The Island Packet from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina • 19

BUILDING a amily Tradition feC dfoJ MaL i from I to BU orester Marketing Auburn University Britt ThoMROa Building Science Auburn University Roa orester Civil Engineering Univenuv of Arkansas Skort Bachelor of Science Auburn University Stere Oifloa Building Science Auburn University Mike Saritk Business Administration University of Alabama Trained and experienced to meet all of your residential and bonded commercial construction needs I ORRESTER ASSOCIATES INC 7 Pope Greenwood Office ParkA Hilton Head Island South Carolina 29928 803842 5545 Kw Local Butter Builder BUT LER The Island Packet riday October 11 legs Page 3 8 When TV squabblers talk Washington listens MAkirv OHVTrr SDQH3QB tttde? 785 9870 John Bailie WTGS head ment but there should be a balance And since there is no longer must carry rules there is no he said Lobbyists have received legis lative backing on the issue three bills have recently been introduced into the House of Representatives concerning the reform of cable's compulsory license Their sponsors are: US Rep Robert Kastenmeier Wis Rep Mike Synar Okla and Rep Bar ney rank Mass With the introduction of bills comes legislative hearings And president Bailie was invited back to Washington once again On Oct 3 Bailie along with INTV president Preston Paddon and CATA president Stephen Effros appeared before the House Copy right Subcommittee the legislative body considering the compulsory li cense reform bills The subcommit tee is chaired by Rep Kastenmeier Bailie was present to show the leg islators the affect the elimination of must carries has had on indepen dent stations Held up as tangible ev idence was the WTGS cash for car riage contract with Savannah Cablevision Paddon told The Packet that ble people keep saying no connection between the must carry situation and the compulsory license issue But the members of the Copy right Subcommittee seem to think otherwise or we been asked to On the other side Effros whose group CATA represents smaller ca ble operators including Savannah Cablevision told the subcomittee that payment for carriage is a choice made by broadcasters "If a broadcaster like Baihe want to pay then he has the choice not to It may mean he get carried by a cable sys tem but still a Effros CATA's Effros as well as Steve Tuttle vice president of public af fairs for the NCTA however told The Packet that after 22 years of must carries they aren't about to let the rules be resurrected without a fight because a local broadcaster can't get cable carriage "Bailie has gone on record saying his signal is so powerful you can clean your teeth with it" Effros said he be worried about cable carriage anyway We don't feel bad about unfairness in that situation because we just don't see it as Stop in and see the new Hondas today drop duplicate stations lobbyists on both sides told The Packet they believe Hilton Head TV market will be affected by Congressional decisions now be ing made "We are a lot further along and in a much better position that we thought we would be" INTV's Pad don said "Our hopes are high that Congress will see clear to have the CC fix this situation so that WTGS and others will have a fair shot at the 'We are not getting free access and the reason is greed Plantation Cablevision and others who don't want let us on their systems think we are competitors but the market is bigger than they preceive it to be' told The Packet He added that the Cable Commu nications Policy Act of 1184 allowed cable operators to lease 10 percent of their total channel capacity if they wished to do so required we have lease channels in the 1984 act and then we get slammed for it" Effros said may want free carriage but the courts said we have to pro vide that any longer in All this was said in Washington according to Summers in shouts rather than whispers And the argu ments are sure to go on An aide to Rep Kastenmeier told The Packet the copyright subcom mittee will (rework) the compulsory license reform bills in late November or early December And you can bet that until the bills are reworked and approved by the various committees they must pass through before they reach the full House floor the lobbyists on both sides get much sleep What does all this mean to tele vision viewers on Hilton Head? Nat urally no shortage of opin ions on that subject According to Bailie his station is still being squeezed out of the mar ket are not getting free access and the reason is he told The Packet Cablevision and others who want let us or their systems think we are compel itors but the market is bigger than they preceive it to be compulsory license debates going in Washington are bringing ca ble operators back to the table and good But meanwhile I am still in Renwick's (Charles Renwick general manager of Plantation Ca blevision) backyard and I'm not going to go he said To remind the public of that fact Bailie is now running editorials on Channel 28 concerning the must car ry situation And he says he has oth er plans in the works to measure area TV viewers' desire for cable carriage of WTGS Cable cares Plantation Renwick told The Packet Wednesday that he cares a great deal about the Wash ington battles "It appears the CC is entertain ing a restructuring of the must car ry formula that would be acceptable on irst Admendment grounds Con gressmen have said they don't want to see this happen Goldwater himself told the CC that while he supports the ageri investigating the affect of the los' of he rules he recommend new must car he said we may be faced with new must carries and in that case we would probably be obligated to carry Renwick added He also said he is concerned about the compulsory license issue but said he doubts that eliminating the license will have much practical af fect the license were to be dropped then cable companies would have to go out and negotiate with every channel But broadcasters want to be dropped from cable sys tems battle to be put on our system is proof enough of that "So we would probably be able to keep stations on our system even if the license is abolished It would mean more hassles but that would probably be the net affect" Ren wick said He said he is now making arrange ments to re program three channels that were freed up when the must carry strike down allowed him to nals without having to negotiate copyright agreements with individu al broadcasters and program sup pliers Instead cable companies pay a minimal fee based upon their sub scriber numbers and income to the Copyright Royalty Tribunal (CRT) to cover the costs of programming copyrights The CRT is government run and regulated It takes the fees paid by the cable operators and distributes the cash to the copyright holder Broadcasters on the other hand have to negotiate with each program supplier and there is no fee set by the government for the use of copy righted programs Rather it is a deal made in the marketplace busi ness to business In terms of dollars the CRT sys tem gives cable operators a decided edge In 1983 for example $70 million was collected from the nation's ca ble operators by the CRT for distri bution to copyright holders accord ing to a NAB study That same year television sta tions paid more than $4 billion to purchase programming rights The rub Therein lies the rub or the last month broadcasters have been telling legislators that if the government in this case the CC is no longer going to give them special treatment with must carry rules then cable operators have special privileges ei ther in the form of the compulsory license As Summers put it: opera tors are holding all the cards right now because the must carry rules have been eliminated But the com pulsory license gives them prefer ential treatment stand is that we mind if they have some preferential treat Pelican Construction Company Inc Aff Materials A Workmanship ully Warranted 3100 Highway 170 Talaphona 6035244066 BEAUORT SOUTH CAROLINA 29902 'Ing me Up tO discover the guaranteed lowest priced new 3 bedroom 2 bath home in Sea Pines today at By NANCY RUTTER Packet buelntM writer If you think the little guy doesn'tr count in Washington call a commu te nications lobbyist on Capitol Hill and say WTGS You'll get an earful That's because the owners of the month old station broadcast here on Channel 28 have been stirring up a i tot of dust in Washington over the ef cfect of the elimination of the ederalCommunication rules in July And when the dust settles it ap pears that the case of WTGS the only independent sta tion may play an influential role in creating new communications rules and legislation WTGS brought the Hilton Head television market to national promi nence simply by signing on the air at a critical time in broadcasting histo ry Sept 1 debut came about six weeks after a federal appeals court struck down the must carry rules which had required cable op erators to carry all commercial tele vision stations within a 35 mile radi us of the community served The ruling freed local cable opera tors from the legal obligation to car ry new station on their systems On Hilton Head WTGS locked horns with Plantation Cablevision because the cable franchise was one of the area's cable systems that refused to pick up the station In other parts of the Lowcountry WTGS faced a different situation with cable franchises Some systemspicked the new station up but charged WTGS for the carriage The station for example pays Sa Xvannah Cablevision $2000 a month Xor carriage on that cable sys 4tem It appeared to be a local issue: atledgling independent vs estab lished cable operators battling eachther for cash a share of the and the advertising dollars market had to offer National issue But it was a problem that had far yeaching implications Because while the local entitiesSvere squaring off Washington lob vJy ists for broadcasters and cable op were dealing with the issue 'r Jn a national level Special interest broadcast groupslike the National Association ofBroadcasters (NAB) and the Asso 2atim of Independent Television Htations (INTV) beganjobbying to rvave re draft or reinstitute inust Kjarry rules before the ink was dry on federal judge's July 19 decision On the other side of the debate ea table system organizations like the National Cable Television Associa Hlion NCTA) and the Community An taljenna Television Association KiJCATA) began posturing to keep thejjnust carries dead Si" By September Senators and Con gressmen were well involved in the48Sue and so was John Bailie co owner president and general man ager of WTGS He was brought to Washington by the broadcasting groups to speak to US Sen Ernest Hol lings SC and other Congressio i nal leaders who were concerned that 1 the elimination of the CC rules 1 were hurting small independent sta tions INTV president Preston Pad don told The Packet last month Bailie's voice was a relatively small one compared to the roar of the lobbyists But nonetheless Sep i hearings and lobbying ef forts moved Hollings along with Sen Barry Goldwater Ariz and Sen Ted Stevens Alaska to speak up on the issue New rules considered Just Arrived New Hondas! mamma A' flw flW fll A Qy UM I HL 11 By late last month at the urging of the senators the chairman of the CC Mark owler agreed to begin to look into creating a new set of must carry rules According to John Summers ex I ecu five vice president of the NAB two petitions sponsored by various 'bcoadcasting groups were filed the CC last week I The petitions Summers told The Packet this week mandates the communications agency to begin new rulemaking aimed at coming up new must carry rules The CC movement is significant Jcording to the NAB chief some sihd of new must carries would pro ride WTGS and other independents the same position with the most to the problemf gaining access to cable systems That relief however come mtil 1986 at the very earliest Sum ners added The CC must first come up with ules that would not violate irst Ad lendment rights which is what ausea their demise in the first lace Then the CC by law must old a 60 day public comment periodfore any rules go into affect To keep the pressure on andven out the playing field" broad isting groups last month went after ible operators on another fronteasing hard for cable copyright regulation or reform Since 1976 cable systems have xi called a li ne which allows cable opera rs to retransmit broadcast TV sig Re Elept Wes Jones lbwn Council At Large "My foremost concern has always been and will always continue to be the welfare ofall the citizens and residents of Ailton Head" Wes Jones Speaks Out On Issues acing Island Concerns or Our uture "I am very concerned that the lifestyle that we cherish so much on Hilton Head is threatened by excessive and sometimes abusive development that exploits our natural resources and degrades our Development Standards Ordinance is not capable of providing the protection the Island needs and must be strengthened and combined with a strong zoning ordinance supported by a Comprehensive Land Use Plan to accomplish our long term "Intermediate steps to improve the unacceptable and hazardous traffic problems on Highway 278 must be taken while we continue to push for and develop the crosi lsland "We must take all action available to us to preserve our ground water supply and encourage the re use of treated effluent for irrigation purposes wherever possible" "The town should begin exerting its influence with the Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Coastal Council in matters that are of Island wide Paid or By Committee to Re Elect Wes Jones to Town Council Hilton Head Island SC Carlos Evans Treasurer I )riu 7049 Hilton Head Island SC 299:18 803 842 61 1 1 HONDA CARS 1 BEA.