Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1963)

GOVERNMENT More opposition to commercial limits FCC PROPOSAL CALLED ILLEGAL AND AGAINST PUBLIC INTEREST Everyone agreed last week — any government regulation of commercial time standards for broadcasters would not only be illegal but contrary to the best interest of the public. The FCC last Monday (Sept. 30) received more than 100 filings opposing its proposed rulemaking to adopt the commercial time standards of the National Association of Broadcasters' radio and television codes. Leading the deadline rush of comments were the three major networks, the NAB, several multiple owners and state broadcasters associations. The NAB, as did many other commenters, predicted the eventual end of broadcasting as a free enterprise if the commission moves into commercial time regulation. This destruction of broadcasting freedom would not be in the public interest, the association said. The NAB said for the commission to limit commercial time "would be the assertion of power never expressly conferred or even intended through inference by the Congress." The association recited legislative history to support its view. It said that when Congress created the FCC in 1934 to replace the Federal Radio Commission the legislators were aware of the problems concerning advertising in broadcasting, but "the fact that it declined to legislate in this area . . . can mean only that the Congress did not intend for the commission to determine by regulation advertising policies of stations." The association further noted that in 1955 and 1957 bills were introduced in Congress that would have provided the commission with authority to regulate commercial policies, but that in both instances no regulation was approved. ABC and CBS joined the opinion that the commission lacks legal power to promulgate such regulation. In Truth A Preventive ■ The NAB pointed out that although Representative Walter Rogers (D-Tex.) has introduced a bill aimed at prohibiting the commission from adopting commercial policy regulations, this should not be interpreted, as some might, as meaning the commission presently does have the authority because if it didn't there would be no need for a preventive measure to be taken. This is not the case, the NAB said. "As we view it, Congressman Rogers's bill is a counter measure designed to resolve the matter of jurisdiction through legislative means rather than through lengthy and expensive court proceedings." The association concluded that Congress in the past and recently has shown that it intends the responsibility to be placed on "the broadcasting licensee to select and control the advertising material which is broadcast." NBC also told the commission that responsibility should be placed on the licensee. Rather than "promulgating a 'commission formula' " for commercial standards the commission should rely on the self-regulation of the licensee. The network said the commission's licensing procedure should emphasize self-regulation and self-development. Each licensee should, in applications for new stations and renewal applications, inform the commission "of his own conception of his public interest duties with regard to advertising material and what he does to fulfill that conception," NBC said. NBC felt this approach would take into account the varied situations that exist from community to community. Self-regulation is the answer. Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. also suggested the commission adopt a policy similar to that described by NBC, as an efficient means for making public interest determinations. Unlike Common Carrier ■ A much used argument against the proposed rules is that they constitute a common carrier or public utility concept of regulation. This view is based on the belief that regulating commercial time standards is in effect regulating the income of Henry's pen pals no match for Minow's FCC Chairman E. William Henry's "overcommercialization" speech before the International Radio & Television Society in New York two weeks ago appears to have attracted far more interest within the broadcasting industry than outside it. The chairman's office as of Thursday (Oct. 3) had received 125 pieces of mail — all but four of them expressing approval of the speech declaring that the commission should spell out what it means by overcommercialization. But if reaction to former Chairman Newton N. Minow's "vast wasteland" speech is any criterion, the response to Chairman Henry's address is less than overwhelming. Within a week of the speech in which the former chairman, in an address before the National Association of Broadcasters in May 1961, caustically criticized TV program ing, 2,500 letters, cards and telegrams were received (Broadcasting, May 22, 1961). According to a breakdown made by Chairman Henry's office of the mail he received, some 80 correspondents complained about the frequency of commercials. The length and taste of commercials, as well as their volume or loudness also was criticized. Howell Speaks ■ One of those opposing the chairman's address was Rex G. Howell, a 36-year broadcasting veteran and a member of the NAB radio board. Mr. Howell apparently stung by Mr. Henry's sweeping criticism of broadcasters' commercial practices, said all licensees shouldn't be condemned for the faults of a few. He said that during the time of the nationwide TV quiz show scandal which was sparked "by less than a dozen culpable employes," there were cases of bankers embezzling funds, of lawyers being disbarred and of physicians being charged with malpractice. But, he asked, "Did you read any headlines of blanket indictment against these professions? Was there any movement to require government enforcement of the Canons of Judicial Ethics or the Hippocratic Oath?" Mr. Howell welcomed Chairman Henry's proposal for a governmentindustry conference on commercial time standards. He said many of broadcasting's problems, "particularly the economic ones," are not fully understood by the FCC or Congress. Mr. Howell is president of krexam-fm-tv Grand Junction, krey-tv Montrose and kgln Glenwood Springs, all Colorado. 56 BROADCASTING, October 7, 1963