Independent producers make final appeal to FCC for amendment of 'fin-syn' rules.

Hollywood's television production companies, fighting for federal protection of their piece of the TV airtime pie, will make their last stand before the Federal Communications Commission this week, as the FCC considers petitions for reconsideration of changes to its so-called "fin-syn" rules.

While the major networks plan to proceed to court after the FCC hearings and continue the battle, independent producer Leonard Hill said the Coalition to Preserve the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (which represents independent producers and major studios) probably will be singing its fin-syn swan song at the FCC's Oct. 24 meeting in Washington, D.C.

"For the coalition, the prospect of a court battle is daunting. It is an issue of time, an issue of money and an issue of focus," said Hill, president of Leonard Hill Films.

The coalition has filed petitions asking the FCC to reconsider two aspects of the rules adopted last spring. First, the coalition wants networks limited to production of 25 percent of their own television movies and mini-series. The new fin-syn rules limit networks to production of 40 percent of their total prime-time programming, and Hill said the "Big Three" generally produce only 10 percent to 15 percent of their TV movies and mini-series.

The 25 percent limit would guarantee that the networks would not use their total 40 percent allocation to produce the short made-for-television products that are the mainstay of independent production companies, Hill said.

The coalition also will be fighting for more specific regulations on the 30-day cooling off period, during which the producer can back out of a deal with a network. Hill said producers should have greater freedom to solicit competing bids on distribution rights during that period. He said the networks offer inflated "back-end rights" prices to keep license fees artificially low, forcing the producer to deal with the network on both and locking out competition.

Meanwhile, CBS and NBC will be fighting for greater freedom in U.S. syndication and for elimination of some of the "cooling off period" rules.

"Broadly speaking, our issue is the right of the networks to compete with the Hollywood studios," said NBC attorney Rick Cotton.

ABC opted not to join its rival networks on reconsideration, but is petitioning the federal appeals court with a challenge to the fin-syn rules. Cotton said NBC also plans to appeal the rules in court if the FCC does not make the adjustments the networks want.

After court challenges are concluded, the final issue to be resolved involves the 1974 "consent decrees," which make the FCC's 20-year-old fin-syn rules the law. The FCC wants the decrees adjusted to reflect the 1991 changes, and the networks may petition to have the decrees dissolved entirely. Hill said independent producers oppose elimination of the consent decrees because they contain additional protections not in the fin-syn rules.