Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1962)

INTERNATIONAL _ CANADA UPS MULTILINGUAL CONTENT Immigration boom brings liberalized language broadcasts CBC counts losses Second television stations in eight of Canada's major cities have cost $7 million in advertising to Canadian Broadcasting Corp. stations in those cities and the national CBC tv network, J. Al Ouimet, CBC president, estimated at Ottawa. He said the figure for the 1961 fiscal year is about what was anticipated before the advent of the competitive second stations, and accounts for about 20% of the CBC's previous advertising revenue. Radio stations in Montreal and Toronto may now be licensed to utilize up to 40% of their programming time between 6 a.m. and midnight to broadcasts in other than English and French languages. The Canadian Board of Broadcast Governors has issued rulings on multilingual stations after a lengthy study of the subject in view of Canada's large postwar immigration boom. All Canadian stations can broadcast up to 15% of program time between 6 a.m. and midnight in other languages than French, English, North American Indian or Eskimo tongues without special license. In metropolitan areas where the population consists of at least 150,000 to 200,000 potential foreignlanguage listeners, licenses will be recommended to permit stations to broadcast from 25% to 40% of programs from 6 a.m. to midnight in foreign tongues. The BBG points out that for the present this will cover only Montreal and Toronto metropolitan areas. After the results of the 1961 census are known, other major centers may be added. Programming must be in 15-minute blocks or multiples of the quarter-hour, with announcements at beginning and end of the program block determining the language of the period. There must also be capsule announcements to acquaint English or French listeners as to the language and program content of the foreign-language broadcast. Foreign-language programs are not to be entirely entertainment, and broadcasters must include some programs which will give the foreign-language listeners some data on Canadian history, geography, and government at the federal, provincial and municipal level. The programs must also include some to assist newcomers to understand English or French. Some programs must be aired that will stimulate the listener's pride in Canadian citizenship and generally make them feel at home in Canada. Broadcasters of such special multilingual stations, as well as those carrying any foreign-language broadcasts, must have filed in their records prior to broadcast, English or French certified translations of all talks, commercials and all words spoken in the foreign language. Broadcasters are held responsible for what is said over their stations. They must make sure that no offensive propaganda, direct or indirect, is broadcast over their stations. Programming must be done in languages roughly corresponding to the percentage of principal ethnic groups in the area. All food and drug commercials to be cleared through the Department of National Health and Welfare must be submitted to the BBG in advance with certified translation in English or French so BBG can have them cleared by the department. In 1958 the Canadian Assn. of Broadcasters made a survey which showed that at least 54 stations offered programs in languages other than English or French. As a result of this survey and the BBG's own study, it was felt that provision should be made for more broadcasting in foreign languages in larger metropolitan areas to help in the task of integrating new Canadians. Canadian group asks radio-tv ad limitation Broadcast advertising on Sundays should be limited, the Lord's Day Alliance, Toronto, has stated in a brief presented to the Canadian government asking for modernization of the 1906 Lord's Day Act. The alliance said that since newspapers and magazines may not publish on Sunday, and other means of advertising are not covered up on Sunday, broadcast advertising should not be entirely prohibited, but should be restricted in nature and amount. The alliance has asked for modernization of the legislation since it does not mention such modern facets of living as radio and television. The alliances noted that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the government's Canadian Broadcasting Corp. is not liable for prosecution under the legislation. An editorial in the February issue of the Canadian Churchman, national paper of the Anglican Church of Canada, states that television advertising is becoming one of the crudest and most blatant examples of organized cynicism ever devised by man. Jersey to get tv outlet The smallest tv station in Europe is scheduled to start Sept. 1. It is Channel Television on the island of Jersey off France's Normandy coast. Jersey is one of the Channel Islands. They are British territory and the station will broadcast spot commercials. The population of the islands is 110,543 and the estimated number of tv homes 28,000. UK tv in 1961 added 1.25 million viewers The number of people in Britain with tv sets in their homes increased 1.25 million from December 1960 to December 1961, bringing the television public to more than 84% of the population. So finds a radio and tv audience survey by the British Broadcasting Corp. But despite that increase, average tv viewing has gone down from 16.2 to 15.4 hours a week. The survey also shows that during the last quarter of 1961, of those viewers who could receive both commercial and BBC channels (78.9% of the total U. K. population aged five and over), 45% watched BBC-TV and 55% the commercial channel. BBC-TV had only 39% in the comparable 1960 period. As the radio-only audience dropped from December 1960 to the end of 1961 the evening radio audience also shrank but daytime audiences rose. This daytime growth has raised the BBC radio audience 7%. BBC, ITA join to test color tv transmission The BBC and Britain's Independent Television Authority will cooperate shortly in experimental color transmissions on the 625 line system. At present there are no color broadcasts in the U. K. nor are any color sets being manufactured there. Blackand-white tv is on 405 lines. It is widely believed that the Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting, which will issue its recommendations on the future of British radio and tv sometime this Spring, will call for a switch to the higher-definition 625-line picture. But it is not expected to ask for a quick introduction of color. But the BBC-ITA joint tests indicate that top executives in Great Britain believe that color is not so far away. 86 BROADCASTING, February 12, 1962