Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1961)

4 JUNE 5, 1961 Celler Summons Minow: The House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee headed by Rep. Celler (D-N.Y.) plans to put FCC Chmn. Minow & Asst. Attorney General Lee Loevinger on the spot June 14-15. Among other things, they will be asked to tell the Subcommittee at “consultative” hearings just what has been done toward carrying out recommendations in the Celler unit’s massive 1957 report on the TV industry (Vol. 13:23 p3). The report swept over a wide range: Option time, “must buy” practices, ASCAP vs. BMI, FCC “ethics,” allocations, NBC-Westinghouse antitrust proceedings. Also to be covered at the hearings will be issues in other communications areas, such as the AT&T antitrust decree and telephone earnings. A Subcommittee source told us that no witnesses except Minow & antitrust chief Loevinger — both newcomers in their jobs — will be called to the stand to give Celler reports on progress, or lack of it. Both will be accompanied to Capitol Hill by Commission & Justice Dept, specialists, however. TV Fight Curbs Urged: Small boxing clubs which once bred fight champions have been closed out by TV, former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey testified at a Senate Judiciary Antitrust & Monopoly Subcommittee hearing. One in a string of witnesses supporting a bill (S-1474) by Chmn. Kefauver (D-Tenn.) calling for a federal boxing “czar” (Vol. 17:14 pl6), Dempsey said telecasts of fights should be restricted to big title bouts. That would give smaller clubs a better chance to survive, he said. Dempsey also said part of the TV receipts from big fights should be reserved by the promoters for a fighters’ retirement fund. As it is, he told the Subcommittee, too many outworn fighters end up on skid row because they have no pensions. Under Kefauver’s anti-racketeering measure, TV fight promoters & others connected with managing & staging fights would have to be licensed by the govt. Federal controls of the boxing business should have been set up when broadcasting brought it clearly into interstate commerce, another ex-champion — Gene Tunney — testified. He protested “the monopoly” on recent championship fights created by closed-circuit TV. Millions of fight fans who are unable to pay their way into closed-circuit theaters to watch the bouts have been given a raw deal by the promotors, Tunney said. Tunney added that the 3rd JohanssonPatterson fight apparently was staged for the benefit of TV viewers — not paying ringside customers. “I paid $100 and there were 300 people in front of me,” he said. “I didn’t see the knockdown. I had to see it later on TV.” How to Kill a Bill: The surest way to kill ethics-ingovt. legislation is to include members of Congress in its provisions, according to Rep. Bennett (D-Fla.). Himself the author of a bill (HR-302) to restrict private employment of former federal employes (Vol. 17:5 p8), Bennett told the House Judiciary Committee that conflict-of-interest measures which embrace Senate & House members would be defeated. “Let’s leave something for our children to do,” he said in testimony on a half-dozen such bills including HR-3411 by Chmn. Celler. “I’d rather have a little bill pass than a big one fail.” Similar legislative ground will be covered this w7eek in 4-day hearings by the House Commerce Committee on a bill (HR-14) by Chmn. Harris to tighten rules governing back-door approaches to regulatory agencies (Vol. 17:20 pl2). FCC Chmn. Minow is scheduled for the stand on the final day of the June 6-9 sessions. Other agencies to be heal'd from are FTC, SEC, ICC, CAB, FPC. More about FCC Plan Vote Put Off: The House failed to reach a vote last week on President Kennedy’s doomed FCC reorganization plan (Vol. 17:22 pi), which was kept alive by the press of other floor business in the short holiday workweek. Majority leader McCormack (D-Mass.) is expected to call up a resolution of disapproval this week, however — and thei'e’s almost no chance that it will fail to get a majority vote necessary to kill the White House proposals (see p. 2). Meanwhile, the President’s FTC reorganization plan, which easily survived House hearings, was given a onceover at Senate Commerce Committee hearings preparatory to a Govt. Operations Committee hearing June 6 on all of the agency plans. As in House hearings on the plans, only one FTC member — Republican Sigurd Anderson — voiced objections to the proposed FTC reorganization. He said it might “create a one-man agency out of our multi-member agency.” Unlike the FCC plan, which ran into protests by a majority of FCC members and by Republican & Democratic members of Congress, the FTC plan otherwise escaped Senate attack. Criticism of the FCC plan in the Senate was carried by Sen. Beall (R-Md.) to 16 home-state radio stations. In a recorded speech, Beall said it “would mean endless trouble for the broadcasting industry.” USIA Budget Cut: President Kennedy’s plea for extrabudget money for USIA (Vol. 17:22 p3) has been spurned by the House. It followed recommendations by the Appropriates Committee, which said some of the agency’s broadcasting operations should be curtailed instead of expanded. The Committee didn’t recommend cuts in Voice of America TV & radio plans which include expenditure of $1.85 million for a portable radio relay station, but sliced away such items as $950,000 for theatrical productions and $172,711 for psychiatric checks on USIA job applicants. The over-all USIA allowance for the next fiscal year was trimmed by the Committee to $134.8 million — about $3 million more than Congress authorized for the current year. The House voted 256-71 to approve the USIA figures in a $751-million bill covering State & Justice Depts. and related agencies. FCC Budget Vote Due: An $8.4-billion money bill to run 23 independent agencies— including $12.4 million of $12.5 million requested by FCC — for the fiscal year starting July 1 was sent along to the House June 2 by the Appropriations Committee. The House is expected to take up the measure June 7 for a vote. Included in FCC budget items approved by the Committee was provision for 50 more staffers. At budget hearings in March, the Commission had made a strong pitch for the need for more personnel — particularly in the Complaints & Compliance div. and for handling license renewal hearings in the field. The Committee also allowed increases for an augmented FTC staff. Westerns Tire Morton: Sen Morton (R-Ky.), GOP chairman and Commerce Committee member, says he’s “getting a little tired of Westerns.” But that’s no reason to look to the govt, for TV programming reforms, he added on Ted Granik’s Youth Wants to Know. “We must be sure that we do not get a censorship of this industry,” Morton warned, arguing that self-regulation by broadcasters & sponsors will bring TV improvements. ( Saturday Review — June 3 issue — -is authority for the statement that what Chief Justice Warren likes best in TV is Westerns.)