., subsidiary of MCA, and 1 f expects additional proceeds of $36 million before taxes. NBC top management last Thursday (June 9) approved a plan establishing a network service to supply newsfilm and taped news report to affiliates each day via coaxial cable. The network’s sales department on Friday started distributing notices to 140 affiliates, which currently receive the Huntley-Brinkley news shows, apprising them on the newly-formed NBC News program service. Film and taped material will be fed each evening, Monday to Friday, 6-6:15 p.m., when there is no network service. The charge will range from $100 to $350 per week, depending on the size of the market. Currently, the only regular network news program on NBC-TV is the Huntley-Brinkley program. It is hoped that the service will permit affiliates to schedule a larger amount of international and national news on their newscasts, and provide stations with this material BROADCASTING, June 13, I960 NBC-TV to cable news to its affiliates