Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 71

Philadelphia Dally News Friday. July 22, 1983 71 mm i i iiiii Killed Channel 48 1 1 Feuding Fields Ted Field: younger brother "I can't understand why they wouldn't have sold it for some price and saved the 82 jobs." he said. Last Friday. Field announced that, "although consideration had given to a sale of the station." it found that "greater value could be realized for iitsl shareholders" by letting the station go black. The station is financially sound, it said.

Although Field is privately held and provides little information about its business. Channel 48's value can be estimated by outsiders. There- is the one-story, bi-levtl cinderMock building at 3201 S. 26th the land it sits on, the equipment inside that building, a broadcast lower, and the programming itself. The building and land, according to city records, has a combined assessed value of S224.W0 and an estimated market value of Ssn.nnn.

The equipment within the building, according to trade sources questioned by the Daily News, amounts to S3-S4 million. The tower is worth about St million. The value of the programming inventory, according to industry sources checked by the Daily News, is in the neighborhood of S8-S11 million. In addition to a l.snn-film library, the station has many series that il didn't get at bargain basement rates, such as "Mork Mindy," "All in the Family," "Sanlord Son," "WKR! in Cincinnati" and "Fantasy Island." which recently was purchased. "Fantasy" sold for about S25.U00 an episode and there are more than 100 in the package.

That's S2.5 million right there, but Channel 48 has not paid for all of it yet. Since the inventory includes other programs not fully paid, the S8-S11 million represents the inventory, not station assets Taking all this into account, this column estimates the station's real assets at S10 million. "The greatest priority right now is to find all of the 82 employees employment." Channel 48 general manager Vince Barresi said "To that end." he said. Field is increasing severance pay and extending medical benefits, and has brought in a placemen! firm. poration, including the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, the Field Newspaper Syndicate, Field Cablevision, and a Boston real estate and development company.

The Associated Press reported that assets still held by the company at the end of a year would be distributed to a partnership owned equally by the brothers. Only three months later, Field announced it would close Channnel 48. Field sold four of the stations since the July 1982 announcement. WLVI in Boston was sold for $47 million, KBHK in San Francisco sold for $26 million, WKBD in Detroit sold for $70 million, and WFLD in Chicago went for $140 million. In each case, it is believed the deal was for cash.

The decision by Field Communications Corp. to close Channel 48 at the end of August apparently is irrevocable. Channel 48 already has notified syndicators to assign program rights to other stations, primarily Channel 17, the Daily News has learned. If Channel 48 had retained rights to the programs until the station's license actually was returned to the Federal Communications Commission, there might have been hope for a last-minute sale. But without programs, anyone buying the station would have little to put on the air.

When Channel 48 told syndicators to reassign the programs, it shot down at least one theory that the announced closing, and surrender of its valuable broadcast license, actually was a maneuver by Field to flush out potential buyers and jack up the price. Field reportedly was asking S25-30 million for the station. As of yesterday, the FCC had not been informed of Field's plans, said Gordon Oppenheimer, supervising attorney of the FCC's television branch. Oppenheimer was surprised. "It's an unusual situation to surrender the authorization in a major market," he said.

Field can turn in the license either before it ceases operations, or within 10 days after its self-imposed deadline, he said. Once the FCC has the license, the agency will issue a public notice and seek applications from parties interested in taking over the station's fre- Channel 48 82 employees here will lose their jobs because of bad blood between two Chicago multimillionaires Marshall Field and his half-brother, Frederick W. "Ted" Field. The two scions to the Field Enterprises fortune apparently have such intense distaste for each other that they can't stand to be in the same city, let alone run the same business. The brothers get along like Cain and Abel.

Forty-two-year-old Marshall is the conservative, civic-minded, elder brother prominent in Chicago social circles. Thirty-one-year-old Ted is the bearded, race car-driving, younger brother who lives in Southern California. The seeds of the current situation were sown in 1977 when Ted turned 25 and inherited 42.5 percent of Field's stock equal to his elder brother's share. The remaining 15 percent of the stock was held by sisters who converted it so that each brother then had 50 percent. But the arrangement required agreement between the radically different brothers on all major business decisions, and this was something they were unable to do.

A Channel 48 employee related a a grim anecdote in the Field empire: Karlier this year, "Ted walked into a board of directors meeting and said, 'That's it! I want to Marshall Field yesterday declined comment, and Ted Field did not return telephone calls made by the Daily News. The decision to close the station stunned the industry because in July 1982, when Field said it wanted to sell its five UHF stations, Don B. Curran, president of Field Communications, said if a reasonable market price could not be found. "Field will continue to operate them." Field Enterprises vice president for public relations Virginia Butts explained that when Curran made that statement, he could not foresee the total liquidation that would be ordered less than a year later. The company again broke faith with employees in April of this year after Field announced its plan to dissolve the entire Field family cor Marshall Field older brother quency.

The license-awarding process could take from weeks to years. Field's decision to turn in its license stunned local broadcasters. "There is no way possible they couldn't have made some reasonable sales deal on that station," said Randy Smith, general manager of Channel 29, another independent UHF station. While it is true that the four other Field stations were stronger in their home cities than Channel 48 is here, it is shocking to think that a ravaged city such as Detroit and a smaller city such as Boston can command high prices while a station in Philadelphia dies for lack of a buyer. Part of the explanation, according to trade reports, is that Field wanted cash no notes, no "paper" of any sort.

Cash was required because that could be split quickly and cleanly between Marshall and Ted Field. There would be no lingering business entanglements. After the story broke on Friday, "about a dozen" inquiries about the station's availability were received by Channel 48. These inquiries were shunted to Chicago, but nothing has changed. Butts said.

The beneficiary of Field's self-destruction is Channel 17, owned by the Providence Journal in Providence, R.I. Field approached Providence about buying some of Channel 48's programming and equipment recently, said Eugene McCurdy, general manager of Channel 17. McCurdy said Channel 17 had a list' of things we would like, up to about a half a million dollars" of equipment. He couldn't comment on what programming would move from Channel 48 to Channel 17. Channel 29 Smith admitted that Channel 48 is not thriving right now, but it "was hardly a dogbrcath station.

In this market the independent stations take their turn being at the bottom of the barrel. Channel 48 is not doing as well as the other guys right now, but if they had wanted to sell it a few years ago they would have gotten a handsome price." Channel 3 general manager Pat Polillo said he was "baffled" by the Field plan, which he called "bizarre." "If you want to think the unthinkable, we're not used to these companies where they have baronial wars," he said, referring to the warfare between the Field brothers. vice that has been whisked off to Italy On "Benson" (Channel 6 at 8), the state is after a military base and Katie wants a boyfriend A beautiful woman (what other kind would there be?) is one of the chauffeurs "Knight Rider" (Channel 3 at 9) has to psych out to prevent sabotage tonight On "Dallas" (Channel 10 at 9). R. and Sue Ellen's wedding turns into a pool party.

But it's not much fun "Eischied's" (Channel 3 at 10) friend tries to get revenge against the man reponsonsible for his daughter's ruin by committing murder. So Eischied has to save the creep 1-ance's paternity test was negative, on "Falcon CresC. (Channel 10 at 10). but Angela is not about to let him off the marriage hook. PBS Picks "Reading Rainbow" (Channel 12 at 1030 a.m.) introduces the kids to Indians through the book "The Gift of the Sacred Dog," by Paul Goble Claude N.

Rosenberg Jr. is guest on "Wall Street Week." Love the title: "I Left My Stocks in San Francisco," (Channel 12at 8 a movie written by Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna, who wrote and produced tonight's sitcom Something for the middle-aged: Harry Guardino and Carol Teitel are a mature couple whose lives are in an uproar after their married daughter (Randi Oakes) and her husband call it quits because they've each found someone else. TV Talk Visiting Johnny "Tonight" (Channel 3 at 11:30) are Chevy Chase, comedian David Sayh and restaurant reviewer Karen Salkin Summer Cooler: Jane Pauley guests on a re-broadcast of a special 90-minute "Late Night with David Letterman" (Channel 3 at 12:30) in which Dave celebrates Christmas in July. Series Picks Diarygate: "The Dukes of Hazzard" (Channel 10 at 8) find Rosco's diary containing a record of Boss Hogg's nefarious affairs "The Powers of Matthew Star" (Channel 3 at 8) are sorely needed to retrieve a secret anti-gravity de Lehrer Report" (Channel 12 at 7) to "Washington Week in Review" (at 8), to "Wall Street Week" (at Tonight's network movie, "Massarati and the Brain" (Channel 6 at 9), is only moderately entertaining, a flick at best. Daniel Pilon James-Bonds it as Massarati, a soldier of fortune who travels with "the brain," his young nephew (Peter Billingsley).

The attractions are few to those over 12, but gorgeous Ann Turkel is one of them Earlier on Channel 6 and new: "Lovers and Other Strangers" (at a pilot. Title sound familiar? It belongs to By JUDY FLANOER Special to the Daily News Friday night on the networks really belongs to fans of "Knight Rider" (Channel 3 at 9) and "Dukes of Hazzard" (Channel 10 at 8) and "Dallas" (Channel 10 at 9) and "Falcon Crest" (Channel 10 at 10). Those series dominate the evening and, if you're interested in other things, you're out of luck. The PBS public aflairs broadcasts are excellent, but serve a limited audience, mostly of news junkies who can go from "The MacNeil-.