Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1954)

5 communications attorneys who have studied case. However, one aspect of ruling which was overlooked in press reports is that it affirmed FCC's right to deny licenses to stations which it believes are violating Federal laws, even though Justice Dept, has not taken action against stations for the alleged violations — a right which was questioned by the networks when they originally filed to upset FCC giveaway rule. "The Commission would be remiss in its duties if it failed, in the exercise of its licensing authority, to aid in implementing the [Federal lottery] statute, either by general rule or by individual decisions," said Justice Warren. FCC promulgated "anti-giveaway" rule 5 years ago (Vol. 5:34-39), and it was immediately challenged in court by ABC, CBS & NBC, which got stay order nullifying rule pending disposition of case. Last year. New York Federal court upheld FCC rule as it applied to contests of chance where participants are required to provide money or anything of value, presumably including boxtops (Vol. 9:6). But it rejected — as did the Supreme Court this week — the idea that telephone-type contests can be considered lotteries. FCC then appealed lower court decision. Note : Like FCC, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. is concerned about prize contests "in which the main element is chance instead of skill." Its board of governors announced this week that it has discussed problem with broadcasters, advertisers and agencies with view to reducing number of such programs. If there is no improvement in coming months, board said in statement, it "intends to hold public hearings regarding the possibility and advisability of a regulation which would check such prize schemes depending mainly on chance..." UHF STUDY-AT FCC & CONGRESS LEVELS: One thing is certain about uhf : It*s getting plenty of attention — and the more light shed on the subject the better. Upcoming hearings by Senate communications subcommittee — postponed for one week to May 4-7 — can be expected to look into virtually every angle of xahf, from station finances to receiver sensitivity. AT FCC level too, lihf is subject of constant exploration. This week. Commission informally discussed staff memorandum containing virtually every proposal suggested to date for improvement of competitive position of uhf stations. One idea getting some consideration was proposal to open way for more network programs on uhf ! stations by barring interconnected station from carrying network programs on delayed I (kine) basis when another station in area is available to carry them live. Study of satellites and boosters is continuing (Vol. 10:7), with possibility that Commission will take some sort of action in a few weeks. The whole objective in taking them up at this time would be to aid uhf. Satellites would give Commission least trouble, because they'd use regularly allocated uhf channels, wouldn't create new interference problems. They could be authorized in either of 2 ways — through rule-making or through simple grants of CPs to applicants proposing to get all programs from "mother" stations. Actually, FCC has no rules requiring station to produce certain minimum of local programming. However, everyone knows better than to seek CP without proposing some local shows. Question of powers and heights for satellites is wide open, with no indication whether FCC would place lower floor under satellites than regular stations. Boosters get more cautious approach because they affect co-channel and adjacent-channel relationships of stations. FCC still doesn't seem confident that all interference problems have been licked. Surprising lack of reaction to "5-kw transmitter" proposal (Vol. 10:8-11) is reported by FCC. However, there are indications that the flat 5-kw minimum may be dropped in favor of minimums tailored to size of city. At least one well-informed commissioner leans that way as of today. Most valuable information to date on how uhf operators are faring financially and program-wise will be presented to Senate subcommittee May 4 when FCC reveals the results of its second survey of post-freeze stations (Vol. 10:5). First survey, which included very few multiple-station markets, showed uhf stations doing about as well financially as vhf, during first few months of operation (Vol. 9:51 & 10:1). ; Senators won't want for witnesses during 3-day hearings. Though subcommittee