Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1963)

Assault and battery on Capitol Hill BROADCASTERS AND CONGRESSMEN GANG UP ON FCC TIME LIMIT PLAN Broadcasters and members of Con clear that his fire was not aimed at the gress combined forces at a House Com FCC alone; he said his concern ex munications Subcommittee hearing last tended to all the regulatory agencies, week and launched a joint assault on Representative Walter Rogers (D the FCC's proposal to set standards for Tex.), subcommittee chairman and au the length and frequency of radio-TV thor of legislation to prohibit the FCC commercials. from making rules on commercials, said But the FCC — the Congress and that if anybody had such power it was broadcasting notwithstanding — stood the Congress — not the FCC. He and firm. Chairman E. William Henry de his subcommittee, except for the lone clared that the commission's "primary dissent of Representative John E. Moss motivation" is to clarify its long-stand (D-Calif.), charged the commission to ing but admittedly undefined policy show (1) that it had the authority to against overcommercialization. make rules on commercials and (2) that Under attack almost from the mo overcommercialization was problem ment he and his fellow commissioners enough to require government action, sat down at the congressional hearing Broadcasters streamed in from all Wednesday (Nov. 6), Chairman Henry over the country to present their views, nonetheless defended the commission's and impressed the subcommittee with claim that it has all the power it needs the "quality and reasoning of their to make such a rule under the "public statements," as Representative Rogers interest" provision of its licensing au put it. Many of them referred to the thority. extensive comments they had previous And that, contended the congressmen ly presented to the commission on its and the broadcasters almost in one proposed rulemaking (Broadcasting, voice, is where the commission is out of May 20, et seq). Rep. Rogers (D-Tex.) Rep. Younger (R-Calif.) A partisan attack on FCC's commercial plan. line — way out. Representative Oren Harris (D-Ark.), chairman of the full Commerce Committee and watchdog of all regulatory agencies for almost a decade, warned the commission that it was trying to carve out greater authority for itself than the Congress ever intended it to have. That "dangerous trend" whereby federal agencies contend "that if the broad lateral, general authority is provided [by Congress], regardless of the conditions and circumstances at the time, whether it was thought of or intended or not," could, he said, provoke the Congress to severely limit agency powers. Representative Harris made it Seventeen broadcasters had testified in person through Thursday (Nov. 7), and almost a dozen more were scheduled Friday. Four congressmen, not members of the subcommittee, went to bat for the broadcasters and made personal statements at the hearing favoring the rulemaking ban. Many of the witnesses had coordinated their statements with the National Association of Broadcasters, chief organizer behind the scenes, to show that the FCC proposal failed to take into account differences each broadcaster faced in his own market. NAB President LeRoy Collins said in a statement prepared for delivery at the Friday session, that "to fix com mercial time limitations in broadcasting ... is not the proper business of the FCC." FCC adopton of its own proposal "would portend a complete change in the present structure of broadcasting and a conversion to something out of harmony with competitive enterprise which has been the taproot of American economic progress." For those broadcasters who could not make the government's plan work, he said, the next step would be an FCC examination "of the licensee's books to determine whether his management judgments equate with the government's concepts of efficiency. . . . "And then who would really be in control? How free would broadcasting be?" Representative Glenn Cunningham (R-Neb.), a congressman from Omaha who has been blasting Chairman Henry since the local television program hearing in his city last January (Broadcasting, Oct. 28), poured it on again last week. Labeling the chairman "a mischievious young man," Representative Cunningham said it was "time somebody's wings were clipped," and he left no doubt whose he meant. The FCC split 4-3 this spring when it officially announced a proposed rulemaking on the length and frequency of commercials (Broadcasting, May 20). Changes in the membership of the commission since then and second thoughts by some of the members who voted leave some question that another ballot would produce a majority favoring adoption of a rule. The May vote: ■ For: Commissioners Henry, Kenneth A. Cox, Robert E. Lee and former Chairman Newton N. Minow, no longer with the FCC. ■ Against: Commissioners Rosel H. Hvde, Robert T. Bartley and Frederick W. Ford. Commissioner Lee Loevinger. appointed since that vote, has not publicly taken a position on the merits of the proposal. Henry Unrattled ■ Through it all, Chairman Henry stuck by his guns and said the entire commission supported his contention that the FCC has the authority to make rules on commercials if it chooses. Even those commissioners who disagreed on the wisdom of a rulemaking said the commission was on sound legal footing, he said. Speaking for the commission, Chairman Henry urged the subcommittee to hold off its consideration of the commercial question until the commission makes up its mind. The FCC has been taking written comments on the subject since May and plans to hear oral 42 (BROADCAST ADVERTISING) BROADCASTING, November 11, 1963