Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL. 16: No. 2 9 THEY SEEK CANADIAN STATIONS; Canada’s Board of Broadcast Governors has started its round of public hearings on competitive TV licenses, vrith the biggest battle in Toronto. In the 4 sittings now scheduled, 24 applicants will seek 5 channels: 3 applicants seek one channel in Winnipeg; there are 5 for one channel in Vancouver; 7 for 2 channels in Montreal and 9 for the single Toronto outlet. The Montreal situation brings 3 applicants for an English-language TV station and 4 for a French language station. Until now, the BBG and its predecessor as regulator, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Board of Governors, have permitted only one TV station in a single market. Total English-language TV stations is 37 (excluding satellites), with 8 of them owned & operated by CBC and 7 French, with 2 owned & operated by CBC. CBC operates the only 2 networks — one English, stretching coast to coast, and the other French, largely Quebec province. Now the door is being opened to competitive TV stations, on the basis of one competitive license in each city where BBG believes population & wealth can support another station. The new stations will operate independently of CBC but there is talk of a tape & film network to give wider programming of Canadian events. Full details of ownership of companies seeking the new licenses have not been disclosed, but in most cases the newspaper or radio station affiliation of the applicants has been established. Applicants and Their Backgrounds Applicants at the Winnipeg hearings, starting Jan. 13, will be J. 0. Blick, Joseph Harris and R. S. Misener, each acting separately on behalf of companies still to be incorporated. Blick owns CJOB Winnipeg. The Harris application includes Clifford Sifton, with interests in the Regina Leader-Post, the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix and CKCK-TV & CKCK Regina. Also included is brother Victor Sifton, publisher of Winnipeg Free Press, and other Winnipeg businessmen. The Misener application is a Winnipeg business group. Vancouver sittings start Jan. 18. Metropolitan TV Ltd. includes the Vancouver Sun, the Vancouver Province, radio CKWX Vancouver, radio CKNW New Westminster, and Vancouver businessmen. The A. M. McGavin application is built around radio CFUN Vancouver. B.C. Television Co. Ltd. and Pacific Television Co. Ltd. include B.C. businessmen in all phases of industry, and the Vantel Television Co. application is headed by Art Jones, a swiftrising young film executive. Montreal hearings are scheduled for March 7. Canadian Marconi Co. seeks the English TV license to add to its CFCF, the oldest radio station in Canada. The other 2 English applicants are Mount Royal Independent Television Ltd. and Sovereign Film Distributors Ltd., both strong Montreal business groups. The 4 French-language applicants are La Compagnie de Publications de “La Prese” Limitee, which publishes the influential daily newspaper La Presse, and operates French-language radio CKAC; radio CKVL of nearby Verdun; Film producer Pail L’Aanglais on behalf of a company to be incorporated, and Raymond Crepault, also on behalf of a company to be incorporated. Less is known about ownership of the 9 Toronto applicants. To be heard March 14, they include Baton Aldred Rogers Bcstg. Ltd. {Toronto Telegram and radio CKFH) ; Maclean-Hunter Publishing Company and Brit ish TV interests; Spencer W. Caldwell on behalf of a company to be incorporated; Rogers Radio Bcstg. Co., which operates the 50-kw CFRB; Consolidated Frybrook Industries Ltd., headed by Jack Kent Cook of CKEY; Henry Borden, on behalf of a company to be incorporated which will include Southam Publishing Co. with newspapers in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Ottawa & Medicine Hat; Upper Canada Bcstg. Ltd., including British TV interests; Beland H. Honderich, on behalf of a company to be incorporated and expected to include the Toronto Star, Canada’s biggest-circulation newspaper; and J. S. D. Tory, Q.C., on behalf of a company to be incorporated and to include Toronto’s morning newspaper, the Globe & Mail, and British TV interests. Full details of ownership will be revealed when the applications are heard. Four other sittings will take place to hear additional applications. The BBG will meet in Edmonton May 9 and then move south to Calgary for its 2nd Alberta hearing; the next will be in Halifax, N.S., on the East coast, June 20, and immediately afterward BBG moves to Ottawa for the cleanup sitting. One-watt ceiling for vhf boosters, as proposed by FCC in its new set of standards for translators (Vol. 15:49 p4), won’t do. That’s the gist of early criticisms filed in advance of Commission's Jan. 11 deadline for comments on 8 major proposals to resolve booster issues. Those who agreed that the one-watt power limitation is too low were: Better Community TV Assn., Omak, Wash.; Edgemont (S. D.) Chamber of Commerce; Upper Methow Valley TV Corp., Winthrop, Wash.; Pateros (Wash.) Brewster TV Assn.; Wash. State TV Reflector Assn. Most said they can’t provide adequate service with anything less than 3 watts. On the other hand. Video Utility Co., Spokane, concurred generally with FCC’s proposals. It also suggested that an operators’ association should be formed to name regional coordinators to advise what channels should be used. A new vhf channel in Syracuse, if dropped in by FCC, will be applied for by a group headed by Dr. W. R. G. Baker, Syracuse U. Research Corp. pres, and ex-GE vp. His associates in the new W. R. G. Baker Radio & TV Corp., of which he is chmn., are: Pres. T. Frank Dolan, pres.-treas. of the Edward Joy Co.; vps Daniel W. Casey, Flack Advertising Agency, and Robert J. Conan, pres, of the Pomeroy Organization; secy., Richard N. Groves, pres, of the R. N. Groves Co., treas., Leonard P. Markert, vp of the Will & Baumer Candle Co. The board comprises the officers and William V. Stone, exec, vp of the Lincoln National Bank & Trust Co. Reduction in radio station fees to ASCAP, “estimated at $800,000 a year,” was provided for in an order signed by N.Y. Federal Court Judge Sylvester J. Ryan Jan. 6. The settlement was between ASCAP & All-Industry Radio Music License Committee, thus ending litigation between ASCAP and radio stations, which had petitioned for the fixing of a reasonable fee for the right to perform ASCAP music. Negotiations had been in progress for over a year. ASCAP estimates the cut in its income will probably amount to $350,000 a year in sustaining fees paid by stations for non-sponsored programs, and about $400,000 on commercial fees paid by stations. Facility change: KTWO-TV (Ch. 2) Casper, Wyo. boosted power Jan. 5 to 70.8 kw, using a 5-kw driver. It simultaneously began color telecasting.