Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 37

Editorials Financial 'Farm and Grange Town News Classified Part SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 1962 Experiment Set Hartford Dials Pay TV This Week mnr in fiiiiiirniiiiuiiipM rc 1 i9 A II III I llll.Mll liWjllimig lilfK--' f4t -11 iff ip ftjMMWWTllMmillWWWMiaWBBHWWMWBZMMWWIll I II IWHH1II WW ALL COURANT PHOTOS BY ROBERT PICKS. WALL VIEW three connections THE 'GADGET' im Me Ato6 SWITCH ON scrambled pattern CLCA', CXC'Ar ozrf and efcar Not for Hermits 200 Pioneers Managers Agree First Sets Installed 5,000 Sets In Year May Hurt Theaters tions. The average adult program will cost between $1 and $1.50 with shows seldom costing over $2. Occassionally subscribers will be given a free movie. Telecast time will be from 7 to 11 p.m.

Programming, including movies, will be limited to things lh.it are not now available on commercial television. Tnis means that subscribers will be able to watch Broadway plays, recent movies, and various feature programs of an unusual nature. Among movies subscribers will see in the first week of telecasting are "Breakfast at Tiffany's" with Audrey Hepburn: "Escape From Zahrain," with Vul Brynner; and "One-Eyed Jacks," with Marlon Brando. Sports, drama, music, dance, and education will dominate the Subscription TV programming. Channel 18 expects to present such new motion pictures as "The Music Man," the television debut of the Bol-shni Ballet, summer theater in the Hartford area, and educational programs from the McGraw-Hill Text Film Library.

Plays on Broadway those yet to reach Broadway, and those on tour will all be regular fare on pay-TV. The cost of a Broadway play will probably run between $2 and $2.50. Eventually Channel 18 hopes to present college courses for credit in cooperation with universities. 1 Charles O. Wood, general manager of Channel 18, predicts an immediate success for Subscription TV.

The whole operation, he says, is based on the premise that "people only have to buy what they want to buy." Except for the installation fee and the weekly rental charge, viewers pay onlv for the shows they watch. The rental fee, incidentally, will not go into effect until October, giving the 200 initial subscribers a break for their interest in experimentation. Pay-TV also has a discount plan. Persons watching more than $8 worth ot shows a month will get $2 credit on the next month's bill. Credit of $3 will be given to those watching more than $10 worth of shows a month.

inside the homeowner's television. The adapter is then plugged into a 5U inch high, 14' 2 inch wide, 114 inch deep, flat, rectangular box which rests on top of the television set. This box looks like a hi-fi unit. In the front of the box, there is an arrow-shaped knob which can be set on either the TV position or PV (Phonovision-the trade name for Pay TV). This arrow-shaped knob is on the left hand side of the box.

To the right of the arrow, is a large rectangular door. To convert the scrambled signal on Channel 18 into a clear television picture, this is what has to be done by the viewer: He first tunes in to Channel 18 and the scrambled picture. Then the door is held down with one hand while a large round dial is turned. This dial controls the settings of the code numbers which have to be used in order to receive a specific program. To the right of the dial there is a small window with numbers about the size 6f the numerals on an automobile mileage indicator.

If the code number (mailed in advance to the subscribers) is. for example, OOflA, the viewer da'S this number then closes the door tightly. The arrow-knob is then moved counter-clockwise to the PV position. A buz-er sounds for a few seconds, the screen goes completely black then comes on white. When the buzzer stops, a clicking sound is heard then the picture comes in clear and unscrambled for viewing the Pay TV show.

The clicking sound is caused by a computer-printer made by Veeder-Root for the Phonovision box. While the clicking is going on, the machine is printing on a narrow tape inside, the code number of the show being watched and the price to the viewer. At the end of the month, the owner of the set dials a pre-arranged code number, presses a little white button and out pops an itemized printed bill which he then mails, along with a check, to Connecticut Subscription Television. For those who may lose the bill, a duplicate remains inside the box and can be taken out by a technician. By GERALD A.

RYAX In 200 Hartford area homes Friday night, television viewers will take part in the long-awaited test of pay-TV. On hand for ceremonies in connection with the debut of the latest innovation in home entertainment will be Gov. Dempsey, Mayor Glynn, Federal Communications Commission a ir a Newton Minow, and actor Ralph Bellamy. Pay-TV subscribers will see Bellamy again on July 4 when he and Greer Garson appear in Channel 18 presentation of "Sunrise at Campobello," the motion picture adaptation of Dora Schary's Broadway production of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt's bout with polio early in his political career.

Friday night's 200 Subscription TV experimenters will expand to 1,750 by September. By next January, the ranks of the researchers will reach 5,000. These are the predictions of WHCT, Channel 18 the nation's pioneer Pay TV station. Beginning with Friday's premiere performance of subscription-TV, viewers will flick an extra switch on their sets every night and write an extra check every month for the privilege of viewing de-commercialized television programing. RKO General Phonevision Co.

says it's worth it. People will prefer the cost of uninterrupted programs to the cost of programs interrupted by commercial messages, the company claims. And what will it cost subscribers to pay-TV? Installation of an electronic decoder costs $10. Rental of the decoder costs 75 cents a week, and includes all servicing. Prices for individual programs veray.

Two-bits will tune you into a children's program. For a ring-side seat in your living room to this fall's Floyd Patterson-Sonny Liston heavyweight championship fight you'll pay $3.50. Prices this high will be rare, however, and only for unusual presenta By IRVING KRAVSOW Those who erase the quiet, secluded life of a hermit should stay away from Pay TV. It's fast becoming the quickest way to win friends and influence neighbors since the first television sets started trickling into the market after World War II. Within minutes after the Volkswagen truck bearing the sign, "Subscription TV, Channel 18," leaves a new subscriber's house, the telephone starts ringing.

"I hear you had that Pay TV gadget installed. I think I'll drop over to your house to see how it works. Let me know when something good is on." Visitors then start dropping in to see the "gadget" on top of the TV set. They also declare their intentions of "dropping by when something good is on. If they all come over at once, the poor subscriber will have to hire a hall or build a new wing onto his living room.

During the three years that RKO-General will conduct the Pay TV experiment in the Hartford area, the pioneer subscribers are a cinch to experience this great display of neighborli-ness and friendship all over again. The installation of the equipment that converts an ordinary TV set equipped to receive UHF Channel 13 into a Pay TV receiver, is a simple one. From the time the little truck pulls into your driveway until the set is ready to unscramble the Pay TV signal, less thn 45 minutes elapses. Trained tedyjicians do the actual installation in about 10 to 15 minutes then spend a half hour testing to make sure tie equipment is working properly. No soldered connections are needed.

An adapter is bolted onto the backing which covers the back of the television set. From the adapter, a wire is clipped onto the loudspeaker and another wire is clipped onto the neck of the picture tube in the set. A third step is necessary. This is a coil which is clipped onto the picture tube neck. These are the only connections made mous financial backing, would be ab'6 to get local "premiere" rights to a film, thus putting itself ahead of the usual premiere theaters as well as the neighborhood theaters.

They all recognized that there was a great deal of momentum, as well as money, behind the experiment. But they felt it was impossible to predict its future. "How can you tell?" one of them commented. "It's brand-new." Another manager, recalling the effect of ordinary television on his business, admitted the new form could have grave consequences for film exhibitors. "I hope not, though," he said.

But this same manager felt, as did his peers, that the new medium was not really impressive. As far as movies go. they all said, an audience gets a better production in a theater than on the comparatively small-screened set. "It's a person's nature," one of them said, "to want to get out of the house and get in with crowds when he wants movie entertainment." He hesitated to criticize Subscription TV, he said, because it would sound like "sour grapes." He just staled he "wasn't worried in the least" about it. All the managers felt Subscription TV would be too great a financial burden on the average family.

"You go to a movie, you pay admission and that's the end of it," one said. He thought the new system would ac-cumylate just another debt for the average household. "And someday people might be paying for shows they get free now," he said. Another said there were too many variables in television production and that when something went wrong technically in a movie theater, it was quickly corrected. This might be impossible in a living-room situation, he said.

"And how can you get the real sound and color and space on a teelvision screen?" he said. The managers could not say what type of competitive action they might take should the new medium prove to be a success. One felt there wasn't much that could be done at all, "except face it." By LARRY SHEF.HAX How do downtown theater managers in Hartford look at Pay TV? The men who will live with Pay TV for the next three years are generally afraid it's going to hurt their business. But they don't think much of the new system as an entertainment form. The Courant, talking to the managers themselves instead of their organization spokesman, found the men reluctant to be quoted but willing to "We're worried about it, all right "I think it can hurt the neighborhood theaters," "It's impossible to tell what will happen." "The best place to watch a movie is in a movie house." These were some of the remarks made by local motion picture people in response to questions about Subscription TV, the new home entertainment medium scheduled to begin in this area Friday over Channel 18.

For the next three years the projected length ot the experimental television project these managers will be in a unique position. None of their counterparts in the country have had to compete with the type of Pay TV about to be offered Hartford area residents. None of the managers interviewed were especially gloomy about their tu-ture. however. "I was in this business when radio started up," one of them said.

"All my associates started worrying. And they worried when television came along, too. But movies are still around." Some of the managers think neighborhood theaters might have trouble, though. It was explained that these houses will exhibit movies of about the same "age" as those to be contracted for Subscription TV. These are "subsequent runs." or films that already have had their premiere in the locality.

The appeal of seeing a freshly-released movie brings many people to the theater. This appeal diminishes as the movie gets older, it was explained, and in a case like this a person might prefer watching it on television. Anotlier possibility one manager saw that Subscription TV, with its enor Boy Scout Troop Forms For 15 'Slow Learners' -f" ''3' VW Dental Guards Standard Gear Now On High School Gridirons By THOMAS F. WALSH ted individually by dentists, work- absorbing quality by wearing Toothless grins are on their wav ing at the various three high them in his office at the Hartford j. 'i schools.

About half the players Health Department, out for Hartford high scho1 are Ixirig fitted this spring. I According to the insurance firm football players. Tne gUarj picked by Dr. the Board of Education Some 220 gridders in the city's ard C. Menczer, city health dent-: insurance, two football players in-three high schools will have to jst, is shown here being inserted jured their teeth last fall.

Claims wear dental guards as part of by Bill Bokus, co-captain of this amounted to $115. The city paid their recular grid gear starting fall's Bulkeley High School team. total of $3,900 in premiums to By FRANCIS L. YOING "These boys are more responsive and cooperative than any other troop in my experience," I said Howell Aarons, scoutmaster this fall To Ease Danger The guard is fitted to the shape the players with a blanket of the upper teeth, thus protecting medical-dental policy, them from direct blows. The Use of the guards has received Health and educational olficials of Troop 237, Boy Scouts of America.

East Hartford. Troop 237 is a troop for retarded boys Regular Troop This is a regular troop in which the boys learn the basic tenets of scouting and advance as far as their abilities will allow, Aarons stressed. It is not designed just to keep the boys busy. There are 15 boys in the troop who are slow learners in school and are assigned to special classes in the East Hartford School hope the new guards will preve.it 'guard's shock-absorbing material: approval of several national the breaking or chipping of teeth; will also help reduce the impact; groups including the American The boy leaders are very im-' portant, Aarons said, since they plan and organize the troop's activities, under the guidance of the Scout Master. The troop is only three months old, but it already is fully uni-j formed and has marched in the Memorial Day Parade and par-1 jtkipated in the Elk's Flag Day ceremonies.

I Aarons believes that there is a general tendency to underesti-l mate the abilities and interests of retarded children. In their Boy Scout they have been taught to meet: emergency situations such as fire or calling the police or a doctor. The boys really want the pro-: gram, Aarons said, and they try! hard for the awards and prizes given for achievement. Attendance is almost 100 per cent. Tlie East Hartford Elks Club sponsors the troop.

Two Elks club members attend each meet otherwise could not get to a meeting. Attached to Troop 237 is a Cub Scout pack with Mrs. Jeannette Bourdeau as Den Mother. There are eight boys particpat-ing in the Cub activities. Only two or three requirements had to be changed for the special needs of the pack, Mrs.

Bourdeau said. Cubs Marched In every other respect, the boys work for merit badges and advancement like any other cub group. The uniformed Cubs also marched in the Memorial Day Parade and had a booth of their own in the recent Cub Scouts on Parade at the Slate Armory. Both leaders agree that parents are happy with the progress their boys are making. The scouting program was set up in cooperation with Mr.

and Mrs. Dean Cronkite', East Hartford representatives of the Hartford Association for Retarded Children. and ease the dangers of concus- of blows to the chin by cushion- Dental the American Rled-sions from sudden blows to the, ing lower teeth slammed into the 'ical and the National Fed- only part of a football player's upper teeth. jeration of High School Athletic hpaH that is still unprotected by, Worn at Meeting tAssns. The latter association has some sort of guard his chin.

Dr. Menczer helped convince made them mandatory for play-Hartford's dentists, the Hart-, board of education officials and ers of its member schools. ford Health Department and the team coaches that players could; Dr. Allan J. Ryan of Meriden, Board of Education are eombin-italk with the guard by wearing chairman of the AM.Vs commit- system.

The Senior Patrol Leader, Stephen' Fauteux. and his assistant, Gregory Moore, are students in Aarons' advanced 8th grade class at O'Connell School. These two youngsters have tak ing to underwrite the $725 esti-jone during a recent meeting atitee on the medical aspects of mated cost -of the rubber-like which he spoke in favor of the -sports states the guards have The dentists, through the guard. demonstrated a very sharp reduc- Hartford Dental Society, contri-l He told officials he tried out jtion in injuries to facial bones and buted $300: the health department 'five types of guards for such fac-jteeth. According to Dr.

Menczer, Jaoo and the Board of tors as case of fitting, comfort, about 54 percent of all high school COURANT PHOTO ST ARMAN HATSIAN. en special training in camping and hiking procedures for their ing to assist the regular, lead-! ers. The Elks will also provide $225. Ifreodom of tongue and talking football injuries involve the face; TOOTH GUARD insurance work with Troop 237. The mouth guards are being fit-'ability, ability to stay in place and and teeth.

i transportation for any boy who.