Perfect Boomerang

On paper the Federal Communications Commission's 1970 rule sounded, like an edict of Solon, wise beyond quibble. During the four hours of prime TV time from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. (E.S.T.), the networks would be allowed only three hours, with the remaining time reserved for local stations. The local stations would be forced to come up with their own programming, the FCC reasoned, and hitherto untapped creative energies would be released. Said Commissioner Nicholas Johnson when the rule was announced: "I think television ought to be like a typewriter that's available to everyone."

Last week, as it considered arguments about the "primetime access rule," the FCC was learning that what comes out of the typewriter is still more important than who uses it. The packagers of syndicated shows, local stations unaffiliated with networks and one network, ABC, still support the rule. The two other networks, most of their affiliates and the major program producers, however, vehemently favor repeal.

In the 16 months the regulation has been in effect, it has been an almost perfect boomerang. Instead of promoting original programming, it has sent the local station managers scurrying to producers who imitate hits of the past. Instead of promoting TV production round the country, it has been a boon to Canadian and British producers, who can usually deliver programs for much less than their American counterparts.

Adding to the burden on the viewer --the inevitable victim--the rule has even served to multiply commercials. When the networks had control of the time, they allowed only three minutes for the hard sell each half-hour; local stations are raising that to five.

Cheap. Most of the syndicated entertainment shows that have filled the time have been produced on low budgets, $10,000 to $60,000 per half-hour, v. $100,000 for an average network show of the same length. Cheap game shows have proliferated, and shows that the networks once discarded such as The Lawrence Welk Show and Hee Haw, have been resuscitated.

A very few stations have responded to the rule with innovative programming. Westinghouse's five Group W stations have come up with discussions of black affairs, and its Baltimore station uses part of the time for family counseling. Some other stations have given a half-hour to their news departments.

Why? Some producers, together with Commissioner Johnson, say that they have not had time to come up with good programming. "The rule hasn't had a chance," fumes Johnson. "It takes three to five years to build up a market." He argues that the possibility that the rule would be repealed--it has been under attack from the beginning--has inhibited programming and investment. The most important reason, however, is that most station managers do not have big enough budgets to develop shows, and will air the cheapest program they can get so long as it does not fall too low in the ratings.

Even if the FCC repeals the rule, which now seems likely, that will leave the original problem of uniformity unresolved. FCC Chairman Dean Burch, a strong advocate of repeal, echoes a complaint first given prominence by Vice President Agnew when he says, "The three national networks do dominate upwards of 95% of the prime-time viewing hours of the American public. Three program directors do decide what most of us are going to watch most of the time." The depressing evidence of the prime-time access rule is that the decisions of several hundred program directors are no better--are indeed worse --than those of three.

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