Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1962)

COURT BACKS FCC ON PAY TV Commission within rights, say judges in denying appeal fer all television to the uhf band. And, he added, "I get nervous when the commission talks about deintermixture at the same time it talks about all-channel sets." FCC on All-Uhf ■ Mr. Minow, testifying earlier, sought to allay the fear, shared by many in Congress as well as the industry, that deintermixture is but a first step to an all-uhf system. Six of the seven commissioners, he said believe all 82 channels are needed to realize the commission's allocation goals. The lone dissenter, Commissioner Robert E. Lee, submitted a statement of his own in support of his argument for making tv an all-uhf system. In a statement prepared for delivery on Friday, NAB expressed its support for all-channel-set legislation tied to an anti-deintermixture provision. Repeating its views presented to the Senate Communications Subcommittee, NAB said the use of uhf should be promoted, but not at the expense of vhf. Service in the two bands should complement each other, the statement said. In other statements scheduled for last Friday: Electronic Industries Assn. opposed all-channel-set legislation, contending purchasers would have to pay 14% more for television sets even though "at least half the purchasers never would have occasion to use uhf tuners" during the life of their sets. L. M. Sandwick, staff director of EIA's products division, suggested that, as an alternative method of promoting uhf, the commerce committees of Congress sponsor a government industry committee charged with developing "a balanced national television service" through full utilization of uhf channels. William L. Putnam, president and general manager of WWLP (TV) Springfield, Mass., and chairman of the Committee for Competitive Television, composed of uhf operators, renewed his attack on the Assn. of Maximum Service Telecasters and others who, he said, are the "champions of the status quo." He said those contending deintermixture would deny television service to countless thousands are telling halftruths in behalf of vhf "monopolists." His experience, he said, demonstrates that uhf can be an "excellent" means of "serving the public interest." James Robertson, vice president of the National Educational Television and Radio Center, urged adoption of allchannel-set legislation. He said the boost this would give uhf television is indispensable to the growth of educational television. Etv stations, he said, want to provide programs for the homes as well as the schools, for unless the people see the service etv stations provide, "they cannot be expected to support it financially." Pay television moved closer to actuality last week when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington upheld the FCC's right to authorize a three-year test of the subscription tv project scheduled to start in Hartford, Conn., this spring. The court, in a unanimous threejudge opinion, maintained that the FCC has the right to encourage new forms of radio communications and that pay tv is in that category. Thomas F. O'Neil, RKO General board chairman, said he is "gratified" by the court's decision. "This is further substantiation of Chairman Minow's and the FCC's stand that the people should be allowed to choose for themselves," he said. Marcus Cohn, attorney for the Connecticut Committee Against Pay Tv — the group which brought the appeal — said last week he "probably" will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The FCC early in 1961 authorized RKO Phonevision Co. to undertake a three-year pay tv trial in Hartford over the facilities of WHCT (TV). RKO bought the ch. 18 station just prior to asking for FCC authority to try out subscription tv. The test is to be run in conjunction with Zenith Radio Co. which will manufacture the decoding units to be leased to subscribers. Pay tv proponents hope to begin operating with 40,000 subscribers and plan to broadcast 40 hours of fee programs during the 70-hour week, using Zenith's Phonevision system. This notes on metered tape what programs have been watched by the customers. Bills are rendered monthly. Zenith also will help in securing programs. Theatres Object ■ The RKO General application was opposed by the Con Invited to D. C. Radio-tv and print-media newsmen from all 50 states have been invited to another in a series of State Dept. foreign policy briefings, to be held March 26 and 27 at the State Dept. in Washington. President Kennedy, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and other principal officers of the State Dept. and other government agencies will address the newsmen on various aspects of U. S. foreign policy. As in the previous sessions, the briefings will be on for-background-only, not-for-attribution basis. necticut Committee, composed mostly of theatre owners in the Hartford area. After the FCC authorized the test, the opponents appealed to the circuit court, holding that the commission lacks legal authority to approve direct payment for telecasts, that the FCC erred in granting pay tv authority without knowing what programs WHCT would broadcast, and that RKO General's proposed programming is not in the public interest. The court's decision, written by Circuit Judge Warren E. Burger for himself and Judges Henry W. Edgerton and Walter M. Bastian, held that "Congress specifically commanded the commission, by Sec. 303 (g) to study new uses for radio . . ." If the trial turns out to be contrary to the public interest, the court said, the FCC retains the right to call it off, or in any event to refuse to renew the license at the end of three years. "We cannot assume the commission will abdicate its powers or fail to keep this important experiment under close and constant scrutiny," Judge Burger said. The court concluded that since the FCC has said it will watch the project carefully, its "power to see that this area of the public domain is used in the public interest is not less for 'paid' television than for the existing system of so-called 'free' television ... it seems to us imperative that the licensee be held to adhere faithfully to the high standard of programming which it has promised." RKO General proposes to run mostly first-run movies, with other pay hours filled with sports, Broadway theatrical productions, opera, ballet, concerts, art, educational features and children's programs. Wire vs. Broadcast ■ Irving B. Kahn, president of the TelePrompTer Corp., New York, hailed the decision as "an important step toward broadening the scope of tv." Mr. Kahn said that his company believes in pay tv entertainment programs limited to a few carefully selected events, "perhaps only one every couple of weeks." RKO Phonevision's plans for 40 hours weekly of pay tv programs, he said, "tends to put pay tv in competition with free home tv instead of making it a service to supplement and extend programs already available." TPT plans to begin tests of its own Key Tv pay system soon. This uses cable to distribute programs to subscribers and does not need FCC approval. In Hartford, WHCT last Thursday 44 (GOVERNMENT) BROADCASTING, March 12, 1962