Washington report (February 1, 1961)

Washinj U w eport The National Association of Educational Broadcasters Vol. II No, 2 ' Dupont Circle Bldg., Washington 6, D. C. February, 19&L FEDERAL AID FOR ETV Prospects appear good for enactment during the 87 th Congress of some form of federal aid to ETV. Four bills have been introduced similar to those introduced by the same authors in the last session. H.R. 132 j by Rep. Roberts (D.-Ala.) author¬ izes federal matching grants of up to $1 million for each state, D. C., and Puerto Rico, for construction of TV facilities for educational purposes. Prerequisite to application for funds is submission of a state survey, for which grants up to $10,000 would be made. Principal changes: matching grants are now required of the states'"Tor the survey; the application for survey funds must be made solely by a duly constituted state ETV agency (former bill included an officer responsible for supervision of public education). H.R. 645 by Rep. Boggs (D.-Ia.) is similar and H.R. 9 65 by Rep. Harris, Cbm., House Commerce Committee, is identical to the Magnuson bill . This latter, which has passed the Senate at the last two sessions, was reintroduced by Sen. Magnuson (D.-Wash.), again co-sponsored by Sen. Schoeppel (R.-Kan.). Since its introduction it has gained bi-partisan support by adding two more sponsors: Sens. Metcalf (D.-Mbnt.) and Cooper (R.-Ky.). This bill would make outright grants up to $1 million for establishing or improving ETV broadcasting facilities in each state and D. C. Sen. Nhgnuson has set the hearings on his bill before the Senate Inter¬ state and Foreign Commerce Committee for March 1 and 2. Optimism among supporters of ETV concerning passage of ETV legislation stems from: pledge of support by President Kennedy ("I will actively back legislation aimed at this objective at the next session of Congress.”); plank supporting ETV in the Democratic platform; sponsorship of an ETV bill by the Chm. of the House Commerce Committee; the prospect of a reorganization of the House Rules Committee (where bills have died at the last two sessions); and a general atmosphere in the Congress more favorable to federal aid to education. Furthermore, veteran Washington observers point out, it usually takes a bill almost three sessions to get sufficiently well known and to gather enough support to make it all the my. PETITION FOR RULE MAKING Pennsylvania State University has requested the FCC to amend rules so as to allocate VHF Channel 3 to State College, Pa., and reserve it for educational use at a separation of 157 miles from WRC-TV, Philadelphia, and 163 miles from WSVA-TV, Harrisonburg, Va. WILSON HEADS AMERICAN COUNCIL At a meeting here on January 25 of its members (of which NAEB is one), the American Council on Education elected Dr. Logan Wilson, now chancellor of the University of Texas, to be president of the Council. Under Dr. Wilson’s administra¬ tion the University of Texas has embarked upon a plan to link by microwave 11 institutions of higher learning for cooperative use of instruction and has taken the lead in organizing the Southwest Texas ETV Council, which has a CP for Ch. 9 in. the Austin-San Antonio area. Dr. Arthur Adams, who is retiring as president of ACE this spring, ms the prime mover in setting up the JCET, organized the first national seminar on ETV (Penn State, 1952), and has been a constant friend and supporter of the ETV move¬ ment.