Radio annual and television yearbook (1953)

WILL 'PRICE' KILL LIVE TV? Tele Film Producer Scans Present And Future By PETER M. ROBECK, General Manager Consolidated Television Sales '^T IVE" network television is ^ pricing itself out of the market. The sound financial future of the entire industry lies in top-notch filmed programs sold and resold at the local and regional level. From a sales standpoint, therefore, the future of firms such as ours, which sells and distributes filmed television programming, is exceedingly and increasingly bright. New stations are opening both in this country and abroad. The advertisers in each new market area thus being opened, and the new stations themselves, need good filmed programs and are great potential sources of revenue to the sales agents and producers. Business is good now, and it will get even better. My guess is that approximately $50,000,000 will be spent during 1953 to produce filmed television programming. Some of these programs are earmarked for single sponsorship at the national level. Others are being produced for sales at the local and regional levels to stations, advertising agencies, and either national and regional advertisers for "spot" coverage, or to local merchants. The success stories of stations and sponsors who have been buying filmed "open end" television prorams insures that our future will continue to be bright. Advertisers have discovered this is the best dollar-for-dollar buy available, a fact brought home to them by the enthusiastic reaction of the viewers who more and more are realizing the unmatched advantages of filmed programs. There is no need to cite here the many advantages of filmed programming over live. By now the entire industry recognizes that film affords great flexibility in production, and that "open end" film permits maximum flexibility in programming, so that the largest possible viewing audience can be attracted to watch the show and the "commercial." These over-all "advantages" of film are, of course, great plus factors in helping firms like ours complete sales. Gradually even the most severe critics of film are coming to realize that the technical improvements of the past few years enable film to be received with as much clarity as any "live" show. By now, the best behind-the-scenes brains in the film industry are working in television producing, writing, filming, scoring and editing television programs. Naturally there are rotten apples in the film barrel, just as there are in the "live" barrel. But on the whole, "film" has grown up and become a healthy, husky young man, AND a powerful sales tool. The problems, then, confronting the firms concerned with the selling of "open end" filmed shows are twofold: 1) To obtain distribution rights to sell produced programs which have a mass audience appeal. 2) To sell and properly distribute and service such programs. The "key" persons are the salesmen in the field. They must have not only the programs to sell, but the experience needed to properly advise and help buyers obtain maximum benefits from the product. They must be able to point the way for the stations to effect sales to advertisers, and be able to point the way for advertisers to properly do the job in their communities through the use of television. In our case, we insist that our salesmen have a wide media background, and that they confine their operations to a limited area so that they can best service the needs of the customers, as well as our needs. To be of mutual service, both to customers and to ourselves, the salesman must keep abreast of the times in this rapidly changing industry. He must be at once a consultant and a researcher, a seller and an aid to the buyer. He must keep his finger carefully on the pulse of the television public in order that he may detect and interpret each trend. As a concluding note, the market is excellent now for the sale of filmed programs to be re-run in cities where they already have been shown. Available figures prove that some re-run programs obtain a larger viewing audience than they had on first run! This is a healthy sign which bodes well for the future of the industry, since the assurance of re-run revenue is enabling producers to devote larger budgets to the production of better programs. 95