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VOL 186 No.8 24 Pages Hollywood, Colifornio-90028, Monday, December 17, 1979 Newspaper Second Closs P.O. Entry 35 Cents
IX STAR BECOMING BIG CABLE FORCE
AMPTP Authorizes Po.yment
Of Retroactive Wage
Members of the Associa
tion of Motion Picture & TV
Producers have been au
thorized to issue retroacti ve
(to Aug. 1) wage payments to
workers as soon as possible.
In disclosing the move,
AMPTP exec V.p. Ed Pre
loc k said last Friday that 12
locals of the International AI
I iance of Theatrical Stage
Employes and five basic craft
locals have signed me moran
dums of. a greement, prompt
ing- the Association to author
ize retro payment pursuant to
the understanding with the
unions negotiated during con
tract talks.
Next Step
"When additional local
memorandums of agree
ment are approved by the lo
cals and properly executed,
the companies will be no
tified and authorized to im
plemcnt their provisions and
to pay retroactive wages as
soon as possible." said Pre
lod .
'TOMORROW' TAPE PLAYS ROLE
IN NEW TRIAL FOR TAX PROTESTOR
New York, Dec. 16 - A lower
court's showing to a jury' of a
Tom Snvder talkshow lfls led
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit to reverse the
conviction of a man whoap
peared on the show. The case
has been remanded for a new de
cision.
"This cas.e raises an issue neV
er before considered in a Feder
al Court of Appeals," wrote
Judg-e Murray I Gurfein of the
another guest.
Both Snyder and the other
guest made numerous com
. ments suggesting that _Schiff
eventually would be convicted of
having commited a crime.
Some of those comments, Gur
fein said, "went a long way to de
stroying the presumption of in
nocence. The additional vice was
that when the videotape was
shown to the jury .the talkshow
people were, in effcct. testifying
> ." . -: ' .""" '..- i" i", '\.' , .
10CATV FRANCHISES
RECENTLY ADDED IN
LOS ANGELES AREA
By MORRIE GELMAN
Anaheim, Dec. 16 -- Off in a
side building at last week's
Western Cable Show here, oper
ating strictly low profile, sans
exhibit booth or hospitality suite ,
was Six Star Cable vision
quietly emerging as a major Los
Angeles-area multiple system
owner.
From a start in cable tv biz
only two years ago. and with
small systems only in Michigan,
Kansas and Missouri , Six Star in
recent months has acquired 10
ca ble franchises in the L.A. area.
passing a potential 450,060 sub
scribers , 300,000 alone as the
(Continued on Page 20, Column 4)
Henry Silverman
Jo;ns Poll In
financial Post
Henry R. Silverman, New
York-based attorney and finan
cial consultant, has joined Mar
tin Poll Prods. as chief financial
: 1'" ..... f J:;...,, " r
'Star Trele,' With $17 Mil
Domestic Box-Office, Sets
New Opening- Week Re.corcl
By DALE POLLOCK
As predicted last week, "Star
Trek" seta new industry record
for an opening week, with
domestic boxoffice gross of
$17,060,837 in first seven days at
857 theatres in the U.S, and Can
ada. P a r distributi on and mar
keting topper Frank G. Man
cuso said figure is lacking in
some daily reports from scat
tered theatres , meaning actual
b.o. gross is probably around
$17,lUO,OOO.
Tha t bests previous opening
frame record of $16,654 ,000 set
bv "Jaws 2" in June, 1978, and
still is below the alltime indus
try record for any seven-day
period, $18,200,000 notched by
"Superman" three weeks into its
run between Christmas and New
Years of last yea r. "Star Trek"
also has set its mark in a non
holiday, traditionally laggard
pre- Christmas period.
Mancuso said that with addi
tion of many of the states that
previously passed anti blind-bid
ding legislation, n'lmber of
: "--"11 1'") '
" 'Star Trek' has become
somewhat of an event na
tionally," Mancuso said, adding
for film consumers in tLe anti
blindbidding states, getting the
is "like seeing the World
Series delayed two weeks."
As expected, " Star Trek" is
(Continued on Page 23, Column I)
NATO And NITE
Meet Produces
'Common .Effort'
By WILL TrSHER
The rival Na.ti onal Associa
tion of Theatre O\\l1ers and Na
tional Independent Theatres Ex
hibitors (NITE) are participat
ing in a new NATO-sponsored
initiative to broaden exhibitor
unity by defining and working
toward common goals.
A New York summit meeting
with NATO president A Alan
T<'rierlh"r;,. N A 7 0
Mon., Dec. 17, 1979
SIX SrAR CABLEVISION BECOMING
AMAJOR L.A.-AREA CABLE fORCE y
(Continued from Page I, Column J)
result of one franchise covering
Hollywood, Venice and the Wil
shire district.
Not only is Six Star the newest
MSO cable operator on the
scene, but company figures to
become an important pay-cable
force . .
For what's believed .to be the
first time in the L.A. area, cable
subscribers to Six Star's just-be
gun system in Inglewood are
bcing offered 23 channels of ser
vice (the syst em has 36-channel
capability), including two feevee
services, Theta Cable's Z Chan
nel and Showtime .
The feevee services on Six
Star Cabl evision of Inglewood- ;
which is being turned on in
phases, with the first phase pass
ing 9000 homes and becoming
operative a week ago and with
the fourth and fifth phases slated
for completioll by February of
next year - are going for $10.50
for each pay channel (basic
cable service is $9) .
Additional services being of
fered on Six Star's Inglewood
system, beyond all the L.A.
market over-the-air signals, are
Ted Turner's Channel 17 "super
station" out of Atlanta; WGN
TV. Chicago, as anothcr "super
. station" via United Video. the
Entertainment & Sports Pro
gra mming Network; the Christ
ian Broadcasting Network; C
SPAN's coverage of U.S. House
of Rcpresentatives proceedings,
a nd SPN.
AP Feeds
Six Star has contracted for
three channels of Associ ated
Press feeds covering sports, fi
nance, etc., and claims the
Inglewood system also has the
capability for data trans
missi ons from biz officc to biz
offi cc. S;.Llcllite pic.;kup ill ingl e
wood is via a five-meter, Hughes
Aircraft-built earth station.
The ' Inglewood system, say
company prexy Charles E.
Smith Jr. and director of mar
keting Richard Kulis, will serve
as the model for other L. A.
franchises .
Six Star already has in hand
franchises covering Hollywood,
Venice , the Wilshire District,
Pomona, La Verne, Tustin,
Culver City, Corona, Covina,
Bellflower and Maywood.
The company, whiCh Is cor
porately based in Englewood
Cliffs , N.J., but which operates
its cable biz out of Culver City, .
also has an application pending
for the East San Fernando
Valley which envisions a sys
t e m passing another 200,000
homes .
Six Star, which was actually
started about five years ago, is a
three-way partnership of Paul
Skulsky, Stewart Harris and
Roger Maggio, described as
"investors. "
Company prez Smith, a table
vct of 24 years who joined Six
Star after scrving as veepee and
western regional manager of
Warner Cable Corp. with respon
sibility for 22 systems reaching
120,000 subscribers in four
states, says that a $10,000,000
credit line has been established
with ' Bankers Trust just to
develop the Hollywood- Wil
shire- Venice franchise .
Big Investment
He estimates that between
$20,000,000 to $30,000,000 will be
spent to build all the L.A,-area
franchises.
The Hollywood-Wilshire
Vcnice system is now in pre
limina ry stages of develop
ment. Construction will start ,
says Smith, in April, 1980. The
plan calls for 30 miles of con
struction per month in the sec
ond quarter of thc year, with an
increase lo 50 miles per month
starting July 1.
Six Star is figuring on 13
months to complete; construc
tion of the system, which will
cover some 300 miles of plant.
With all its L . A. area
franchises. Six Star Is pro
jecting ,tboul 600 miles of pl ant
to go with the some-1OOO-rnllesir
now cl aims for the existing sys
tems in the three central states
covering 18 "ommunities and
about 14,000-15,000 subscribers.
The syslem in Ingl ewood. when
completed, will pass 31,000
homes .
Smith suggests that lhe L.A.
area franchises were "plums
ripe for the plucking." Some of
the franchises were formerly
held by Theta Cable of Cali
- [0rnt-i'. ;+Ae-Ht:Pgo{o; es-Ai r era.ft-':!'-e-!e-
prompter partnership which is
the major MSO in the area.
"We ' ll be offering all the pro
gramming there is to be of
fered," say Smith and Kulis, the
latter another seasoned cable
exec who worked previously for
Amf' rican Television & Cvm
munications, Teleprompter and
Cox Cable.
"Wilhin the next two or three
vears we 'll be among the top 25
. r...-r sr)-:: 1n the country," ~ = i 0 n \ ~ S e S
Sm' n.