Ross reports on television programming. (1949)

STATIONS*-' USE OF FILM (Continued) film distributors and independent producers may make the national sales staffs of the well-established Station Reps available for film sales. In this way stations may derive a larger portion of revenue than they would normally derive from programs sold by networks to which they are affiliated, and film distributors may meet the growing competition that network off -tube recordings of live programs is giving. How much are stations paying for their film? Moct station film directors advise that they are paying more for their film than last year and the year before. To a great extent this is due to a need for better product by the older stations. New stations continue to pay low pri¬ ces commensurate with their small audience. The largest and eldest of tho hig*cdty stations are paying between $150 and $300 each for features and $75 to $150 for wes¬ terns. Out of NYC smaller stations are paying between $75 and $150 for features and $50-125 for westerns. The very newest stations pay as low as $50 to $75 for features and $35 cr $40 for westerns. No wonder that distributors count on rapid turnover for income. ...... in the space below and on the following page we have analyzed the ap¬ proach of Network film departments and those of several local stations to film pro¬ gramming. A further expansion of the question of rates is included. American Broadcasting Company — ABC has a film staff headed by Nat Fowler, an ass is tant-Frank Freeman, and a secretary. In addition, it has a four man film editing and clearing department: 2 cutters, 1 continuity accep¬ tance, 1 in charge of music clearance. Fowler acts as buyer for five owned & opera¬ ted stations WJZ-TV in NYC, KECA-TV in Hollywood, KG0-TV in San Francisco, WXYZ-TV in Detroit and WENR-TV in Chicago. However, these stations do buy independently also. ABC has not gone into packaging films as have some of the other networks, but rather buys on a spot booking basis. He may pay $150 for a film to be shown on WJZ-TV with a stipulation that he can offer it to Other fotetions on the network, who will pay the distributor through Fowler usually $75 to $100 for the film. This method is in contrast to that of NBC (see below) which buys on a network basis and gambles that its affiliates can use it. In the past, Fowler has attempted to program film by title as a regular weekly feature not as a filler, but current policy of no sustain¬ ing films how limit a him to 1 hour a week of children's shorts made in Europe and distributed by Flamingo Films. He buys from many other companies too (see list of film distributors) as do all networks and stations. Fowler has been paying $150-200 for features in NYC and $75 to 100 for westerns, while his out of town stations pay $75 to $125 for features and $75 to $100 for westerns. Columbia Broadcasting System — This network film department has 13 people assigned to it, headed by Grant Theis who supervisee several assistants, 3 film editors, bookers and shippers, a scheduling man and bookkeepers. Reason for the size is that CBS has formulated a film syndication operation. At pre¬ sent it has the rights to 50 British features, 13 filmed symphonies, and 8 Strange As It Seems subjects. Films are sold nationally to stations on a package basis, with the symphonic series, for one, available at 55 $ of card rate payable monthly. CBS figures features are worth approximately $200 each and westerns, $100-150, This film department has been able to program film as a top feature on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at one point last year had a mystery night, an English film night and a western night scheduled. At present, 20$ of local programming over WCBS-TV is film — inclu¬ ding the one hour per day across-the-board Chuck Wagon, as well as 3 other features per week running 1-lJ hours each, and 1 short subject weekly. Department head Theis feels that smaller stations will always need this type of film, and ho agrees with the consensus that films can be replayed within six months. ^ Page 17 STATIONS' USE OF FILM (more) ROSS REPORTS