Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

nab UBtiAn y ■"—"Television Digest 'A\)G 3 1959 AUGUST 3, 1959 © 1959 TRIANGLE PUBLICATIONS. INC. VOL. 15: No. 31 The authoritative service for executives engaged in all branches of the television arts & industries SUMMARY-INDEX OF WEEK'S NEWS Stations CANADIAN TV OPENS UP with long-awaited decision to grant licenses to competitive stations in heretofore one-station cities. U.S. broadcasters seen watching situation for opportunities to invest in new outlets (pp. 1 & 10). Congress SENATE OVERRULES LAR DALY— with Sec. 315 reservations about trusting broadcasters to be fair in political newcasts. House : action due next (pp. 2 & 6). BASEBALL BLACKOUT SPECTRES for TV raised again at Senate hearings on sports anti-trust exemption bills. But chances of passage this session are slim (p. 4). I rcc INDUSTRY EVALUATES OPTION-TIME PROPOSALS, affiliates opposing reduction in hours. KTTV says FCC must follow Justice Dept. SRA urges "reserved time" (pp. 2 & 5). FOUR VHF DROP-INS PLANNED AS SPECTRUM CHURNS. FCC I issues progress report on channel-swap dickering with OCDM. n Harris's controversial spectrum bill (pp. 3 & 7). m |: Film d Tape RCA'S TAPE SHOWCASE will be an 8-recorder independent rental studio in N.Y. operated by Reeves Sound Studios. Selling point: simplified editing (p. 15). Networks TV's MATURITY AS NEWS MEDIUM underscored by coup on Nixon-Khrushchev taped debate and industry's insistence on news freedom despite govt, pressure (p. 3). NETWORK TV BILLINGS are still on the rise as first half closes 9.3% ahead of 1958 period & June runs 10.7% ahead of June 1958 (p. 9). Advertising FOREIGN AUTOS— LOCAL BUSINESS so far as TV is concerned. Despite small car threat from Detroit, foreign automakers eschew network TV for local spots, print media (p. 13). ALL-TIME HIGH AD VOLUME of $10.9 billion predicted for 1959 by Printers' Ink, which sees network & spot TV up 11%,, radio up 1%. Final 1958 estimates compiled (p. 13). Manuiaeturing Distribution AVERAGE TV PRICE HIGHER this year than last on basis of factory figures. First-half average is $133 vs. $131 last year, continuing upward trend (p. 18). NEW WESTINGHOUSE "IMAGE" includes stress on independent service, quick parts availability, 4 complete furniture-designed TV-stereo lines (p. 18). GENERAL DYNAMICS HOLDS LEAD among electronics firms in Defense Dept, list of top 100 contractors. Electronics about 10%, of all awards (p. 20). CANADA GIRDS FOR TV COMPETITION: Canada's long-awaited decision to open its TV cities to competitive commercial stations come Sept. 15 (Vol. 15:30) — thus ending much-criticized "open city" monopoly long enjoyed by CBC and some private interests — is still too fresh to be fully clear in all its ramifications. But this much you can bank on: As soon as Canada's choice TV markets go up for grabs, action will be fast & furious, and U.S. broadcast interests — networks, station chains, independents with near-border locations & Canadian contacts — may well be substantially involved. Of course, U.S. hopefuls will get a real run for their investment money from native Canadians and from other "alien" TV enterprisers trying to get into Canadian TV. British commercial program contractors, flushed with success of their first few years of operation — and with plenty of investment money to spend — are known to be interested in helping their Canadian cousins with financing & programming — perhaps even to extent of participating in formation of a new Canadian network. Among welter of rules & regulations giving boot to obsolete one-station-per-city policy is one governing ownership content of a new competitive station: Its presiding officer & two-thirds of its directors must be : Canadian citizens; three-quarters of its voting stock must be owned by Canadian citizens. Conversely, of course, this means that non-citizens can own up to 25% of a given station. (FCC is less generous, limiting alien ownership of U.S. stations to 20%). Surprisingly, our talks with American broadcasters reveal that not too many are aware that the Canadian 25% alien-ownership clause actually came into being last year, as Sec. 14 of Canada's Broadcasting Act.