Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

hursday, October 27, 1960 Motion Picture Daily yeleujsjon Joday fay-TV Not in Public Interest, NAB Tells FCC Says Hartford ?lea Violates legulations i i ( Continued from page 1 ) ie FCC, ruled against Tower's readlg the prepared statement into the scord, holding that it would give rise 0 too many objections, some of which 'io\\\A have to be sustained. Tower's statement — which was ;ad earlier by the commission, did ot go into the record— stated flatly lat "it is our belief that the Hartford ay-tv test may well deprive viewers f programs available to free tv. The xtent of the deprivation is difficult } estimate." ' Tower made the further point that Vhile there would undoubtedly be W deprivation of programs during le test period, "the test will in no /ay suggest the extent of the deprivaon if pay-tv develops on a national sale." The initial experience "will be Completely invalid for projection on a ationwide basis," it was pointed out. Points to 'Generalities' 1 Tower asserted that Hartford Phone-ision's application is "deficient in its i description of the program service" i intends to provide. He asserted that be "few paragraphs of vague genralities" in the application satisfy either the demands of the rule-seting third report nor FCC's usual tandards of specificity. Tower noted, in fact, that "it might -irell be argued that, since the program niervice to be offered is the crux of the ^natter, more specificity than usual Mhould be required." During the morning session Thoms F. O'Neil, Hartford Phonevision 'resident, told the FCC and Connecicut exhibitors, respondents in the i .earing, that his pay-tv operation was interested only in feature films that .vould be boxoffice hits in local theatres, but he admitted under questionMing by Marcus Cohn that he was unamiliar with the number of films vailable, that he did not know vhether they were in color or on wide creens, and that he was quite unaware of their story lines. { O'Neil Queried on 'Sex' Films i Cohn pushed hard to show that lespite O'Neil's statement that he was ilamiliar with motion picture distribution, he did not understand the probems of showing feature films— espe•iallv those that involved some problems of sex— on a home screen. Cohn asked for example, what vVHCT's attitude would be on such flilms as "Suddenly Last Summer," 'From the Terrace," "Ben-Hur," "Elner Gantry," and "Butterfield 8." D'Neil disavowed any knowledge of die correlation between sex and bo)ffice success. O'Neil did say that no matter how many people wanted to see a film if it did not come within the bounds of his obligations as a television licensee, he would not show it over the air. He asserted this for "Art" films as well as Hollywood product. He asserted willingness to delete certain portions of films, if need be. Cohn proceeded along the same lines in the matter of procuring Broadway plays. If four-letter words were used, O'Neil asserted, they would be eliminated. If scenes were judged to be offensive to a home audience, they could be eliminated. In the matter of sporting events, O'Neil emphasized to the commission that under no circumstances would he put on -pay-tv what might be available Questioned by NAB Counsel Tower was permitted to take the stand and testify as a witness to defend the public interest. However, he was circumscribed to testifying on matters in the Hartford area. Despite objection by Theodore Pierson, Phonevision counsel, he was interrogated by Douglas A. Anello, NAB counsel. Tower was further warned that he must testify on the facts of which he had personal knowledge. Pierson challenged Tower's position as an expert witness, but Commissioner Ford ruled that regardless of his status as expert, the testimony could be taken. However, he withheld judgment on the testimony itself. If the commission wants to take it into consideration, it can; if it does not, it can exclude it. Louis Stephens of the Broadcast Bureau stated-after Tower admitted that he was not familiar with certain reports of subscriber television— that he was unsure of the value of Tower's testimony. Fears for Free Television After passing the test as an "expert" and an experienced economist, Tower said that if pay-tv competes for product and product talent with free tv, revenues of free tv will necessarily be cut, and consequently quality of service on free tv will necessarily be lowered. He argued that reduction in audience means reduction in revenue which leads to reduction in service. Pierson, speaking for Phonevision, tried to narrow the field to discover just what percentage (either of hours or audience) was needed to cut into free-tv revenues. He also wanted to know whether offering more tv might not result in new viewers. Tower was unable to be specific in terms of the Hartford area. After some devious questioning, Tower was finally allowed to express the expert opinion that the financial success of pay-tv would have an adverse effect on free tv. He claimed that the impact of a pay-tv station would be greater than the impact of another free tv station. After NAB's testimony, Cohn returned to the cross-examination of O'Neil. Cohn asked whether WHCT would run controversial films — such as one advocating integration. When O'Neil said yes, then Cohn asked him about FCC's new law which requires that opponents be granted "equal time." O'Neil said he did not know of any arrangements, but that if FCC required the station to provide equal time, WHCT would do so. Whether or not there would be a charge to the public would have to be determined by FCC. Favors Code Seal Pictures O'Neil stated that pictures that did not carry the motion picture Production Code Seal would be questionable and that WHCT would not carry them. As for his contacts with motion picture producers, that had been willing to let him have pictures although he had no firm commitments, O'Neil identified some film representatives: Joseph Vogel of MGM and JackWarner and Ben Kalmenson of Warner Bros. Cohn then went into the problems Hartford Phonevision would have in servicing sets. O'Neil said that refunds would be made to subscribers who had missed a "major part" of a paid-for telecast. He said that "Major Portion" might be only a minute, but that refunds would be made unless it became apparent that customers were deliberately getting their sets out of order. Cohn then attempted to go into costs. He noted that the decoder cost for Zenith five years ago was only Ford Promises Leniency O'Neil Names 2 Sources as Film Suppliers $50 and that now it was approximately $125. He pointed out that with subscribers paying a 75 cents weekly charge for rent, the entire cost would be amortized in 18 months — if the decoder were worth $50 — or over three years if it were worth about what Zenith now figures it to be. Cohn told Chairman Ford that this line of questioning was intended to protect the public from "outrageous costs" and to keep BKO General from making "outrageous profits." Pierson responded that this example of "trickery" on Cohn's part was "outrageous" on the basis of facts. Costs are not now the same as five years ago, he said, and the decoder has been improved. Furthermore, he added, the contracts call for Zenith to supply them at cost plus a 12V2 per cent margin — making the approximate figure of $125. . The day's hearing came to an end with a warning from Chairman Ford that he expected to hold night hearings on both Thursday and Friday, but that in any case, the hearing would be completed this week. Cinema Lodge ( Continued from page 1 ) yesterday, Cinema Lodge president Abe Dickstein issued an urgent appeal for last minute support at the luncheon which could help the Lodge reach its goal. Special guests at the luncheon will include comedian Phil Foster; television star Geene Courtney and Miss Simon McQueen, New Yorktelevision station WABC's well-known weather girl. Gen. Drive-In Dividend BOSTON, Oct. 26.-The board of directors of General Drive-In Corp. has declared a 12% cent quarterly dividend payable Nov. 25, to shareholders of record on Nov. 5, Philip Smith, president, announced. The company last paid a 12!i cent quarterly dividend on Aug. 22, 1960. ( Continued analyzed by either the commission or its staff, and considerable work remains before rules are finally adopted. We have already encountered rather novel situations involving films produced for broadcast purposes. Others will no doubt arise in the future. It may be necessary, ultimately, to prepare a question-and-answer type document for the use of licensees." Ford anticipates, however, "that the basic rules ultimately adopted will be only after all interested parties have had an opportunity to be heard. Indeed, he said, "the Con from page 1 ) gress was so informed by the commission prior to the enactment of the bill. One conference has already been held between our staff and the representative of various film producers in an attempt to clarify problems peculiar to that segment of the industry. As an outgrowth of this a request for an interim ruling and waiver of certain provisions was filed by the Alliance of Television Film Producers and is now before us." Ford also asserted that "it may be some time before rules are finally adopted implementing the law." FINANCE COMPANY offers FOR SALE 25 (old) CARTOON NEGATIVES Firm $7500.00 WRITE BOX 726 MOTION PICTURE DAILY 1270 Sixth Ave., New York 20