Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

FIIIDA.V AT 5 Seven Top Agencies To Tackle Computerized Media Planning Diebold Group wUl be mathematical consultants, do programing New York — Seven top New York advertising agencies are pooling both budget and brain power in a project aimed at putting the computer to work in the area of media planning. (See Sponsor Scope, Dec. 7, ip. 25.) j Agencies involved in the unique project — which will deal with all Inedia, including broadcast — are pompton; D'Arcy; Foote, Cone & JBelding; Grey; Ogilvy, Benson & ^-lather, and Ted Bates. lopyright Office Takes No >art in CBS-CATV Suit Washington — Copyright office pokesmen doubt that the government /ill take any part in the Columbia I iroadcasting court suit to bar CATV I ^broadcast of copyrighted material ' ithout owner's permission (see ponsor Week story, p. 16). In the lit filed recently in New York's I.S. District Court against the Tele rompTer Corp., CBS claims in ingement of half a dozen programs y the wire service — more to es iblish the right than to make money I this instance, CBS says. Copyright office rarely files amicus iriae briefs in cases where a court deciding dispute over a particular ght in the bundle of copyright owner lip broadly indicated in the copy ght law. The copyright office of the brary of Congress would step in ily if some aspect of its own opera )n were to be involved in the case. If the question of CATV rights to -transmit copyrighted programing is ought up during hearings to be held I the 89th Congress on the proposed ivision of the 1909 Copyright Act, len the federal office would have i say. Copyright office spokesmen point I I that even under the revised law, i is not possible to spell out in the Iv all present and possible future r;ans of using copyrighted material. }< lie courts, have the task of interfiling the law as it applies to individlI writer-user situations. In their joint announcement revealing the project, it was pointed out that "the development of the conceptual framework, application of mathematical principles, and finally, actually programing an extremely complex media-planning system for the computer is a vast undertaking. The combined media knowledge and resources of these major agencies will contribute substantially to the successful completion of the project." The Diebold Group, Inc., management engineers, will act as mathematical consultants to the project and will do the actual programing. Although specific details have not yet been worked out, it was noted that the "basic approach makes use of simulation and incorporates an 'optimizing' procedure designed to search out the best allocation of advertising budgets." NCTA Asks FCC to Report on Financial FCC Tightens VHF Applications in Top 50 Washington — Federal Communications Commission announced Friday all new applications for VHF stations in the top 50 markets will be subject for hearing where the applicant owns or has any interest in one or more stations in the top 50 markets, effective Dec. 18. Briefly, the FCC says, "our purpose is to prevent undue concentration of control in the broadcast industry, and to encourage the development of the greatest diversity and variety in the presentation of information, opinions and broadcast material generally." Commissioner Hyde strongly dissented from the decision, stating that the action will constitute a "freeze" against timely consideration of applications filed in accordance with multi-ownership rules. Commissioner Hyde said the decision prevents other broadcast interests from effectively competing with the national networks. Disregard NAB's Impact of CATV Washington, D.C. — The National Community Television Assn. has asked the FCC to disregard the NAB's October report on the financial impact of CATV, in commission rule-making on community antenna systems. NCTA says if the commission does decide to include the Fisher report in its thinking, the CATV-ers want time to analyze and disprove NAB's "hasty and questionable" research. NCTA bases its plea partly on a study made for it by Dr. Herbert Arkin, head of the business statistics division in City College of New York. Arkin finds the results of the M.l.T. professor Fisher's report "of dubious value as evidence," and heavily theoretical. The Arkin report says there is not time for a full analysis of the Fisher conclusions, nor enough factual data supplied to check the findings. NCTA says it has done further re search on its own, and finds the Fisher report of financial impact of CATV on one and two-station markets is not borne out in actual practice. NCTA says Fisher's "two primary conclusions are not applicable to a single station situation" in any of the 723 CATV systems checked out by NCTA. The community antenna spokesmen say these same 723 CATV systems will be in the study now under way at the FCC. The commission has retained Dr. Martin Seiden to study the impact of CATV and pay-tv on free television. The CATV statement says the Fisher report distorted the effect on station advertising revenues. It considered only prime evening time in the alleged impact of one thousand fewer homes on cable, in one and twostation markets. NCTA says this skips all daytime advertising revenue which is heavy on local stations. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE December 21, 1964