Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1963)

FCC commissioners and staff members listened to criticism of the FCC's proposed rulemaking on commercial length and frequency last week. Shown at the hearing (l-r): Joel Rosenbloom, special assistant to the chairman; Commissioners Frederick W. Ford, Lee Loevinger, Robert T. Bartley, Kenneth A. Cox and spectators. Commissioner Robert E. Lee was elsewhere in the audience; Commissioner Rosel H. Hyde was speaking in Florida. an FCC rulemaking would open the door to regulation of programing, but broadcasters said such action would do that and more — it would also open the way toward federal rate setting. Broadcasting, they chorused, is not a common carrier. Governor Collins stressed broadcaster concern that control of commercials "could well mean control of the broadcaster himself, and hence of what he broadcasts." NAB Codes Defended ■ Broadcasters "recognize that there is a need for advertising improvements," the NAB president continued. But the way toward betterment is through competition and self-regulation, he said. Taking issue with Chairman Henry's contention that the codes have been progressively relaxed, Governor Collins said that they "have been materially strengthened in all respects." He cited the establishment of code offices in Peter B. Kenney NBC's opinion 44 (BROADCAST ADVERTISING) Hollywood (1959) and New York (1960) and said the codes "go far beyond any provision that the Congress could constitutionally enact into law, and certainly beyond any rule that the FCC or the Federal Trade Commission could practically or lawfully administer." Neither the codes nor their enforcement are perfect, Governor Collins said, but they "are the strongest voluntary self-regulatory effort being made in the whole of American private business." They are under constant review, he said. The congressmen showed particular interest in the presentations of individual broadcasters, especially those from smaller communities. Kenneth E. Duke, kddd-am-fm Dumas, Tex., spoke for the smaller market broadcaster whose "future is in the broadcasting business, good or bad." The FCC proposal would not only limit his income but his right "to choose how I can operate my station, so long as I operate in the public interest. . . . The proposed rule will choke off my future potential earning power," he said. Leo Hackney, president and general manager kgvl Greenville, Tex., noted his market's dependence on the cotton crop and said his station runs almost as much advertising in October as in January and February combined, and almost as much on Thursday and Friday as the rest of the week combined. Similar problems apply to many broadcasters, he and other witnesses pointed out. Network support tor Representative Roger's bill was supplied by ABC, CBS and NBC in comments which largely repeated their earlier FCC filings (Broadcasting, Oct. 7). ABC argued that FCC limitations would be both a breach of the right of free speech and "too hard and fast" to be "sound public policy." The network appealed to the subcommittee to forbid FCC interference with commercial time by amending the no-censorship provision of the Communications Act instead of that portion which deals with the general powers of the FCC, as the Rogers bill would do. Peter B. Kenney, NBC Washington vice president, supported the proposed House legislation as a needed slap on the FCC's hand. Mr. Kenney also noted that "less than 1%" of the network's mail complains about commercials. "Each individual licensee," he said, must make its own determination on number and frequency of commercials. The FCC's proposed rulemaking, Mr. Kenney charged, would "supersede" the NAB codes and "make self-regulation academic in the field of time standards for broadcast commercials." Mr, Kenney denied Chairman Hen Kenneth E. Duke Small market viewpoint BROADCASTING, November 11, 1963