Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

NAB LIBRARY Television Digest with Consiuner Electronics ... (starts page z) JULY 22, 1963 NEW SERIES, VOL. 3, 41o. 29 The authoritative service for executives in all branches of the television arts & industries SUMMARY-INDEX OF WEEK'S NEWS Broadcast FCC ACTIVITY— BACKGROUND REPORT on recent work, projected plans of offices: network study, hearings, complaints, chief engineer, field engineering, etc. (p. 1). FM FREEZE-END PLAN BEFORE FCC this week, staff recommending table of assignments with same mileage separations as before (p. 2). IT'S FINAL— OUTSIDE RATING AUDIT: NAB Rating Council executive committee meets, will establish non-profit organization to oversee audit, which will be done by national accounting or business management firm; Nielsen gives up Audimeter in network radio (p. 2). SHARPER EDITORIAL GUIDELINES: House hearings on editorializing get hot as Congressmen worry about political attacks. Broadcasters defend fairness doctrine, but lawmakers think it's weak (p. 3). COX DROPPING OUT OF DROP-IN CASE? MST says he must, because of his advocacy as Broadcast Bureau chief. Cox doubts it. EIA joins opposition to drop-ins (p. 5). Consumer Electronics SYMPHONIC-VS.-NEC ANTI-TRUST SUIT strikes at business practices of Japan's industrial giants, charging Japanese TV industry boycott as 'punishment' for Spiegel incident (p. 7). COLOR REPRICING unlikely until fall, with no drop-ins from major manufacturers due at Music Show; Olympic offers color consolette at $449.95, color-phono combo at $499.95 (p. 8). WHO PAYS 'RETAIL' ANY MORE? Survey by Opinion Research Corp. finds that consumers of all economic & social strata now expect price concessions & 52% of customers in metropolitan areas pay less than list more often than they did 5-10 years ago (p. 8). TINYVISION DOUBLE-TAKE by industry results from initial success of GE 11 -in. sets; except for Admiral set, no introductions appear imminent, but designers are busy (p. 9). MUSIC SHOW introductions stress transistorization, FM stereo & unique ideas; highlights of advance announcements (p. 11). FCC ACTIVITY -BACKGROUND REPORT: FCC has g loaded agenda, is trying to knock out some major items before Aug. recess or soon thereafter, as we noted recently (Vol. 3:25 p2). Nearest seems to be FM allocation, which may be voted this week (see p. 2). There's no telling what else will make it soon. Lawyers & clients were reUeved somewhat last week when Commission announced that many kinds of station sales will be acted on in Aug. by Broadcast Bureau under delegated authority. Meanwhile, heads of FCC's various offices have summarized for Commission their recent activities and projects ahead. We've learned what some of them are. They include: (1) Legislative history of Radio <S Communications Acts is to be studied to determine whether Commission may aheady have power to regulate networks directly. (2) Anti-trust angles of network program acquisition policies have been studied, will be reported to Commission soon. (3) Largo, Fla. Ch. 10, supplemental decision is expected by Aug. 15, Rochester Ch. 13 initial decision by Dec., NBC-Philco initial decision by Nov. 1. (4) Complaints & Compliance Div. in Jime sent investigators on 5-day trip to Mass, to examine slanted-editorializing charge, 1 Vi -day trip to Philadelphia re rigged-contest charge, 4 days to York, Pa. & Annapolis, Md. re gambling matter, (5) Chief Engineer's office has nearly completed work on precision offset, is also testing TV transmissions with low audio power. Study was made of station spacing in Britain with horizontal & vertical polarization. (6) Field Engineering Bureau put 552 man-days in special study of rules violation in Citizens Bond, found 5,470 violations.