Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1960)

hills for red carpets, security police, and all the other items which we had to |>i<>\ i<l«' for the debates." Special programs. In addition to the well-publicized conventions and Great Debates, tv networks and stations have scheduled hundreds of hours of programs or program features designed to acquaint the public with the candidates and issues of the campaign. Roth sponsored and unsponsored shows figure in the list. At CBS for instance, they include such specials as The Right Man, CBS Reports and Eyewitness to History, many episodes of the unsponsored Face the Nation as well as appearances on Person to Person by both candidates. ABC has had a weeklv Campaign Roundup series, and has devoted many of its Open Hearing and College Neus Conference programs to campaign matters. At NBC such programs as Meet the Press, partially sponsored during July-November have been heavilv weighted with presidential topics. In addition dozens of local tv stations and station groups such as Westinghouse and Corinthian have produced special campaign programs. \( curate figures on the net costs to the industry of such programing are. of course, impossible to obtain. sponsor believes, however, that they represent an outlay of at lea-t >].500.000 over and beyond anv revenues derived from sponsorship, and is confident that many tv men will place the tab at many times that amount. Election Night Coverage, on all three networks will pre-empt at least two hours of prime time (plus manyhours of fringe timet and will involve fantastically complex news and facilities preparations which will onlv partiallv be repaid for I as in the case of convention coverage I by advertising sponsors. CBS. for example, will have an election night news team of nearlv 700 and has set up a new nationwide telephone system, tying in "v: ..:"::. ";. '" : " :: §§ IS $20 MILLION TOO LOW? In figuring the cash contribution which tv stations and networks made to the campaign, SPONSOR tried to estimate conservatively 1 Conventions. Coverage of Republican and Democratic meetings meant loss to industry of S9.000,000 2 Great Debates. Tv asked to make this gift. Cost to nets and stations will total nearly S2. 000.000 Special programs covering campaign had some sponsors, but costs exceeded revenues by SI. 500. 000 Election night telecasts involved huge expenses and despite sponsorship meant loss of SI. 000.000 Spot losses by stations during conventions, debates and other campaign programs top S6,500.000 CBS headquarters in every slate capital with its Studio 65 in downtown Manhattan. ABC. NBC and CBS. will have batteries of electronic computers, dozens of analysts, commeni tators. and researchers working on the returns. Costs to the networks alone iou election night will run at least SI. 000.000 above revenues received. Spot Losses. Least understood, bul one of the heaviest expenses borne b\ the industry, will be the serious cur tailment in spot revenues suffered b\ stations during the course of the carr. paign. Following the Republican Con vention, one Indiana operator of t\ and am facilities reported to SPONSOf that the conventions alone would cos him in excess of $40,000 in lost spot! for which no make-good was possible? Even if not all of the country's 50( commercials tv suffered comparabl< losses, the total spot revenue droppet by the industry begins to assum« mammoth proportions when one add the spots lost in the Great Debate; and other campaign programs. sponsor believes it highly conserv ative to estimate that American ti stations have given up at least $6, 500.000 in spot dollars for the privi lege of presenting the presidents campaign. In arriving at a total "tv gift" <j S20.000.000 to the public for greats political understanding, sponsor ed! tors checked responsible executive in every phase of the business. Not professed to know accurate answei But all. without exception, questions certain of sponsor's figures as ti low. Just before press time, an NI spokesman called to say that NBC:* latest figuring showed that the m work's total cost for the conventithrough the election night peri 2 would "exceed S6.000.CKXT and tb this figure is "highly conservative Whether or not the industry tot of $20,000,000 should be revised i ward is not. in the opinion of SPO sor editors, an important questio The plain fact is — tv"s cash e<> tributions to the campaigns have i most doubled all other contribute received by the parties from all oth sources. SPONSOR believes that the story I the industry's campaign gift deservP wide airing among the public. *m NOVEMBER Hf