TV CONTROL BY STATE

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29220, 2 June 1960, Page 10

TV CONTROL BY STATE

American Not In Favour (New" Zealand Press Association/ AUCKLAND, June 1. “I don’t think it is e very good idea for the Government to run television,” said Mr Edward Knize, head of the commercial section of a Los Angeles television company, when he arrived at Auckland in the Mariposa today. , "The Government may keep the standards up, but it will be very boring to watch,’’ said Mr Knize. “Television in New Zealand will be stifled if sponsors are not allowed to put money into it. You need some blood and guts in the programmes. "If your television in New Zealand is to be a success you will need competitive variety. Take Los Angeles, for example. We have seven channels, most of them working from about 10 in the morning until 11 at night. There is a pretty high standard, too. And, of course, if you don’t like what is on these seven channels, you still have the movies or the radio.’’ Mr Knize said that in a standard 30-minute television show in Los Angeles, the time allotted to commercials was, limited to about three minutes, generally one minute at the beginning, another half-way through, and the last minute at the end of the show.