Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

Record Details:

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2 AUGUST 3, 1959 Some U.S. broadcasters, from all indications, are biding time until sound of Sept. 15 gun, although others may be already making arrangements with Canadian interests to stake 25% claims when "open season" is declared on choice locations. All 3 networks express interest in the situation. Prime areas for new stations undoubtedly will be 6 major markets now exclusive domain of CBC: Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Halifax — which represent a total of 11 allocated but presently unassigned channels. However, by no stretch of imagination is Canadian competitive TV a juicy plum ripe for picking. Far from it. Any U.S.-British designs on Canadian TV — in all areas ranging from station ownership to programming — must first reckon with Canada's Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG), new licensing & regulatory guardian of Canadian broadcasting Canadian telecasting will continue to be Canadian in content & character, BBG secy. W. D. Mills told us. Supporting regulations already in existence toward this end are various new BBG proposals restricting Canadian-U.S. TV fraternization. Proposals will be subject of public hearings in Ottawa Nov. 2-3, become policy around July 1960 as modified & approved if they survive hearings. Among proposals of particular interest to American broadcasters: No Canadian station will be permitted to form a direct programming connection with U.S. broadcasters without BBG approval; programming must be 55% Canadian content. U.S., British & other foreign invasion of Canadian TV is facilitated, on other hand, by absence of restrictive Canada-for-Canadians legislation. As rulings now read, for example, there is no limit to number of stations non-citizens can buy into, so long as share per station is limited to 25%. Also, there is no legislation preventing U.S. network, for example, from forming Canadian subsidiary and going after Canadian licenses wholesale instead of in piecemeal 25% bites. However, ultimate decision as to who gets what channel rests with BBG — which can be expected to be protective of Canadian interests. (For more on the meaning & operation of competitive Canadian TV, see p. 10.) INDUSTRY EVALUATES OPTION-TIME PROPOSALS: Early returns are in on FCC's proposed changes affecting option time rules (Vol. 15:17), and, as expected, the majority of those commenting strongly urge rejection of the major change proposed — reduction of option time from 3 to 2V2 hours for each of the day's 4 segments. Comments aren't due until Aug. 3, and networks themselves haven't filed yet, but most of others have filed or made advance copies available to us. Network affiliates like the status quo on amount of option time permitted, but most of them go for the minor proposed changes which tend to give them a little more elbow room in dealing with networks. In the latter, they see their own positions improved at no detriment to networks. Station Representatives Assn, said it would go along with the 2V2-hour proposal but its main pitch was for "station reserved time" — at least one hour in each segment from which networks are excluded. KTTV Los Angeles, prime anti-option-time force, based its entire case on Justice Dept.'s opinion that option time is a violation of anti-trust laws. It asserted that FCC is duty bound to enforce Justice's ruling. (For digests of comments filed to date, see p. 5.) SENATE OVERRULES LAR DALY — WITH RESERVATIONS: Broadcasters have won half their fight in Congress to overturn FCC's Lar Daly political equal-time newscast ruling. As expected. Senate voted last week to exempt most news-type shows from Communications Act's Sec. 315 — and House is lining up now for similar action (see p. 6). But TV & radio are long way from winning Congressional vote of confidence and trust in fairness of broadcasters' political news judgments. Mistrust of station owners, misgivings about their professed publicservice motives in seeking redress from Lar Daly, were sour themes which ran all through Senate debate. Afternoon-long wrangle over Sec. 315 amendments brought no floor arguments that FCC's newscast interpretation of law was sound. On other hand, nobody on Republican or Democratic sides of aisle stood up as champion of broadcasters' integrity as newsmen, either. And nobody even suggested that Sec. 315 isn't needed at all to protect candidates from discrimination — and public from political deceptions. Senate suspicions of broadcasters were demonstrated by vote to cut panel shows from Sec. 315 exemptions recommended by Commerce Committee. It was argued that this format can easily be used by TV 6r radio operators to promote their own candidates. Documentaries were left in exemption list, but much fear was expressed that they'd be subject to political perversion, too. Senate also wrote its own gratuitous admonition that in all exempted news programs "all sides of public controversies" must be handled fairly.