The Exhibitor (1960)

Toll-TV In Canada-Success Or Not? Harling, Novins Debate New Toronto Operation; TOA Unit Will Oppose Telemeter In Queens, N. Y. NEW YORK — Phil Harling, chairman of the Theatre Owners of America Anti Toll TV Committee, reported at a press confer¬ ence following a trip to the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke to observe the Telemeter ex¬ periment in action, that he and his commit¬ tee will continue to oppose the invasion of the rights of the public with every means at their disposal. Not only will opposition be voiced to the Telemeter operation, but to any system of toll TV. Exhibitors everywhere will be urged to get out and seek support of the Harris Bill, which is in committee in Congress, and would stringently regulate all forms of pay TV in the public interest. It will safeguard free TV. Regarding the Telemeter test, he opined that it was what the public is getting today so why should they have to pay for it. It’s too early to judge whether pay TV will be successful, but he thought that in view of Skiatron and Zenith having indicated a pos¬ sibility of selling advertising during their presentation, he wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Telemeter also include advertising in a possible search for extra revenue. Harling said that he spoke to ordinary citizens in Toronto who didn’t know whether the experiment was good or not, but most did say it was too expensive and they wouldn’t take it on. He compared the Toronto experiment to the one in Bartlesville, Okla., which was a faiilure. He thought that this one would go by the boards as well. He conferred with theatre organization representatives in Canada. They were very anxious to adopt a pattern of similar op¬ position there except that they don’t have a regulatory agency on the order of the FCC. If they had better regulation there, things such as the Telemeter experiment would not have come to pass. A possible ap¬ peal to public spirited groups may yet see some sort of regulation coming into the pic¬ ture to help keep free TV, Harling said. He didn’t know how the film companies felt about the project despite their provid¬ ing film for the test. He didn’t think that they were ready to abandon their theatre runs in favor of toll TV at present. The film that was provided so far was not a true test of pay TV versus the theatre because practically all of the films had already played theatres in the area. Harling felt that if the Telemeter experi¬ ment gets underway in the borough of Queens in New York City, it is expected that pressure will be brought to bear to seek enforcement of covering city regulations. He knows that the film companies are out to make money, but • there’s still two and a half billions invested in theatres. This de¬ serves some protection, he said. The Other Side Of The Coin — Novins Louis Novins, president of Telemeter, re¬ ported that requests for new installations are still coming in large numbers, with the Strike Worries Exhibitors But Product Still Flows PHILADELPHIA— Realizing that exhibi¬ tors are justifiably concerned over a product shortage in the wake of the strike, MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR last week tallied the releases scheduled by the major film companies for March, April, and May and came up with the following statistics: Allied Artists, four; American International, three; Buena Vista, one; Columbia, seven; MGM, three; Paramount, eight; 20th-Fox, 12; United Artists, seven; Universal, five; and Warners, five. These are all new releases and do not include a half a dozen reissues scheduled by the various companies, or the U.S.U.S.S.R. cultural exchange films. MGM's "Hill" To Cannes NEW YORK — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “Home From the Hill” has been selected by the Motion Picture Export Association as the official nominee to represent the American film industry at the 1960 Cannes Film Festi¬ val. The selection of “Home From the Hill” marks the second MGM film that will be shown this year at Cannes. “Ben-Hur” had previously been chosen to inaugurate the Festival on May 4. Berlin Festival Set BERLIN, GERMANY — The X Inter¬ national Film Festival Berlin is scheduled to take place from June 24 to July 5. The official deadline for entering films is May 15, and 32 countries have already prom¬ ised to participate with a film. total already in operation put at over 3,000. The only thing holding up further installa¬ tions at a more rapid rate was a shortage of time and trained personnel, not emits, which are in adequate supply. He estimated that come fall, 40,000 units should be in opera¬ tion. He expected the Queens operation to get underway within a year. Novins discounted the reaction of Harling to the Canadian operation stating that he was not exactly unprejudiced in his appraisal. He preferred the competent opinions of quali¬ fied reporters on the scene, who have termed the operation as successful. Regarding the rallying of exhibitors, Novins stated that it was about time that exhibitors stopped being made into suckers by TV in¬ terests which are giving away the product for nothing. Instead, they should look ahead and extend their theatres electronically to in¬ clude Telemeter’s entertainment at home. As regards to use of advertising on Tele¬ meter, Novins stated that there is a clause in every agreement covering franchise oper¬ ations which specifically prohibits the use of advertising. Regarding the Harling comparison with Bartlesville, Novins opined that if he’s so certain that the Telemeter operation will be as imsuccessful, then why doesn’t he con¬ serve his money and energy for his theatre operations. The two systems, Bartlesville and Toronto, are as different as are motion pic¬ tures and television, Novins stated. Ad-Pub Directors Study Ad Censorship NEW YORK — A special meeting of the MPAA Advertising and Publicity Directors Committee was held last week in the Presi¬ dents’ Room at the Harvard Club. Silas Seadler, committee chairman, presided. The meeting was called to review and discuss re¬ cent developments concerning the increasing volume of newspaper censorship of motion picture advertising. Gordon White, MPAA Advertising Code administrator, opened the meeting with a full report on the situation as revealed by his records and contacts with the press. Fol¬ lowing White’s report, Seadler called upon representatives of each of the nine MPAA member companies present to give their companies’ individual position concerning the volume of newspaper changes demanded in their advertising, and recommendations concerning the steps to be taken by the in¬ dustry to improve relations with newspaper advertising departments throughout the country. Advertising chiefs of three major theatre circuits also outlined their own ex¬ periences with press censorship. The committee unanimously agreed that the chairman appoint a special committee on advertising practices to review the entire problem and report back to the full com¬ mittee within two weeks with their recom¬ mendations. Seadler announced the appointment of the following to serve on the advertising prac¬ tices committee: Jonas Rosenfield, chairman (Columbia); Roger Lewis (United Artists); Martin Davis (Paramount) ; Ernest Emerling (Loew’s Theatres); Gordon White (MPAA); and Charles McCarthy, ex officio (COMPO). UA To Acquire TV Stations NEW YORK — Arthur B. Krim, president of United Artists Corp., announced the for¬ mation of a special division for the acquisi¬ tion of television and radio stations, in whole or in part, throughout the United States and overseas. At the same time, Krim announced that Bruce Eells has been named director of broadcast station acquisitions, effective im¬ mediately, with headquarters at United Art¬ ists offices at Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Hollywood. Krim declared that United Artists’ deci¬ sion to explore the acquisition of broadcast¬ ing stations represents a logical step forward in UA’s expansion in television, following its purchase last week of the stock of Ziv Tele¬ vision Programs, Inc. Jacon Heads Zenith Sales NEW YORK — Bernard Jacon, veteran dis¬ tribution executive, will join Zenith Inter¬ national Film Corp., effective March 21, in the capacity of national sales representatives. After 16 years in exhibition, Jacon joined Universal in 1938 where he remained for eight years. From 1946 on, he has continually been iderrtified with the distribution throughout the United States of foreign im¬ ports. His activities gained national atten¬ tion when he became vice-president of Lux Films and I.F.E. Releasing Corp. Jacon also has been identified with D.C.A. 10 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR March 23, I960