12 JULY 1986, Page 5

29 1 /2 YEARS LAST week, the Peacock Committee re- commended that

from 1 January 1988, all television sets sold in the United Kingdom should be adapted to receive programmes paid for by direct subscription. Assuming that this excellent recommendation is accepted, it will have taken only 291/2 years for an idea floated in the Spectator (by Brian Inglis in Pay As You View' on 27 June 1958) to be taken up by the Govern- ment. It is true that, as a result of private initiative, 18 per cent of sets now being sold can already receive subscription ser- vices, and that Mr Inglis had said that 'first, the need is to make the idea of Pay As You View much more familiar than it is'. But we hope not all the ideas floated here will need 291/2 years to come to fruition.