The B.B.C. Strikes Snags The B.B.C. may have sailed into
clearer waters with the pub- lication of the Beveridge Report, but the Corporation's annual report and accounts for 1950-51 indicate that the course is still not free from rocks. What is more, the two difficulties which stand out—the shortage of suitable wavelengths and the restrictions imposed by performers' unions and other representative bodies— are undoubtedly serious. Neither is new, but neither has come much closer to a solution. In fact, so far as the European Services are concerned, the wavelengths position has become more difficult. But at least the solution to this particular technical problem is known. It lies in the development of broadcasting on very high frequencies (V.H.F.), a subject on which the B.B.C. has been working and in connection with which it has prepared a plan for a network of V.H.F. stations. If there were no restrictions on capital expenditure, then it would be reasonable to go ahead at once with the conversion to V.H.F. broadcasting, even though this would require the adaptation, or the quicker replacement, of existing receiving sets. No doubt the B.B.C. would be much happier if it could see equally clearly the solution to the problems created by the performers' unions. So would the listeners. But mete intelligence and the ingenuity of engineers cannot overcome the resistance of bodies who have so far clung to a whole series of restrictions on the use of recordings, on relays from theatres, on the freedom of artists to televise, on the provision of films for television, and on the broadcasting of sporting events. The con- demnation of these practices by the Forster and Beveridge Com- mittees, the fact that they deny enjoyment to listeners and viewers, and even the fact that they are probably inimical to the long-run interests of the members of unions and associations who impose them—all appear to count for little with their restriction-minded advocates. It used to be axiomatic with theatrical artists that the show must go on and the public must not be let down. It may be so-still. If it is, it is a pity that the unions and associa- tions do not act accordingly.
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