BBC replies
Sir: In 'The Spectator's Notebook' last week, the proposition is made, apparently, that the present sac should be replaced with a minimum of seven other bodies, presided over by a Public Broadcasting Authority. All this in the name of better programmes obtained no more expensively. The Spectator must forgive a certain scepticism which the proposal may arouse. To take Bnc 1 and sec 2 as only one example, there could be an immediate loss of that comple- mentary planning which many members of the audience have welcomed. Elsewhere, the cause of economy seems unlikely to be served by the ending of those common services which not only the BBC'S radio and television net- works but its non-metropolitan stations currently exploit.
He also proposes to hive off the External Services which he argues have no place, as propa- ganda services, within the BBC. But the fact is that the External Services are widely recognised abroad not to be propaganda ser- vices and are apparently more re- spected for it. Their independence arises from their association with the rest of an independent WIC. The Spectator may want propa- ganda services, but he is raising a different issue if he does.
Colin Shaw The Secretary, BBC, Broadcasting House, London w1
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