Variety (March 1959)

Wednesday, March 11» 1959 TV-FEEJMS SYNDICATORS' '59 CHALLENGES Updating the Who-Vent-Where Exec shifts in the* telfefilm biz have been so numerous the past six months, that an updated '59 roster is in order. Here’s the run* down on the major changes! Michael Sillerman is now prez of National Telefilm Associates* program sales division. He had been a principal in Gross-Krasne- Sillerman distrib outfit, bought out by NTA. Prior to that he was associated as exec v.p. of Television Programs of America. George Shupert is now v.p. in charge of MGM-TV ankling his post, as ABC Films topper. Shupert’s post was taken by Henry Plitt, a tv newcomer, but with heavy experience as a theatre operator of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres. Charles (Bud) Barry moved over from his. MQM-TV topper spot to become prez of NTA’s Film Network. Kurt Blumberg, along with a number of other “old-line” Tele¬ vision Programs of America execs, departed the company soon after the takeover by Independent Television Corp. Blumberg took the syndication manager spot at United Artists Television, • now tooling up to get into the syndication biz. Milton Gordon, TPA’s principal owner and former prexy, formed Galaxy Attractions. Manny Reiner, ex-v.p. in charge of foreign sales for TPA, joined Gordon in the Galaxy enterprise. Charles (Chuck) King now is v.p. in charge of syndicated Sales for Bernard L. Schubert, Inc. He had been sales' director of NTA Film Network. Making the moveover with King to Schubert is Cy Kaplan. Latter’s title is general sales manager for Schubert Kaplan had been NTA’s eastern sales director. Among Gross-Krasne-Silletman execs joining NTA with Siller- man are Walt Plant, Mel Schlank and Raymond Wild. Some Features Rerun 18 rimes In L.A. Market in Acute Pix Shortage CBS Films’ Merle Jones Has Some Lofty Global Expansion Aspirations Hollywood, March 10. < While Hollywood theatrical pix production has leveled off in the past few years to an annual output of under 250 films, television’s vo¬ racious appetite for features has continued to swell, with Los An¬ geles’ seven telestations alone forced to meet continuous enter¬ tainment demands with a current pace of some 8,000 feature pic screenings per year. An average of 150 features is currently being beamed by L.A.’s seven outets in a given week, ac¬ counting for approximately 235 . hours of programming within the average seven-day period. Shortage of new cinema product has forced local video toppers to rerun pix as much' as 18 times, at which, point some features revert back to the distributor. In some cases here, more than half of a channel’s time is current¬ ly occupied by screenings of fea¬ tures. KHJ-TV, which leads all the Others 4n amount of programming devoted to theatrical .pix, beams over 40 pix a week, accounting for some 68 hours of program time in Its approximately 110 hours of op¬ eration a week. Spot check figure (Continued on page 56) 58% Ziv Boast On Full Sponsorship Full sponsorship of Ziv syndi¬ cated shows accounts for 58% of all nighttime Ziv program situa¬ tions. Company’s research divi¬ sion came up with some interest¬ ing statistics, in essence, contrary to the experience of other syndi¬ cators. Experience of. many syndicators Is that there has been a decline in the recent past in. full and alter¬ nate sponsorship of their shows, with more markets going the par¬ ticipation route. But, according to Ziv's research organization, company’s series re¬ mains strong in the traditional sponsorship pattern. Firm states z that there has been a flurry of re¬ cent .purchases involving alternate sponsorship, on the basis of its 30- market study, from which the 58% full program sponsorship percent¬ age was pulled. Proportion of alternate sponsor¬ ship in these markets has risen from 28% in 1957 to the current 32%. The full sponsorship per¬ centage increased from 51% in *57 to 58% in ’58. The decline, according to Ziv, has been in the percentage of situations accounted for by participating sponsors, , fc which has dipped from 21% to 10%, (Study does hot include day¬ time where participation sponsors are very active in strip program¬ ming.) Jerry Devine Series Hollywood, March 10. Stephen McNally was signed to essay the lead in the pilot of a new vidseries tentatively tagged “Crim¬ inal at Large.” Jerry Devine Productions Is making the series for Official Films. McNally deal was set by Gene Yusen of the William Morris agency. SG on Slapstick Kick in Rebirth 0f ( 3 Stooges’ I Screen Gems, the Columbia Pic¬ tures telefilm arm, has pressed 40 more “Three Stooges” comedy shorts into television, and has tied them to another new comedy short package of 100 incidental two- reelers from the parent company. SG didn't plan to release the re¬ maining 40 pre-'49 “Stooges” for at least another six months, but quickened the release date because of the track record—in dollars and ratings—being racked up by the original (for tv) 78 “Stooges.” The 40 are being matched with theatrical shorts starring Andy Clyde. Buster Keaton. Leon Erroll, Sterling Holloway, Shep Howard (one of the “Stooges” in a solo run)* Hugh Herbert, et al. It Is un¬ derstood that until recently SG’s Ralph Cohn didn’t expect to get these 100 for sometime to come. But Cohn figures the “Stooges” record has created a highly favor¬ able climate for slapstick, which wasn’t especially the case before their release a year ago. Day the 140 comedies were re¬ leased, SG closed two quick deals for nine tv markets. The five Tri¬ angle tv stations bought the 40 “Stooges” and Transcontinent’s four tv’ers bought all 140. Col is holding onto a large batch of post-’48 “Stooges” shorts until the union tv situation is cleared up on all such theatrical product. Original 78 “Stooges” are now playing 80 tv markets, with most of the recent sales, at an average of four or five markets per week, being to smaller cities. Desilu’s Dividend Hollywood, March 10. Desilu Productions has declared a 15-cent dividend for cutting of its first melon on 584,000 shares on common stock, payable March 27 to shareholders of record March 13. By MURRAY HOROWITZ The always-on-the-movd telefilm biz is up against new challenges, hurdles ranging from the entrance of tape syndication to the growth of participation buys on the mar¬ ket-by-market level, to the need for a more orderly year-round pro¬ duction activity on the - National level. These ’59 challenges come in the midst of corporate changes, the majors assuming a more dominant role and the demise of a number of minors. 1. Tape syndication: A spanking n ew b aby bom last summer when KTTV, Los Angeles; made its deal to syndicate “Divorce Court,” has now grown in status. All the tele¬ film companies are watching tape developments closely. National Telefilm Associates, with its anchor station WNTA-TV, Newark-N. Y., replete with programming needs, has taken the first big syndicated tape splurge. Six shows ranging from Mike Wallace interview to inspirational talks by Bishop Ful¬ ton Sheen are in NTA’s tape hop¬ per. A great deal of the syndica¬ tion biz is built around filling the marginal time needs of stations, the non-network time periods. Big question when more and more tape shows come rolling down the mar- ket-by-market lane revolves around their competitive force against the traditional filmed series. 2. Early buying of telefilm prop¬ erties for fall network starts cues the question of when to come Into the market. Telefilm houses com¬ ing in late with properties, in the summer months, for instance, when the largest number of pilot buys took place last season, are seen to be at a disadvantage this selling season. The buyers are out early and are willing to close deals on properties they like now, rather than take chances on uncommitted time periods and picked - over shows. The solution, according to many in the telefilm production- distribution biz, is to have a year- round production schedule of pilots, with the accent on the spring. Such scheduling, it’s argued, allows for midseason re¬ placements and a pilot reservoir less attuned to what may be misin¬ terpreted seasonal periods. Help¬ ing many houses attain that ap¬ proach is the syndication umbrella. If the pilot gets orphaned in the national sweepstakes, there’s the syndication market as a cushion. 3. In the midst of camparative plenty in the syndication, biz, a growing number of regional and local sponsors are foregoing tradi¬ tional program buys, either full or alternate spohsorship. In favor of a participation spread. That devel¬ opment has caused havoc to the rate cards of more than one syn¬ dicator. Blame for the develop¬ ment is laid at the doorsteps of the national sponsors and networks. Many regionals are said to have climbed abroad the ' bandwagon, although their need for program identification is as strong as ever. 4. Features are being eclipsed to (Continued on page 52) DESILU ‘GRAND JURY’ GETS ORDER FOR 39 Hollywood, March 10, Desilu will resume fullscale pro¬ duction on “Grand Jury,” its Harold Stone-Lyle Bettger starrer, next month with orders from Na¬ tional Telefilm Associates to com¬ plete a full cycle of 39. Desilu has already filmed eight of the seg¬ ments, in which it’s partnered with NTA. Show, along with several others currently in production for NTA, will go to Mickey Sillerman’s pro¬ gram sales division, which will put it up for national sale. The Siller¬ man operation will attempt conven¬ tional network deals, with no re¬ strictions of the properties .to the NTA Film Network, which will program itself as an entirely sepa¬ rate division of NTA. Lost & Found Dept. Hollywood, March 10. Writers Guild of America West has over $5,000 in tv residual coin for a dozen writ¬ ers the guild can’t locate. Writers involved are Gordon Gaskill, Richard Pedicini, John Cheever, Bill Parker, Jean Holloway, Evelyn Lawson, Jac- land Marmur, Robert A. White, Dana Slauson, Francis Scan- nell, Robert Stqpdish and George Sayre. .. More coin is due estates of five deceased writers. WGAW is seeking survivors of Walter Bullock, Whyte Williams, Rich¬ ard Schayer, J. H. Wallis and Walter Ferris. ITC’s Black Ink Status As Deals Start to Multiply A new hum pervades the offices of Independent Television Corp.— referring not to Muzak but to the hum of money. On top of the “Gale Storm” three-year deal with ABC-TV, ITC got a fifth year renewal with NBC- TV on “Fury,” with Bordens and General Foods picking up the tab for the Saturday morning show. On the syndication level—the vital area to ITC—the outfit has weathered the storm of the first few months and, according to an ITC exec, is now operating in the black. When ITC took over Tele¬ vision Programs of America last October, the first few months of operation were in the red. It was a period marked by the consolida¬ tion of the sales force under the new syndication general sales man¬ ager Hardie Frieberg, with some dislocations and additions of new personnel. ITC states that since January, the expanded syndication depart¬ ment has been in the black. Frie- | berg’s organization was said to have racked up over $1,000,000 in gross billings on “Cannonball” in some 90 markets. Syndication de¬ partment still is on an expansion program, seeking 30 additional salesmen for the division, which includes regional, local and rerun departments. A new division recently set up within Frieberg’s domain is*a “Jeff’s Collie”, division, with sales¬ men In the unit exclusively de¬ voted to sell reruns of “Lassie,” (“Jeff’s Collie,” in syndication). On the national level, ITC will be coming in within the next few weeks with four properties, “In¬ terpol Calling,” “Emergency,” “Treasury Agent,” and “Four Just Men.” ITC was formed via the partner¬ ship of Jack Wrather Organization (which also owns Muzak) and Asso¬ ciated Television of Britain. ^ Crs 51% Feb. Hike California National Productions, contrary to the general syndication trend that the early selling months of 1959 were worse than the com¬ parable 1958 period, was ahead this past February by 51.4%. This gross sales figure is matched against February of 1958. j The 51.4% is exclusive of CNP’s j first network sale — “Lawless Years” to NBC-TV, which, if in-1 eluded, would reportedly raise the ! gross returns to nearly 10 times what they are for February. In all of 1958, the NBC telefilm subsidiary grossed over $9,000,000. •+ CBS, which has spread its cel¬ luloid wings in the world market via CBS Films, is looking toward further foreign expansion through station investments abroad. All CBS foreign activities fall under the aegis of Merle Jones, prez of CBS television station divi¬ sion. Jones’ area also takes in CBS Films, Terrytoons, spot sales and CBS o&o’s. Currently, CBS Films foreign operations is one of the most ex¬ tensive in the telefilm field. It’s being operated by the dual man¬ agement of Sam Digges, adminis¬ trative v.p. of CBS Films, and Fred Mahlstedt, director of foreign and domestic operations and sales serv¬ ices. Before long, prexy Jones stated, an international department will have to be established, with a function topper. 1 Jones said that his division has held talks about possible station in¬ vestments in the. following areas of the world: West Indies, Argentina, Ireland, Australia and New Zea¬ land. Jones stated that it was not CBS’ intent to acquire controlling Interest in stations abroad, but to have an equity in station owner¬ ship, with control going to native parties. He said most of the parties came to CBS with projected deals, interested in drawing upon CBS’ experience as station opera¬ tors and programmers. The growth of the foreign mar¬ ket for American telefilms has been parallelled by a desire of foreign territories to sell their properties in the U. S., or at least figure in on co-production deals. Prime example is England. CBS Films has a co-production deal with Associated Rediffusion on “Rendezvous,” In all likelihood, Jones went on, if “Diplomat” is sold at this outing, some of the epi¬ sodes will be done on a co-produc- tion basis in England. CBS has had a proposal from Italy to co¬ produce a number of individual filmed projects and is examining that offer. Expressions for co-pro¬ ductions also have come from Aus¬ tralia and Japan, both growing im¬ portant markets for American tele¬ films. Unlike a number of other major syndicators, CBS Films operates in (Continued on page 56) Not Too Easy To Deliver Markets There’s an apparent wide gap between making a multi-market participation deal with a sponsor and delivering the markets. Case in point is Independent Television Corp.’s previously her¬ alded deal with Colonial Stores, under which the southeastern re¬ tail chain agreed to pick up one- third sponsorship of “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon” in 22 mar¬ kets. Deal has virtually collapsed, with ITC able to deliver only a few of the 22 markets. National Telefilm Associates in the wake of ITC’s failure to date, stepped in on a similar participa¬ tion basis, with two of its proper¬ ties, “Glencannon” and “William Tell.” Reportedly, NTA has closed four markets to date. NTA, as well as ITC, which hasn’t given up, is still trying to deliver additional markets. The Colonel Stores buy hit the syndication market when many sta¬ tions traditionally are reluctant to pick up new properties. The Janu- ary-March period is one of the | slowest periods in syndication. ! Under the "parlay” worked out : for Colonel Stores participation ; buy, the retail chain would pick up one-third of “Sergeant Preston,” with the station picking up the other two-thirds- either as a spot vehicle or another sponsor carrier. Retail chain also sought a reason¬ ably good time period for the show. But apparently stations aren’t buy¬ ing properties at this point, even though the skein comes with a built-in one-third sponsor.