Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

6 DECEMBER 5, 1960 Sponsorship announcement waiver for filmed & taped TV & radio programs supplied by the National Council of Churches has been denied to that organization by FCC. No “substantial allegation of hardship” was shown by the Council’s Bcstg. & Film Commission in asking that application of the Communications Act’s Sec. 317 be lifted for its programs, FCC said. The opinion & order added that Commission wasn’t “persuaded that the ‘loss’ of the few seconds required for the identification of this material is an important decisional factor” in the Council’s programming. North Dade Video asked the Court of Appeals last week to instruct FCC to reinstate it as an applicant for Miami Ch. 10. That channel was won by L. B. Wilson by default in the “influence” case against National Airlines’ WPSTTV (Vol. 16:29 pi et seq.). North Dade said FCC acted “arbitrarily & capriciously” in excluding it as an applicant. Its claim for Ch. 10 should be judged “free of demerit” on a comparative basis with L. B. Wilson, North Dade said. FCC show-cause order has been issued against Mandan Radio Assn, (radio KBOM Bismarck-Mandan, N.D.), calling on the station to explain at a hearing why its license shouldn’t be revoked. The Commission cited “unauthorized relinquishment of control and other violations” of rules. Political-broadcast questionnaires are still slow in arriving at FCC, the Commission noted last week. In addition to delays caused by inadequately answered station forms (Vol. 16:48 p5), there’s a holdup in network responses that is produced by the failure of many affiliates to report their clearances of political broadcasts. Deadline for all replies is Dec. 5. First vhf translator CPs complying with new FCC rules have been granted to Mexican Hat Assn., Mexican Hat, Utah, on Ch. 3 & 6. Also granted last week: Ch. 80 & 82 uhf translators to Dubuque Area Translator Co., Dubuque, la.; Ch. 80 uhf translator to Blacktail T.V. Assn., Big Fork, Mont. Compatible single-sideband AM operation was endorsed last week by RKO General, which told FCC that the system would produce improvements in many areas. Upcoming special FCC meetings: Dec. 5, TV allocations; Dec. 8, legislative program & station renewal forms; Dec. 9, AT&T earnings; Dec. 29, FM stereo rule-making. Congress Swan-song report on 3 years of investigations of the broadcasting industry & FCC may be polished up next week by the House Commerce Legislative Oversight Subcommittee under Chmn. Harris (D-Ark.). Preliminary drafts of the final report reviewing the Subcommittee’s hearings & legislative recommendations were worked over Nov. 28 by members & staff. Harris said he expects to have it ready when the 87th Congress convenes Jan. 3, when the legislative life of the Subcommittee will end. He has indicated he won’t ask the new Congress to renew it (Vol. 16:37 plO et seq.). TV network spokesmen may be called by Chmn. Davis (D-Tenn.) as witnesses at Dec. 15-16 hearings by the House Campaign Expenditures Committee on what to do about length & expense of Presidential electioneering. Davis said he hoped the hearings, at which Democi’atic & Republican leaders will be main witnesses, will produce “substantive” suggestions for cutting down the duration & costs of campaigns. Programming BIG FEATURE DEAL: Screen Gems last week jumped into the front ranks of film distributors selling post1948 features to TV with one of the biggest kickoff deals: The long-term lease of 200 Columbia Picturescontrolled features to the 5 CBS-TV o&o’s. Also included in the package were 75 pre-1948s, the last of a Universal-International library being distributed by Screen Gems. The deal, for an estimated $12 million, is the largest made by any of the CBS stations since they signed the MCA-distributed Paramount pre-1948 backlog. It is significant on a number of counts : Screen Gems Placed in Post-1948 Lead 1. It’s the first TV release of movies from Columbia’s 400-picture backlog of post-1948s, and puts Screen Gems squarely into competition with other distributors of post19483 such as NTA, Flamingo, UAA, Programs for TV Inc., and 7 Arts (Vol. 16:34 p3). 2. It virtually puts an end, at least for several years, to any CBS-TV network plans to launch a late-night show series against Jack Paar on NBC-TV. The CBS-TV o&o’s, vital to any such series, are hardly likely to drop late-night local feature programming in favor of network service. 3. It strengthens the feature-library position of the CBS o&o’s considerably — and even rival stations generally concede that the CBS outlets, particularly WCBS-TV N.Y., have the heftiest collection of new-to-TV movies and high-rated feature blockbusters in their respective markets. The CBS stations have been pace-setters in selling full sponsorships of hand-picked features as local specials. 4. Because TV devours feature films with an inexhaustible appetite, Screen Gems intends to see that the audience values of the films aren’t exhausted through constant exposure— as much for the stations’ protection as the pictures’. Accordingly SG plans to make safeguards against rapid wear-outs a contract condition for its sales in other markets. They will model the exposure patterns and multiple-run privileges on those in the CBS deal. 5. Although the CBS o&o’s bought the whole 200-plus75 feature package. Screen Gems isn’t dropping it into the film market as a giant block. In line with the thinking of most film distributors today, SG has put an individual price tag on each picture, scaled to market size & picture’s importance. And the group will be released into the market in small packages over an extended period of time, rather than dumped quickly as were the original pre-1948 RKO and Warner Bros, packages. Bulk of Package is Pre-1956 . Movie exhibitors will hardly welcome the news of the Screen Gems-CBS o&o deal (larger by far, incidentally, than any deal announced to date by 7 Arts on the sale of its 200-odd post-1948 Warner Bros, films, see below). Butthe exhibitors can find some Comfort — however cold — in the deal: (1) The 200 pictures are nearly all “early” (19481955) post-1948s. (2) Several contain stars (Broderick Crawford in “All the King’s Men,” Fredric March in “Death of a Salesman,” etc.) who are more likely to appeal to adult TV viewers than to the teen-aged moviegoers who comprise the bread-&-butter of moviedom’s remaining popcorn palaces. In N.Y. last week, for example, the big draw on the RKO circuit was a double bill composed of “How to Make a Monster” and “I Was a Teenage Caveman.” (3) Theaters, rather than TV stations or even pay TV, will get