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CC1osed CLose some, win someCandidacy of Jerry Fritz for commissionseat to be vacated by Chairman MarkFowler may have peaked too soon, eventhough Fowler aide's cause has reportedlybeen taken up by Ward Quaal, notedbroadcast consultant and personal friend ofPresident Reagan. Word had it last weekthat White House is seeking fresh resumesfor FCC seat from academics andindividuals with technological expertise,preferably in common carrier area butwithout ties to telephone companies.One theory held that White House ishoping to find candidate as well or betterqualified than Jack Smith, former FCCgeneral counsel and Common CamerBureau chief. who ran into blank wallseveral weeks ago when he soughtchairmanship (BROADCASTING, Feb. 9)but now appears still in contention. Smithhas support of religious andantipornography groups and from keyplayers in Congress. Yet he is believed tobe too independent to gain support ofChairman -designate Dennis Patrick. Freshnames being mentioned include EdwardHayes Jr. partner in law firm of Baker &Hostetler, and Ralph Lowenstein, dean ofUniversity of Florida's college ofjournalism and communications. Addedcomplication may be reluctance of Senateto confirm candidate too much in Fowler'smarketplace mold.On verge of recordInfinity Broadcasting, New York.is saidto be near agreement to buy SconnixBroadcasting's newly acquired Blair radioproperties in Dallas, KVIL -AM -FM(BROADCASTING, March 9). Purchaseprice reportedly falls in 80 million - 85million range, which would be record forradio station combination.question arises as to present value ofwarrants and, perhaps, as to how saleproceeds should be allocated. Discussionshave been going on for weeks betweenMcCaw and insurance companies.SheddingReliance Capital Group Ltd. Partnership,which acquired John Blair & Co. lastsummer for roughly 365 million, maysoon be selling off Blair's entire radiorepresentation division, composed ofBlair Radio, Torbet Radio and Select RadioRepresentatives. Industry sources saidKatz Communications is pursuingacquisition of Blair Radio with Intereplikely suitor for Torbet and Select firms.Price tag for Blair Radio is reportedlyabout 10 million; Torbet and Selectcombined, 8 to 9 million. Reliancerecently sold Blair's eight radio propertiesto Sconnix Broadcasting Corp. for 152million cash (BROADCASTING, March 9.)Check's in the mailDon't look tor Sharp Electronics atupcoming National Assocation ofBroadcasters convention in Dallas laterthis month. Planning by camera -monitormanufacturer and eight -year exhibitveteran for another big show in Dallas wasin full swing until three weeks ago whenSharp discovered "clerical mix -up" had leftit without inch of floor space. Sharpspokesman said check paying for preassigned exhibit booth was unreceived,deadline for payment to NAB was missedand company was bumped. Sharp, among50 largest exhibitors, was not blamingmishap on NAB, which offered other,much smaller locations ultimately rejectedby company because of cost of rebuildingexhibit. Attempt by company to booknearby hotel suites to exhibit its wareswas also frustrated by previous bookings.Pieces of actionSwitch is onOther people's money has been welcomedby recent shoppers in Fifth Estate, but itsometimes comes with strings, as at leastone buyer-turned -seller is finding out.Cable systems being sold by McCawCommunications to Jack Kent Cooke for 755 million include some owned bycorporate entity of McCaw Development,separately financed with help ofinsurance companies. In return forproviding subordinated debt. it is said,lenders received warrants to buy intosystems, exercisable in sixth year. Withsale to Cooke coming before exercise date,Broadcasting and cable industries are nolonger only parties with stake in finaloutcome on must -carry rules at FCC.Leading A/B switch manufacturer, PicoMacom Inc., not only has filed commentswith commission countering claims madeby cable and broadcasting industries thatswitches, among other things, will causesevere interference problems. butMichael Holland. president of PicoMacom, has been making rounds onCapitol Hill with Rodney Joyce. attorneywith Finley Kumble Wagner HeineUnderberg Manley & Casey, and formerBroaecasong Mar 16 19879minority counsel for HouseTelecommunications Subcommittee.They're saying switches do not wear outin less than five years, will not createinterference and may be obtained inquantity for as little as 2.25 per switch,and firm has free, five -year replacementwarranty.Time for update?After 25 years, Senate CommunicationsSubcommittee thinks CommunicationsSatellite Act of 1962 -which createdCommunications Satellite Corp. and led toestablishment of Intelsatripe forreview. Staffers have begun initial researchon Comsat's role as U.S. signatory toIntelsat while Comsat status and interestsare undergoing radical changes. Comsat'simpending merger with Contel is onemajor factor to be considered. Another isU.S. policy of encouraging developmentof separate international communicationssatellite systems that would compete withIntelsat, in which Comsat is 25% owner.Then, too, there's competition Comsat willface from fiber optic undersea cable.-isTrying againWhite House is reportedly consideringLee Shoblom, former National Associationof Broadcasters radio board member andpresident of KFWJ(AM)- KBBC(FM) LakeHavasu City, Ariz., for post inadministration (but not for FCC, as somereports had it). Shoblom got White Houseinterview March 4 but wasn't told what hewas being considered for. He was underconsideration for director of Voice ofAmerica last year.Saturday at Black RockStrategy meeting, with CBS Inc. chiefexecutive officer Laurence Tisch presiding,was scheduled Saturday (March 14) atcompany headquarters in New York. Focuswas on program philosophy andmarketing strategy for next season andbeyond, considering such issues aschanging audience patterns and new peoplemeter technology. Those attending wereto include Broadcast Group president,Gene Jankowski; two top CBSEntertainment executives, Bud Grant andKim Lemasters, and sales executives.CBS vice president of research DavidPoltrack was scheduled to start things offwith statistical presentation on wherenetwork stands competitively and hownetwork environment may change.

(Cable cost i gsNo thanksCBS informed Tele- Communications Inc.last week it wasn't interested in licensingTCI to distribute CBS programing to backyard dish owners in areas unserved by CBSaffiliates -the so- called "white areas.""While the proposal.might conceivablybe of interest to us at some future time, weare not disposed at present to entertain possible solutions to this problem that wouldentail a license of our network or owned stations' programs to third parties," Thomas F.Leahy, president, CBS -TV wrote to TCI Senior Vice President John Sie in a letter datedMarch 9. "Consequently, I do not think thatfurther discussions would be fruitful at thistime."Sie visited all three broadcast networkslast month, seeking permission to distributethe network programing to dish owners in"white areas" at minimal cost (BROADCASTING, Feb. 23). The networks have been undercongressional pressure to distribute theirprograming in "white areas"TCI already has the means for distributingnetwork programing anywhere in the U.S.Western Tele- Communications Inc., a corn mon carrier affiliated with TCI, is the principal owner of Net link USA, a start-up company that has been uplinking five DenverMust carry: another view. The National Independent Television Committee has assertedthat the cable industry may be working against its own best interests when it suggests thatNB switches won't cut it for technical reasons in the FCC's must -carry proceeding. In afiling with the FCC last week, NITC asserted that the appellate court's decision in Quincy,which held the former must -carry rules unconstitutional, was predicated "in key part" onthe assumption that NB switches provided "quality access" for broadcast signals. "Without the switch . the Quincy court might well have come to a different conclusion," NITCsaid. "Removing the requirement of the NB switch, the cable operator becomes morethan ever before the gatekeeper to television access. With most new television setsfeaturing one VHF/UHF combination antenna terminal built for coaxial cable, cable connection now cuts off external antenna access for both VHF and UHF. Such a situationwould present a very different picture from that envisioned by the court. Without switches,there is no noncable access to most sets Without switches, economic and First Amendment harm to broadcast stations is virtually guaranteed. In short, without switches, there isno Quincy, and the old rules are most likely constitutionally valid and justifiable." NITCconsists of a group of TV licensees that opposed the so- called broadcast -cable industrycompromise. It's headed by Press Broadcasting, owner of wmoogvl Melbourne, Fla.has awarded the closed -circuit televisionand pay -per -view television rights tostatewide promoters in exchange for a percentage of the gross ranging from 50% to70 %. The statewide promoters have, in turn,awarded rights to addressable cable systems negotiating revenue splits that varyfrom system to system.Rick Kulis is president of the ChoiceChannel, which, in partnership with Primeholds the rights for southern Califorstations- KUSATV (ABC), KCNC -TV (NBC), Ticket,nia. (California and New York are the onlyKMGH -TV (CBS), KRMA -TV (PBS) and KDVR (instates with more than one promoter.) Kulis,dependent with Fox Broadcasting program- who is monitoring cable carriage of the fighting) -and an Aspen, Colo., low -power sta- throughout the U.S., estimates that the PPVtion, which identifies itself as KSPN, to RCA gross nationwide will be between 6 millionAmericom's Satcom I -R in hopes of selling and 7.5 million. Most of the revenues arethe signals to cable systems and dish own- attributable to cable, he said. A small perers.centage will come from STV, he said.Netlink USA was active selling the sixThe bulk of the cable PPV will come fromchannel service to cable operators at the southern California, Kulis said, with 56 sysTexas Cable Show in San Antonio, Tex., in tems serving 800,000 homes already onFebruary and to dish owners at the Satellite board. Assuming 15% of the homes orderBroadcasting and Communications Associ- the event at the fixed closed -circuit -PPVation show in Las Vegas two weeks ago. price of 35, the PPV gate will total 4.2Sie could not be reached for comment last million, nearly eight times the expectedweek.gate from the southern California closed -circuit venues.Count cable inAlthough the odds makers favor MarvelousMarvin Hagler, no one knows for certainwhether he can beat Sugar Ray Leonard andretain his middleweight boxing title in LasVegas next month.But if both fighters climb into the ring atCaesars Palace at the appointed hour onApril 6, one thing is certain: Some peoplewill make a lot of money.Bob Arum's Top Rank, the fight's top promoter, now anticipates that the match couldgross more than 60 million from the livegate and from international closed -circuittelevision and pay -per -view television receipts. Hagler will get a minimum of 12.5million and Leonard at least 11 million. IfTop Rank is right, that leaves many millionsof dollars for everybody else involved in theproduction, promotion and distribution ofthe fight to divvy up.Scores of cable systems across the country are getting in on the action. Top RankThe Choice Channel/Prime Ticket venture has worked out a 50 -25-25 revenuesplit. Top Rank gets 50 %, the cable systemgets 25% and Choice/Prime keeps 25 %. Ifthe southern California revenue is 4.2 million, the 56 participating systems will divvyup 1.05 million.As of last week, Kulis estimated about 60systems outside southern California servinganother 800,000 homes had signed up witho

Mar 16, 1987 · The Fifth Estate Broadcasting R A D I O T E L E V I S I O N C A B L E 'iMar S A T E L I T 16 Home Shopping Game. The eyes have it! WCBS-TV NEW YORK WBBM TV CHICAGO KCBS -TV LOS ANGELES WCAU -TV PHILADELPHIA Major groups like CBS, Storer, Gaylord, Cox, Meredith and many more have made Home Shopping Ga