Film And TV Ban On Games “A Tragedy”

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28080, 22 September 1956, Page 11

Film And TV Ban On Games “A Tragedy”

(Rec. 8.40 pun.) LONDON, Sept. 20. .The president of the British Olympic Council, the Marquess of Exeter (formerly Lord Burghley) said in London tonight that it would be a tragedy to the world sporting public if they were unable to see televised films and newsreels of the Melbourne Olympic Games. The Marquess was commenting on the announcement by world television and newsreel companies of their intention to boycott the Olympic Games. He told a press conference in London: “I do hope the matter is resolved. It is not one over which my council has any control It is purely a domestic matter for the organising committee, but if the difference continues it will deprive sports followers throughout the world of great enjoyment and opportunity.”

In London tonight the newsreel association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland said the news film organisation had been denied the right freely to cover the Games themselves. A statement was also issued by Fremantle Overseas Radio and Television in the name of its president. Mr Paul Talbot, who is the official film agent of the organising committee. The statement said that no fees were being asked for television newsreel and theatrical newsreel coverage, contrary to some reports. “Fremantle would like to see the creation of a newsreel pool of cameramen through which all the television and cinema newsreels of the world would be served at actual cost, without profit to the committee or to Fremantle,” the statement 3aid Such a pool, set up and staffed by the newsreels themselves, would be able to select and to ship out of Tv elbourne each day a considerable amount of filmed material, out of which local Users in different parts of the world could edit a three-minute service for each theatrical release. Television services, the statement Baid, would be free to use three minutes every day. But a fee or royalty would be in order, under in-

ternational Olympic rules, for any more extensive use of filmed Olympic material other than newscasts. Olympic rules vested the rights for all television and film coverage in the organising committee of the host city and in 1948 a fee was paid by a large British organisation for complete film rights to the London Games. The Australian committee had decided against any fee for newsreel coverage, and would ask a royalty only for television feature coverage, and for the making of short and feature films. Announcement in U.S. A New York message said today that the world’s largest news film agencies said today that the Australian Olympic Committee had forced a black-out on their coverage of the Melbourne Games for television and theatre newsreels. The agencies, in a statement issued to the United States press, said the committee’s restrictions on camera coverage would affect television and motion picture news programmes throughout the United States. Canada. Great Britain, and Europe. The announcement by the organisations that they would be unable to show any film of the November Games followed more than a year of negotiations between the agencies (which had formed a news “pool” to cover the Olympic events), and representatives of the committtee.

The Australian Olympic '"'ommittee had reserved the right to all films made of the Games, and named a New York agent to offer them commercially to television and all other motion picture outlets around the world. The hews film organisations had sought to obtain the right to cover only for news pumoses. In a final letter to the committee, the organisations said that the severely limited coverage offered them made it impossible to give “the minimum proper news service to the public.” “You have made it impossible,” the letter said, “for the pool to cover the XVI Olympic Games because of the restrictions you have imposed.”