Late-night TV movie service authorised

Press, 11 August 1982, Page 10

Late-night TV movie service authorised

NZPA Washington The American' Broadcasting Corporation and television affiliates across the country have been authorised to launch a late-night movie service that will feed programmes to video-cassette recorders while subscribers sleep"? The service, to be known as the Home View Network, was cleared by the Federal Communications Commission when it agreed to grant a special subscription , television authorisation to the network and to waive, a rule that would have required every A.B.C. affiliate to file a separate application. “I’m pleased with this.” said the F.C.C. chairman (Mr Mark Fowler). "A.B.C. is

being innovative ... and it's our job to let the services flow." A.B.C. says the Home View Network will proßabiy be launched in the second quarter of 1983 in the five cities where it owns a TV station. They are New York. Los Angeles. Detroit. Chicago and San Francisco. According to a spokesman. Gary Gerard, the service should be extended to the rest of the country by late 1983 or early 1984. Two hundred of A.B.C.'s 209 television affiliates have already indicated an interest in participating. The unusual service will use a new decoder developed by Sony and will work like this: A.B.C. stations will

broadcast a special scrambled signal starting early in the morning when most stations would normally go off the air. A subscriber, after paying an installation fee and 527 a month, will have the Sony decoder attached to his video-cassette recorder. The subscriber will set the equipment to turn on at the proper time and while he sleeps it will automatically record the pay programming. The device would work for V.H.S. machines, such as those marketed by Panasonic and R.C.A., as well as the Beta recorders, such as those sold by Sony and Zenith. The subscriber will then be free to view the material at his convenience — for one

month. A.B.C. is aiming the Home View Network particularly at those markets where viewers do not have access to cable systems with pay channels or subscription stations.

The network says the system will feature eight fulllength movies every month, plus a blend of cultural, theatrical, educational and other special-interest programmes like how-to shows.

While A.B.C. acknowledges that only about four million United States homes now have video-cassette recorders to go along with a TV set — or fewer than 5 per cent of the total — the network expects the number to grow to 10 million or 12 million by 1985.