The Independent Film Journal (1954)

A llied TO A Meet To Air Problems FCC Machinery In Motion For Ultimate Toll-TV Rule Washington. — The first meeting of the TO A and National Allied committees set up to advance the common interests of the two groups and to ascertain possible TOA sup¬ port of Allied’s declaration of emergency and the actions taken by its Emergency De¬ fense Committee has been postponed to an unspecified date, it was learned this week at the joint mid-Winter meeting of the TOA board and executive committee at the May¬ flower Hotel. The TOA committee, comprising of E. D. Martin, Walter Reade Jr., Alfred Starr and Pat McGee was to have met with Allied’s committee, consisting of Jack Kirsch, Ben Berger, Abram F. Myers and Ben Marcus late this week. It will now take place with¬ in three weeks. The meeting was said to have been post¬ poned when Rube Shor, Allied’s new presi¬ dent, expressed a desire to sit in at the ses¬ sion after he had a chance to rest up follow¬ ing the recent Allied board meeting and drive-in convention in St. Louis. The Allied committee had been selected before Shor’s election to the Allied presidency. No Date Set No new date for the meeting between TOA and Allied representatives was reported to have been set. The TOA proposal that representatives of the two organizations meet in the hope of finding a solution to their mutual prob¬ lems was voted upon favorably by the Allied board at its St. Louis meeting and a com¬ mittee was named immediately. Committee is supposed to restrict itself to the Allied declaration of emergency. However, E. D. Martin, TOA head, said at a press conference that all problems af¬ fecting both groups would be explored at the meeting. Even arbitration would be on the agenda, he explained. Martin said he was happy that Shor planned to participate in the meeting. No TOA leader would com¬ ment on the Allied plan to seek government regulation. Walter Reade Jr., chairman of the TOA board, who was also present at the press conference, said that the meeting will afford TOA an opportunity of deciding whether it would want to “go along” wTith Allied in supporting the actions of the latter’s EDC. Washington. — FCC took its first major step this week toward ruling on the legality and practicality of pay-as-you-see TV. The commission rejected a petition by the Zenith Radio Corp. and Teco Inc. for authorization of immediate commercial operation of toll TV, and announced that it would go into the whole matter formally. Interested parties were asked to file com¬ ments on box office T\ by May 9. The com¬ mission will then decide whether to hold hearings or to decide on the basis of peti¬ tions or other means. Indications pointed to protracted public hearings, which have been urged by the Joint Committee on Toll TV, the NARTB, and various exhibitor groups. FCC explained that the written filings do not prelude oral hearings. The expected re¬ sult of the written material is to narrow the issues, and prepare an agenda should it be found desirable to open the subject to oral argument. ( see story below) Both supporters and opponents of toll TV appeared pleased with the decision. Comdr. Eugene F. McDonald Jr., president of Zenith, said he Avas “delighted,” asserting in Chicago that the commission’s action follmved one of the three alternative procedures suggested in Zenith’s second petition filed last November. See Eye-To-Eye Arthur Levey, president of Skiatron, af¬ firmed “too much time has been lost in use¬ less pro-and-con discussions on various aspects of subscription-television.” Paul McNamara, president of Interna¬ tional Telemeter, which is affiliated with Par¬ amount Pictures, declared in Los Angeles that “wTe welcome notice of the proposed rule making issue by the FCC.” Seeing eye to eye with toll TV’s proponents this time, co-chairman Trueman Rembusch and Alfred Starr of the Joint Committee on Toll TV applauded the FCC decision. The decision, they said, “seems evidence that the Commissioners feel the issues of the public interest should be investigated thoroughly and broadly before serious consideration is given to such a radical change in the tradi¬ tional philosophy of free broadcasting.” The co-chairman stated that the investiga¬ tion will reveal “tremendous latent opposi¬ tion” to toll TV. They reiterated that the joint committee is not against toll TV per se, but against the use of free air waves for this scheme. They pointed out that the pay-asyou-see promoters could go ahead immediately using low-cost coaxial lines, without needing FCC approval, if toll TV is all they say it is. Notice of decision was adopted by the Commission tn bano — Commissioners McConnaughey (chairman), Hyde, Webster, Hennock, Bartley, Doerfer and Lee — with Commissioner Hennock issuing separate views. In her separate statement, Miss Hennock declared that public hearings should be held at the earliest possible moment. She also stated that the FCC could not arrive at a “well-founded” conclusion “on the basis of written comments alone.” The commissioner said that since hearings will be needed any¬ way, it would be preferable to hold them immediately and not wait until written com¬ ments are filed. However, because of a back¬ log of commission business, early hearings are not anticipated. Allied On Record National Allied went officially on record against toll TV at its drive-in convention last week with a resolution that “full public hearings be held by the FCC before any action is taken. . . .” Trueman Rembusch, speaking at the convention, branded as an out-and-out falsehood the claim of toll TV’s proponents that pay-as-you-see TV will roll up fantastic grosses for motion picture pro¬ ducers. He charged further that other “big lies” put forth are that toll TV will bring into existence an instantanous and very economical electronic distribution system, give the public a free choice over wThat they want to see, increase the broadcasting busi¬ ness, and make theatre owners one of its principal beneficiaries. William C. Gehring, 20th-Fox assistant general sales manager, another speaker, made a significant statement Avhen he said: “I tell you now that 20th-Fox will place films on toll TV only when the Government forces it to. . . . Our fight is not amongst ourselves but . . . for the public’s entertainment dol¬ lar.” May 9 Deadline For FCC Written Comment Washington. — The FCC, asking for broad and all-inclusive written comments on toll TV this week, said that before it could de¬ cide the issue it must look into certain ques¬ tions of law and fact. Among these, it said, were whether safeguards would be necessary to make sure that the public generally con¬ tinued to get “Avell-balanced programming without charge” and whether the service wrould be in the public interest. The commis¬ sion expressed the desire that comments be directed to the following questions: LAW — Whether the FCC has the author¬ ity to authorize and regulate subscription TV ; whether the latter constitutes “broad¬ casting” under the FCC act, or whether it is a common carrier or other type of service, and whether the FCC has the authority to ]>ermit it to use channels assigned to TV ( Continued on page 25) Attending meeting held at the Cincinnati Club, where checks were donated to the Joint Committee on Toll TV, were these Allied exhibitors: (seated, 1 to r) Elstun Dodge, Bud Ackerman, Lou Wiethe, Wess Huss, Jack Goldman, Willis Vance, Nat Kaplan, Rube Shor; (standing, 1 to r) Robert Wile, Dan Spiegel, William Onie, James McDonald, Herman Hunt, Vance Schwartz, Gordon Pape. 6 THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— February 19. 1955