Evening star., 1939-11-05
World Series
Broadcast May Bring
New Radio Probe
&c. G. Seeks to Find If
Stations Were UnubIe
To Offer Programs
BY WILLIAM J. WHEATLEY.

Radio broadcasting of the recent
World Series baseball games has been
made the medium for reopening the
Federal Communication Commits
sion's monopoly investigation, 1t
was learned yesterday and is to be
made the means of a test of the
public interest" phase of the law.
The latter is one Of the bases for
Issuing a radio broadcast license.
Letters have been sent to broad
cast licensees throughout the coun-
try asking whether they broadcast
the World Series games, whether
an opportunity was afforded to them
to be broadcast, and, if it was, was
any effort made by any person or
organization to prevent them from
serving the series to their listeners.
The information is to be returned
to the commission not later than
November Is, when the monopoly
committee will make a study Of the
data. If information already in its
hands proves to be true, the group
will reopen the hearings to get
sworn testimony, it was indicated.
Threats Rumored.
This action, it was said, was q
direct result of the Mutual Broad
casting Systems obtaining an ex-
elusive contract for broadcasting the
series. Information now before the
monopoly committee, it was learned,
is that Mutual offered this service
to independent stations as we'll as
afhliates of other chains. The
committee also is said to be in
possession of information that some
stations accepted the offer and
even broadcast the first days series,
but then were threatened with a
canceling of their chain contracts
II they continued, and so desisted
It is contended In the commission
that such action, If the subsequent
investigation proves this to be true,
violates the public interest require
ments of the commission, because
It prohibits a station from fulfill
ing demand for opportunity to
hear an event over the radio. It
was pointed out that the World Series
will furnish perhaps the best test
OF the right of chains, through their
exclusive contracts, to prevent their
afiiliates from serving programs of
Nationwide interest, even though
furnished by another facility.
Letter Sent to Stations.
The letter, which went to all of
the stations, asked the following
questions:
Were the World Series baseball
games Of October, 1899, broadcast
over your station?
If such broadcasts were present.
ed over your station, state (a) the
substance of any arrangement or
agreement by which such programs
were made available to you, and CO.
whether any attempt was made by
any person or organization to in
f1uence or persuade you against
broadcasting the programs.
If broadcasts of the World Series
were not presented over your sta
ton, state (a) whether the pro-
grams were offered to you, but re-
fused by you because of an agree
ment with q network or other or
ganizations: CO. whether you were
influenced by other persons or or
ganizations to refuse the programs,
or were prevented from accepting
them, and (c) whether an attempt
was made by you to obtain the pro-
grams, and if SO, why you were un-
able to make arrangements to OBJ
tain them.
AS soon as the answers are re-
ceived by the commission, they will
be turned over to the legal staff
which has been working on the
monopoly investigation. It was in
dicated that even If the reports
do not bear out previous informa-
ton. If any stations appear to have
side-stepped the question, their rep
resentatives will be called to Wash
tngton and placed under oath. The
QUESTIONABLE does not call for
sworn replies.
1t is expected the investigation
will be concluded in time to be in
cluded in the report on monopoly.
The inquiry is to be pressed forward
as soon as the information is in.