Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

4-TELEVISION DIGEST NOVEMBER 11, 1963 "Will this serve as a guinea pig for networkstation -CATV relationships? I suppose it will, but that wasn’t our purpose. I suppose CATV prices will jump more now." Pres, of Vancouver outfit is Sydney Welsh who gave us these responses to our inquiry: "We now have 17,000 homes. Within 2 years, we expect to expand to be in front of 120,000 homes, and, conservatively, get a 60-70% saturation. We charge $15 for connection, plus $5 a month. We provide 7 channels, plus 5 FMs and background music. We’ll offer a weather video channel, too. We carried the Patterson-Liston fight at no charge, and we’ll offer other fights, etc. , at no charge." Two systems in Montreal, about 30, 000 each, are the only systems larger in Canada. In Victoria, company expects to obtain about 17,000 subscribers out of 28,000 homes within cable reach; 21 FMs are offered there, in addition to TV. Welsh and associates are also interested in systems in Port Coquitlam k Squamish, are exploring commimities in Frazier Valley. Asked how he expects to corral 70-80,000 subscribers in Vancouver in 2 years, after reaching only 17, 000 in 4-11 years (started in different parts of city at different times, bought out older system) Welsh said surveys have satisfied him that demand is there and that "people have been educated in the last few years to know what we offer." There’s no govt, or legal impediment to acquisition of Canadian CATVs by foreign investors, according to Welsh: "We see no problems there." NAEB PUSHES COMPUTER-BUILT UHF PLAN: Allocation by computer may be here — or near. National Assn, of Educational Bcstrs. has released complete national uhf plan, claims it superior to FCC’s recent proposal (Vol. 3:43 p3), asks Commission to expose it to industry comments in rulemaking proceeding. Plan has 2, 567 uhf assignments (909 ETV) vs. FCC’s proposed 1, 979 (604 ETV). It leaves all uhf & vhf stations & CPs imdisturbed, takes into accoimt all FCC mileage standards, "taboos," Canadian & Mexican agreements. NAEB says plan puts channels "precisely where they are needed, and the most usable frequencies of the spectrum have been distributed with greater efficiency th^ has heretofore beenpossible. . . there is still flexibility remaining in the assignment plan." NAEB offers FCC its taped data "for whatever modification or further exploration maybe desired." Material would have to be reworked to feed it to FCC's Univac, which is in final stages of installation. Burroughs 220 computer was used. Report is presented well, includes city-by-city vhf & uhf assignments. Copies are available from NAEB, 1346 Connecticut Ave. , Washington. Some FCC engineers say they’re disappointed with results. Principal criticisms: "They produced more assignments by putting them were no one wants them. Anyone can do that. Why, they’ve got them in towns of 100 & 200 population. They don't do an3dliing for cities where the demand is greatest. There’s too little flexibility, leavii^ too little leeway for accomodation to FAA tower location restrictions. They say they aren't favoring ETV with low uhf channels, but they give ETV 56 of the 69 Ch. 14 assignments. They didn't try things we suggested, so that they could test some of our ideas and compare them with theirs." But Commission engineers are enthusiastic about idea of using computer, agreeing that concepts can be tested in hours instead of months. Work was done by Jansky & . Bailey div. of Atlantic Research Corp. , by engineers Oscar Reed, Kenneth Heisler, William Weakley. NAEB Project Dir. is Vernon Bronson, Assoc. Dir. James Fellows. It was financed by $40, 000 grant from HEW, and NAEB hopes HEW wiU grant more for future similar work. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Talking about allocations, uhf enthusiast William Putnam, WWLP Springfield, Mass. , submitted satirical petition to FCC, asking for shortspaced Ch. 7 drop-ins for Sacramento-Stockton, Cal. ; DanvilleChampaign, HI.; Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Each is short-spaced, by strange coincidence, only with ABC's o&o's in San Francisco, Chicago, N. Y.