Harrison's Reports (1962)

40 HARRISON'S REPORTS March 17, 1962 Toll-Tv Gains... (Continued from Front Page) of Connecticut, from that moment on, threw themselves into the fight with all their might. They know what a threat this can be to their business. With $50 spent for the image unscrambler and maintenance alone, by the subscriber-families, there goes the amount the average family may well spend all year 'round for regular movie entertainment. We're not including costs per program which the pay-Tv enthusiast would be shelling out at the end of every month via a tape recorder on the Tv set which will add up the times tuned in on the Fonevision feed. There was irony in the timing of a statement of the beloved elder statesman (one of the very few remaining pioneers of this great industry) — Adolph Zukor. Preceding, by a few days, the U.S. Court of Appeals decision, the 89-year old respected wise man of the film business he helped to found, nurture, guide was besought by reporters (in Hollywood) for his opinions on the state of our business, right now. Of the many things he said, one has its ironic thoughtassociation with what followed out of Washington re the toll-Tv experiment a few days later. Adolph Zukor Extolla Toll-Tv Naturally, the nature of product coming out of the Paramount studios was of great concern to Zukor. He spoke highly of what should be reaching the screens of the nation's theatres in the months ahead. But, he also spoke of the heavy concentration his company was giving the matter of toll-Tv. In Paramount's case it's via the International Telemeter Company which is wholly owned by the movie company. While the story of Telemeter's experiment up in Etobicoke (a suburb of Toronto) is pretty well known, this too was a development in the realm of toll-Tv that played itself out this week. Telemeter had some costly talent it was holding for some pay-Tv programming. It offered this same talent (for free) to the free Tv operators, the Canadian Broadcasting Company. The talent was to do only interviews on CBC, no entertaining, no performing. The free Tv network grabbed up this American talent which in turn exploited their appearance on toll-Tv's Etobicoke outlet. Such a strange paradox of free-Tv helping toll-Tv could hardly ever happen in the United States a Paramount spokesmen said. To be sure, the Hartford victory gave reason for Telemeter's upper-echelon to express their happiness. Exhibitors Stand Vp to a Fight But, exhibitor forces are not that easily dismayed. To be sure, on several fronts the forces against tollTv have suffered setbacks. But, the battle against this invasion of the box office has hardly begun. Nor should the exhibitor fool himself into thinking that since this is not alone his fight, that he will get help from the networks whose way of economic progress will also be threatened if toll-Tv begins making a bid for the listening audiences. Where channel clearances can be had (via F.C.C. blessing) then the entree into the homes of set-owners will be that much easier. Ten dollars a year to unscramble an image is not too high a price to pay by those who seek entertainment Tv change that gives promise of new excitements. The big threat is to be able to by-pass the wire or cable feed into the homes of the subscribers. If that Release Schedule . . . (Continued from Front Page) Blueprint* ot Promlne Get Blurred Even to the disbeliever, the year looked as if it would be a good one releasewise. The run of the product already gone out had a goodly number of quality releases which gave everybody a chance to make a dollar. But, the swing of time's pendulum may well be against the hopes of the luncheon-throwing optimists by the time the next six months have run their course. All of spring, and those long summer months are ahead of us. But, it is doubtful that there will be sufficient product to give box offices the shotin-the-arm new, well-exploited pictures have a habit of doing. Delays in getting some pictures started will cut into the releasing schedules of some companies. The inability to complete stories that were to meet the '62 schedule will add to the woe of the distributor. Some studios were the victim of circumstances that will take their toll on the number of releases that may not be able to come through at all this year. To be sure, the studios would like to meet their quotas. Some will still be able to make it before the distribution season will be over. But, for a few it will be mighty tough sledding. Meaning, of course, that the exhibitor may not be getting the promised new releases he was banking on when those nice luncheon speeches found their way into the trade prints. If the present doesn't look so promising, what effect will this have on the future? It's quite natural to expect that the 1962-'63 semester won't be able to pick up the slack of the season gone by. If anything, the year ahead may prove worse (release-wise) than the year going by. Yes, there will be speeches and luncheons and statements. But, will there be pictures? From the looks of things, there will be much less than will be needed. Of the nearly hundred releases that should be reaching the theatres before the new season sets in, perhaps 50% of that may not come through. Will Companies Hold Back Beleane»? What is feared, is that some companies, knowing that they may not be able to turn out a desired number of films next year, will hold back on a few as a sort -of protective shot. When trying to pin company heads down to the reasons for the slow-up in releases the excuses, all with the ironic logic created by the evershifting circumstances of this unpredictable business of ours, run from the dearth of the proper box office talent, to the right director, to the final satisfactory shaping of the costly story itself. If it exists, you don't hear of it, but money doesn't seem to be one of the reasons why production is lagging behind. While all this is going on, there come forth the announcements of this and that new independent unit setting itself up in business to make films and help pick up the release slack. The most important of these new-comers to production is the theatremen's own production setup, the American Congress of Exhibitors. While the organization is beginning to take shape, it will be quite a while before actual product from this unit finds its way to the screens of the theatres. can come to pass, like in Hartford, then the toll-Tv forces have made gains that will prove quite costly to the theatres of the nation.