The sky’s the limit for Associated TeleVision

WHAT IS THE fasted growing show business organisation in Great Britain? The answer must surely be Associated Television. For this company, headed by such entertainment veterans as Val Parnel [sic throughout – it should be Parnell – Ed], Prince Littler and Lew Grade, is now about the strongest in the business.

In the five years commercial television has been established in this country, the rate of ATVs progress has been fantastic. With hardly any experience in the television medium, the Parnel-Littler-Grade combination had, within two years, established an ascendancy over the other contractors in the amount of programmes bought and sold.

Profit

By 1956 the company, through its affiliated production organisation, Incorporated Television Production Company, was sponsoring more TV production than anyone else in the business, and a year later was able to announce that its profit for the period ending May, 1958, was over £4,000,000 [£79m in today’s money allowing for inflation].

Since then ATV has negotiated a deal with Jack Wrather, which has made the company the third largest distributor of television programmes in the world, and, through the purchase of ITPC, strong enough to guarantee a minimum of five television series a year, including the most expensive TV production to be made in Great Britain, “The Four Just Men,” with Jack Hawkins, Dan Dailey and Vittorio de Sica.

Holdings

ATV has also acquired large holdings in Australian radio and television stations, giving them a greater outlet in that country than probably any other television distribution company.

Moreover, ATV has gone into the record business and has purchased a substantial interest in Pye Records, Ltd., the subsidiary of the television and radio manufacturers.

This week Parnel was flying to the States to sign up some of the big American stars who have previously appeared in his London Palladium shows for record contracts with the Pye-ATV recording company. While he is away his colleague Lew Grade, deputy managing director of the company, will be busy with new programmes, some of them bought from America to the other contractors, in readiness for the longer viewing hours which ITV anticipates will be approved by the government for January 1, 1959.

Campaign

The next stage in ATV’s campaign for more power and profit in television will be to try to speed up government approval for the third network being placed at the disposal of the ITV companies. Prince Littler, chairman of ATV, was the first programme contractor to go on record in favour of the third network and requested the company to be given London for five days under any proposed changes instead of its present schedule of London weekends and Midlands weekdays.

Compete

Thus the company would be prepared to compete on equal terms with the present weekday contractor, Associated Rediffusion. Chairman of this company, Paul Adorian, has gone on record rejecting the third network at the present time because of the economic and financial difficulties in the way of its operation.

ATV is also interested in the possibility of commercial sound radio, should it come about in this country. A company has been formed headed by one of the ATV directors, Norman Collins, with a view to operating a commercial radio station if the government gives its approval when the BBC’s charter comes up for consideration in 1960.

Liaison

While ATV has made no move towards feature film production, on the other hand there is a very close liaison between Lew Grade and Parnel and the Eros brothers, Phil and Sid Hyams, through ITPC, of which all were directors, which has led to a number of medium-size British pictures adapted from ATV’s television successes. Such productions as “The Mystery of Planet X” and “The Trollenberg Terror” are two serials which have been produced as feature films by Eros. Another successful serial which is being made into a feature by that company is “Emergency [–] Ward 10.”

Doubtlessly, if feature production becomes more profitable, one of the first steps of ATV will be to set up a company to secure another slice of show business profit.

Already its American partner, Jack Wrather, has been able to combine a successful TV distribution programme with film production. Now that he is associated with ATV in Television Programmes [sic – Programs] of America, Inc., the third largest distributionproduction in the world, the possibility that the organisation will also handle cinema features is not remote.

In other words, ATV has become a world-wide show business entity whose future progress seems at this time of writing to be limitless.