TV Gold Mine

The British public last week got a wide-eyed view of just how successful commercial TV can be. From the directors of three-year-old ATV (Associated Television) came an announcement that earnings before taxes for the fiscal year ending next April will exceed $14 million, a 40% gain over last year, and more than twelve times the earnings of only two years ago. Even more spectacular is what happened to the fortunes of early investors in ATV. A single original share in ATV that sold for 20-c- is now worth $30.80. Norman Collins, 51, author and TV executive who originally put up $7,000 of the $50,000 that launched ATV, now finds his shares worth $1,400,000. Sir Robert Renwick, industrialist and broker who invested $4,200, has shares worth $959,500, and Charles Orr Stanley, chairman of Pye radio and TV company, has seen his shares burgeon to $358,247.

Collins, Renwick and Stanley pioneered commercial TV in Britain in the day when the nation was generally against commercial TV on principle. Led by Collins, who walked out of a $10,400-a-year job as a BBC-TV program director, because his bosses were too stuffy, the three managed to push through the Television Act that established commercial TV, set up four TV studios to broadcast.

Collins put a verve into British T that BBC lacked--and viewers ate it up. He built up ATV's early audience with variety shows, brought over big American stars (Liberace, Pat Boone) and shows (Cheyenne and Wyatt Earp), went in for such serious topics as abortion and the U.S. recession, only last week featured Sir Laurence Olivier in his first TV play, a performance of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman. Collins' forward-looking programing has put five of ATV's shows among England's top ten.

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