Cinema: Highway in the Sky

Still worrying about the threat of television, Hollywood moviemakers last week struck a blow for the nation's movie exhibitors. The Motion Picture Association of America had a scheme for bypassing the living room menace—and TV broadcasters as well. M.P.A. tiptoed up to the Federal Communications Commission and quietly asked for a private TV "highway in the sky."

The request is technically feasible: an exclusive channel in the ultra-high-frequency wave band over which M.P.A. could televise both movies and public events directly to U.S. theaters. With TV broadcasters mulling over the M.P.A. scheme, FCC slated hearings on it for later this month.