Sponsor (Jan-June 1955)

tracts for the time purchases. Naturally, this class keeps up with developments in the industry through reading assignments in sponsor. Pat Cranston Instructor, radio-tv School oj Communications Washington, D. C. FEE TV REBUTTAL Your 18 April issue carries a letter from Leon Gorman, general manager of WABI-TV. Rangor that requires an answer if the facts of subscription tv are not to be buried under a load of arithmetical garbage. The statistics he used were apparently supplied by the TV Research Council, a disguised propaganda arm of the Theater Owners of America. Aside from a lack of candor as to the true interest of the source, the figures represent a distortion of fact and a bold attempt to mislead the reader. It is utter nonsense to state that subscription tv is going to cost the viewer $1,500 annually. To prove that he doesn't have any faith in his own figures, Gorman immediately climbs down off the ladder and says that the annual cost is going to be $500. This latter statistic makes more sense than his first one. The job of subscription tv is to provide viewers with a new class of program which viewers do not now get and sponsors cannot now afford. First-run motion pictures, Rroadway opening nights, symphony concerts, top-flight sports events and cultural programs would be presented. There is a very great deal of difference between this type of attraction and the type of events regularly presented on "Remember, KRIZ Phoenix said we'd find beaux here?" present-day tv schedules. Gorman and other opponents of subscription tv have voiced one statement that sets a new high in outright goofiness. This is an assertion that the public is going to be required to pa) for all the programs it now gets for nothing. Of course the public gets no program for nothing even these days. The public paid to build Gorman's station and it pays his salary. Rut instead of belaboring that point, consider the true case of this claim that, with subscription tv, the public will have to pay for all these so-called free programs. ... If subscription tv is to be a success, it must offer a type of program that is superior to the regular offerings on commercial tv. . . . In the course of a year, the number of such top-quality offerings is limited. At the outset, not more than 10 or 15 hours a week of such entertainment could be provided. . . . In 1953, on the basis of taxes paid, the public spent something like $3,128,000,000 in admissions to theaters, concerts, baseball games, football games, and all other amusement events where an admission fee was charged. The addition of subscription tv is not likely to change this total very much. It is from these fields of spectator interest that subscription tv would draw its box office. ... So far as Zenith is concerned, there is going to be no requirement for the viewer to make a capital investment in a decoder. These instruments. in each case, would be owned by the local Phonovision franchise company. Users would probably pay a small installation fee and monthly service fee for the decoder. This is much on the order of the transaction that takes place between a subscriber and his local telephone company. . . . Gorman's own station in Rangor is currently enjoying a fine monopoU on all the tv network programing there is, by virtue of its four-network affiliation. Within his primary area, there are five vacant channels. It iof serious business concern to him that some, or all. of these channels could blossom into competition if they had access to subscription tv income. And it is of interest to the public in his area that these stations blossom to offer a wider choice of both subscription and sponsored programs. The real fears that Gorman has are based on his feelings about subscrip PRESTON FOSTER reasons Sponsors of all kinds have switched to The Playhouse because of its consistent high quality. No other filmed dramas you can buy offer this top combination of "name" stars, taut stories, elaborate production. ABC FILM SYNDICATION, INC. 7 West 66lh St., NY. CHICAGO • ATLANTA • HOLLYWOOD • DALLAS 13 JUNE 1955 123