FCC Delays Vote to Change Rules on TV Show Reruns

The Federal Communications Commission, bowing to a request from the Justice Department, on Wednesday delayed a controversial decision that would have kept the networks largely out of the lucrative TV program rerun business.

FCC Chairman Alfred C. Sikes postponed a commission vote on the so-called financial interest and syndication rules after receiving a letter from Assistant Atty. Gen. James F. Rill, who said the plan that the FCC was scheduled to approve today did not reflect the issues raised by the commission last October.

In a letter to Sikes, Rill said he was “concerned” that the FCC “might be considering adoption of a proposal that has not been subject to adequate opportunity for comment by the public and interested parties, including the Department of Justice.”

The FCC’s decision to postpone the vote was a victory for the networks, which last week began a high-gear lobbying campaign in Washington and through the East Coast press to get the FCC to table a decision until further comments could be filed.

Industry lobbyists contended that it was editorials in the New York Times and Washington Post that helped to spur the Justice Department request. The lobbyists said editorial writers at both papers were contacted this week by NBC and CBS to explain why they felt the FCC plan was unfair. The editorial writers also spoke with Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America.

On Tuesday, the New York Times ran an editorial titled “The FCC Goes Hollywood” in which it called the FCC’s new fin/syn plan “truly bizarre” and called upon the commission to delay a vote “pending an opportunity for all parties to comment on this new package.” The editorial did not mention that New York Times Co. owns five network affiliates that could be affected by a change in the rules.

Joseph Rutledge, vice president of corporate communications at NBC, said that “to suggest the FCC responded to the most recent of many editorials would be folly. That ignores the influence of the Justice Department letter, White House views and other influences regarding the anti-competitive nature of these rules.”

But Andrew Schwartzman, director of the Media Access Project, a public interest group, said he felt “miserable that the FCC is going to take more time to decide, especially since there are important issues like cable reregulation and children’s TV to be studied.” He blamed the network lobbying campaign for delaying the FCC vote.

Despite the lobbying campaign by the networks, FCC Commissioner Ervin S. Duggan warned that the majority of the commissioners did not favor outright repeal of the fin/syn rules as the networks had advocated.

“It should be clear that a majority of this commission, while favoring substantial deregulation and relief for the broadcast networks, opposes both total, immediate repeal of the financial interest and syndication rules and their automatic sunset,” said Duggan, who had been expected to support the Hollywood studios’ position.

A repeal of the fin/syn rules would allow the networks to share in the $3-billion-a-year TV rerun business, from which they have been banned for more than 20 years. But the FCC vote would have given the networks only limited syndication rights and kept the business largely in the hands of the major Hollywood studios.

The proposal was initiated by Commissioner Andrew Barrett, who had been regarded as the swing vote in the decision because the other four commissioners had split their support between the networks and the Hollywood production community.

Particularly hurt under the Barrett plan would be Fox Broadcasting Co.’s emerging fourth network. Fox currently runs 18 1/2 hours of prime-time programming a week, but the plan would force Fox to cut back to 11 hours or get out of the highly profitable first-run syndication business, in which non-network programs such as game shows are sold to local stations.

Fox Inc. Chairman Barry Diller said Wednesday that his company has already committed $50 million to develop programming for next season and plans to add two hours in prime time.

“The word frustration does not describe adequately our feelings,” Diller said. “What bad act have we committed that warrants eliminating us as a competitor from any piece of this market?”

The FCC said it would release details of its majority plan next week. RERUN REVENUE The table below shows syndication revenue from the top-grossing half-hour comedies. The figures exclude foreign sales and revenue from advertising time retained by the syndicator.

PROGRAM REVENUE SYNDICATOR The Cosby Show $600 million Viacom/Carsey-Werner Who’s the Boss? $300 million Columbia MASH $229.5 million Fox Family Ties $156.8 million Paramount Cheers $156.8 million Paramount Three’s Company $147.9 million D.L. Taffner Webster $147 million Paramount Golden Girls $130 million Disney Married with Children $122.4 million Columbia Night Court $121.2 million Warner Love Boat $119.0 million Worldvision

Source: C. J. Lawrence Inc., New York.