Television digest and FM reports (Jan-Dec 1946)

No. 21). One channel would be v/lthheld from communities that got 5-9 channels, two, if they got 10-14; three, if they got 15-19; four, if 20. Although no order has yet been promulgated, first apparent application of the proposed reserve plan came Friday when the Commission vacated its March 20 grants to 8 Washington applicants (Vol. 2, No. 12) and published proposed findings to grant the 8 as heretofore but offering 3 unsuccessful applicants further opportunity to win the 9th channel. Washington had 11 channels allocated, but apparently only 9 are now open for assignment. It's a good bet, too, that CBS, now an applicant for Washington (Vol. 2, No. 22), will file to get into the running via any hearing that may be held. Commissioners Denny and Jett wanted to assign the 9th channel to Capital Broadcasting Co. (WWDC) but were outvoted. Analysing the effects of the proposed order, in the light of the De,c. 19 Allocation Plan, only the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas would have as many as 4 channels held in reserve. Three channels v/ould be held back from ! Chicago and San Francisco; 2, from Boston, Washington, Detroit, Denver, Minneapolis j St. Paul, Albany-Schenectady-Troy , Buffalo, Cleveland-Akron, Portland, Philadel ; phia. Salt Lake City, Seattle, Milwaukee. ! Areas from which one channel would be held back are: Phoenix, Little Rock, ; Fresno, Sacramento, San Diego, Hartford, New Haven, Jacksonville, Miami, Atlanta, | Evansville, Indianapolis, Des Moines, Wichita, Louisville, New Orleans, Shreveport, J Baltimore, Springfield, Mass., Grand Rapids, Jackson, Miss., Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, Mo., Omaha, Rochester, N.Y. , Syracuse, Cincinnati, Columbus, 0., j Dayton-Springf ield, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Scanton-Wilkes ' Barre, Youngstown-Sharon, York, Pa., Providence, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, ' Nashville, Brownsville (Tex.) area. Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, : San Antonio, Richmond, Spokane, Tacoma, Charleston, W. Va. , Clarksburg, W. Va. ; I FILM BAN IMPACT ON TV: There's profound conviction in high places, both official and industry, that musicians union-movie studio pact against making films available | to TV is a combination in restraint of trade and thus amenable to Sherman antitrust act. But movie lawyers, though first admitting apprehensions on that score, won't admit yet that part of pact has been formalized; at least, the radio lav/yers can't get their hands on a copy. Meanwhile, TV broadcasters, when they try to rent a film, are quoted such outlandish prices that musical film telecasts are out of question. Subject may be aired as part of FCC inquiry into Paramount -DuMont relationship (Vol. 2, No. 20) , tentatively timed for June 20 in Washington. Telecasters now can't depend too much on musical films as source of program supply, just as necessary to them as recordings are to audio broadcasting. So they're playing up news events, which they can film themselves when they can't cover them live. Thus NBC's own film crew on June 1 shot Detroit's automotive jubilee parade, telecasting it next day on WNBT ; did same thing with President Truman's recent address to Congress. And ABC got rights to films of BBC's postwar television reopening in London June 7, planned to fly them back for immediate editing and telecasting from DuMont's WAED. ABC also is arranging with its local affiliates to film local events for the TV programs it is producing on WABD and on Schenectady's WRGB against the day when it can operate its own stations. Meanv/hile, TV program schedules emphasize non-musical shows such as dramas, quizzes, spelling bees, cartoons, sports events. There are films, of course, but these are largely industrial (like Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe ' s show carried on V/NBT last Wednesday) and Government's release on inflation which, with an Alaskan travelog and a tennis training film, were featured this week on Don Lee's W6XA0. Latter station, incidentally, also showed several musicals, "Jazz and Jitters" and "Cow Country Kid," and Frederick Faer conducting the National Philharmonic, which presumably it filmed itself or bought or rented from independent producers. And Balaban & Katz's (Paramount) experimental W9XBK, Chicago, recently tried out a slide-film show v/ith a DePaul professor lecturing on biology. Despite artificial restraints on TV, big sponsors seem to be jockeying for best time segments on existing stations. J. Walter Thompson, for Standard Brands,