Paramount World (May 1958 - July 1962)

A rt A M M M A M M M M Hockey Scoop for T elemet er i t es of Toronto THURSDAY, FRIDAY. SATURDAY. SUNDAY. MONDAY. TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY SHOWN AT 9:45 P.M. PRICE $1.00 Ray Starts The "World ojf SUZiE "WQfiG The Toronto publication, Your Telemeter Guide, carried this page for "The World of Suzie Wong," which was the attraction over Telemeter's Channel 5C for the 7 days, Sept. 21-27 inclusive. PRICE $1.00 SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY 6. SATURDAY SHOWN AT 5: 00.7: 50 mm "One-Eyed Jacks" was the Telemeter attraction over Channel0 5B, also for 7 days September 21th to 30th. However, it was shown at 5p.m. and 7:50 p.m. , so was never in conflict with "The World of Suzie Wong," which was a 9:45 p.m. attraction. The magazine Your Telemeter Guide is now carrying advertisements, the most recent issue having ads for The British American Oil Company Limited, and Dow Brewery (Ontario) Ltd. £ Motion Picture Daily October 20, 1961 Telemeter Signs for 35 Toronto ockey Games for Pay Television NEW YORK— Arrangements have been completed to bring pay tv subscribers f in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, Canada, all 35 away-from-home games of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League, it was announced! jointly by J. J. Fitzgibbons, Sr., president of Famous Players Canadian Corporation, and Louis A Novins, | president of International Telemeter I Company, a wholly owned division of [Paramount Pictures. “The acquisition of the rights to these 35 contests, plus the televising of all the five regular home games of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League on the Telemeter pay tv system, marks a major breakthrough in the volume of special events offered on pay television during anv six months period,” Novins stated. “The addition of a total of 40 sports events will make available for the first time to Telemeter subscribers in Toronto all fall and winter professional sports attractions presently not available on ‘free’ tv.” Eight Last Year The 40 sports events set for the 1961-’62 season contrast with only two exhibition football games and eight hockey games televised by Telemeter last year. “The favorable response to last years limited sports schedule encouraged a most comprehensive sports program this year,” Novins declared. “The availablity of these games for the first time via pay tv assures Telemeter subscribers of complete sports coverage in the home. It also marks a historic reversal of the trend in recent years which saw restrictions on sports telecasts imposed by sports promoters to protect the boxoffice of such attractions. By combining pay tv and free tv facilities not a single local major league professional hockey or football game will be ‘blacked out’ from Telemeter homes in Toronto this fall and winter.” The 35 Maple Leafs hockey games will be transmitted closed-circuit from New York, Detroit, Chicago, Boston and Montreal beginning this month and “piped” to homes of Telemeter’s pay tv subscribers. Transmission of the five regular home games of the Toronto Argonauts started in September and will continue until the end of the football season. The charge per home is $1 for each hockey game and $2 for football. “In the face of competition from four outstanding major league professional football games offered free to viewers in Toronto by three American networks, the Canadian Broad casting Company, and an independent Canadian station, the exclusive Telemeter presentation of the Argonaut: Ottawa Rough Riders game on Sep tember 24 was purchased by more than 15 percent of our subscribers at $2 a home.” Fitzgibbons noted. “The games available on free tv on that s^me day included St. Louis versus Cleveland, New York versus Pittsburgh, and Detroit versus Baltimore in the National Football League and Denver versus New York in the American Football League.. i Market Research Gain “Considering the number and calibre of the competitive free games, the 15 percent at $2 a home represents a remarkable response. This is the type of market research information we have been doing to determine public acceptance of individual programs and, over a period of time, the acceptance of a variety of programs under various conditions.” “On the basis of the results achieved to date with hockey and football games, it seems increasingly apparent that pay television can expand the seating capacities of sports arenas by providing a box-office in the home. The sports people are intrigued by the/ potentials and so are we.” The agreement for the rights to televise the hockey games was made by Conn Smythe. president of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Leslie Winik, vice president in charge of programming for International Telemeter, J This press announcement of October 20th highlights the 'exclusivity' of Teleaster's coverage, in Toronto, of the top Canadian sporting events oi the 1961-62 season. It aarks a very forward step in the progress of Telemeter generally.