Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1963)

Who paid what to ASCAP in 1962 Radio and television contributed more than $30.5 million of the $35.3 million gross revenues of the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers in 1962, it was revealed last week. For their use of ASCAP music the three television networks paid $8,803,790.04 while television stations paid $11,341,274.80; the four radio networks paid $550,965.35; radio stations, $9,861,054.11. The figures, totaling $30,557, 084.32, were contained in papers filed by ASCAP in New York with Judge John E. McGeehan, courtappointed master on the consent decree under which ASCAP operates, in an internal dispute over methods used in disbursing ASCAP revenues among its members (Broadcasting, March 11). At the society's West Coast meeting last month its 1962 total revenues were placed at $35,279,033 but without specifying sources (Broadcasting, Feb. 25). age, titled "United Artists Showcase for the Sixties," Mr. Ezzes pointed out that in the six months it has been in syndication to stations, it already has grossed 80% of potential sales revenue available for the country. He noted that it has been sold in more than 90 markets, and stressed the contracts have been in many of the major, revenue-producing markets of the country. These post-'48 films were included in a group that played originally on ABC-TV last year, but Mr. Ezzes added there is "strong demand" for these films, despite earlier network exposure. ITC to syndicate The Saint' in U.S. Independent Television Corp. announced last week it is placing into syndication in the U.S. the one-hour The Saint series, which currently is playing in Great Britain on Associated Television, parent company of ITC. The series has been on ATV since last September, but has not been released elsewhere. Twenty-six of 39 hour episodes have been completed. The scripts for the series are by Leslie Charteris, author of The Saint novels. Filming has been on location in various cities throughout the world. A tv crime show strictly for laughs Production was scheduled to start last Saturday (March 16) on a new comedy-crime series, Sebastian Cabot & The Crime-Busters. The show, produced by Continental/ International Productions, Los Angeles, is being taped at the Steve Allen Playhouse. Co-starring with Mr. Cabot will be Maurice Gosfield (formerly Pvt. Doberman on the Phil Silvers Show), Arnold Stang, Joan Shawlee and Valerie Varda. Brian Clewer will write the show and Paul Werth will assist in production. Crime-Busters is C/IP's first venture into tv. The firm has a variety of radio programs in syndication. TV VS. CONFORMITY ABC-TV's Moore says it must resist pressure groups If television is to make progress it must resist pressures of conformity "from special interest groups of citizens, from some advertisers and from some public officials," Thomas W. Moore, vice president in charge of ABC-TV, told Chicago's Broadcast Advertising Club last week. Recalling occasions of special interest pressures put upon ABC-TV during the past year, Mr. Moore observed that even though they may have been brought with the highest motives, such pressures were not the means to ensure that the issues of contemporary life would be grappled with in a forthright or impartial manner. Television's brief history shows the constant change and progress taking place, he said, noting that of the toprated programs in 1951 "only one survives today [Ed Sullivan]; of the products advertised on television today, a considerable number did not exist in 1951." Who could predict what shows the American public will be watching or the products it will by buying a dozen years hence, he asked. "Can we expect the American public to conform indefinitely?" Mr. Moore continued. Because of the rising level of taste and sophistication, the increase of leisure time and the growing interest in a multiplicity of recreational activities, Mr. Moore said, the broadcaster "must concentrate ... on providing a service that people will turn to with expectation rather than simply because it's there." This means trying to be creative, imaginative and exciting, he said. "It means that the new and the offbeat has to be given a fair viewing," Mr. Moore explained, and "it means avoidance of repetitive and 'me-too' carbon-copy programming." The ABC-TV official said that im plicit in this is the strong conviction that broadcasters and the networks "and not agencies or advertisers should retain control over programs and program content. I am unimpressed by wails of agency people bemoaning the loss in creativity now that they no longer control large blocs of programming as they did in radio and in the wild and woolly days of early television. "The logic of the situation in television today demands concentration of authority in the hands of people whose only job is to produce the best possible program schedule." The advertiser and the agency, however, will continue to have very important "and perhaps decisive" contributions to make to the "health of the medium," Mr. Moore said. "For no matter how close we move to the magazine concept as a result of participating sponsorship, television is not a magazine and in many lines there will continue to be a close relationship between program and product." The question simply will be "what will get sponsored," Mr. Moore explained. He said he hoped advertisers will not merely make pronouncements on the need to foster creativity in tv and then proceed to sponsor "a pale imitation of a program that had been successful two years earlier." Rather, he hoped, "advertisers will show willingness to explore new program fields, new program forms, new talent, new faces." ABC-TV schedules doctor-type soap opera More medical-theme viewing is headed for the daytime soap opera audience this season. ABC-TV has announced a new doctor-type serial, General Hospital, for its 1-1:30 p.m. Monday-through-Friday slot, and a subsequent shuffling of two other shows in its daytime lineup. Jane Wyman Presents will occupy the 2:30-3 p.m. spot, and Seven Keys moves into the 11:30 a.m.12 noon period. General Hospital is the second medical serial presented by a major network for the season. A week ago NBC-TV announced plans for a weekday serial, The Doctors, for its 2:30-3 p.m. time slot (Broadcasting, March 4). General Hospital begins on ABC-TV Monday, April 1, and has already sold out approximately 90% of its commercial time. Advertisers are American Chicle Co., Campbell Soup Co., General Mills Inc., The Gillette Co., Golden Grain Macaroni Co., S. C. Johnson & Son Inc., National Biscuit Co., Standard Brands Inc., and Whitehall Lab Division of American Home Products Co. 70 (PROGRAMMING) BROADCASTING, March 18, 1963