Sponsor (1964)

Former dirigible site now "anchors" UHF ■ New York's renowned Empire State Building, now transmitting site for all the city's stations, including channel 3 1 , will also be used by other UHF outlets in the area. Channel 47, Linden, N.J., will telecast from the building's mooring site (originally built as a dirigible anchor point) when the station opens in early 1965. Three applicants for channel 66 in Paterson, N.J., also have filed proposals to transmit from the same location. (The FCC will consider applications for channel 66 in September.) Presently, only WNYC TV, channel 31, is located at this point, 1 1 80 feet above average terrain. An RCA engineering study found this to be a feasible area for UHF transmission. Until recently, however, all's not been so rosy. Contract negotiation problems had arisen between the stations and the building's owners. The outlets joined hands and formed an Empire State Tv Committee to carry on discussions with the landlord. Result: a 15 -year lease, with three options of renewal, running up to 2013, at "very favorable" terms, according to a spokesman for the committee. Rental and all other charges will be the same for all stations. Previously, this had not been the case. WNYC -TV, the latest station to use the site, had not received the exact contract terms as the other stations. Most important differentiation had been a higher electricity charge, which is now rectified under the new contract. There had been talk, prior to negotiations, that WNYCTV would construct its own tower (on the World Trade Building), when the former contract expired in 1969. The building has made arrangements to provide extra power facilities to meet the needs of WNYC-TV, and all other UHF stations that will use the site. Empire State tower — from mooring site to UHF transmitter UHF; and all-channel receiver legislation. Although the FCC had previously deintermixed , Fresno and Bakersfield, its proposal to make an additional eight markets all U: Madison, Wis.; Rockford, 111.; Hartford, Conn.; Erie, Pa.; Binghamton, N.Y.; Champaign, 111.; Columbia, S.C.; Montgomery, Ala. was made "unnecessary" by the adoption of all-channel legislation. With the passage of this bill, the commission agreed to shelve its proposal that all video be converted to the UHF bands. At the same time, the FCC abandoned another proposal to drop in a third VHF channel in eight cities: Johnstown. Pa.: Baton Rouge, La.; Dayton, Ohio; Jacksonville, Fla.; Birmingham, Ala.; Knoxville. Tenn.; Charlotte, N.C.; Oklahoma City, Okla. This proposal involved controversial drop-ins "at less than the minimum mileage separation requirements," and was opposed strongly by various broadcast organizations, such as AMST. Since these drop-in proceedings had been instituted before the allchannel law enactment, the FCC dropped its proposal (with the exception of Oklahoma City) so that UHF's growth in these markets could be encouraged. (In Oklahoma City, channel five was assigned from Enid because there were already three VHF stations in the former city.) At the end of 1963, the FCC Table of Allocations for existing UHF assignments listed 1345 commercial channels. But no more than 86 — roughly six percent of the total channels — are in use. And of these 86 UHFers, 10 are satellite stations, retransmitting the signal of the parent outlet. (Commercial time on these satellite operations is usually sold in conjunction with the parent station's time.) The 86 stations can be categorized into the following types of markets: 1. One-station communities such as Muncie. Ind.; Salisbury. Mci.; Lima and Zanesville, Ohio; Anderson. S.C. The V operation in such cities usually has a network affiliation. and in a number of cases affilates with two or all three networks. Lack of competition in such coni 32 SPONSOR