BALANCED TV Sta.—Pharos in 'A Spectator's Notebook' on August 10,
says it is simply untrue that £750,000 was provided in the Television Act for the support of balancing programmes. He goes on to say that the possibility of un- balance was only foreseen by Opposition speakers.
You, Sir, were sent a copy of the Authority's notice to the press and Pharos presumably had it before him. To this notice was annexed a few extracts from the series of statements made by Government spokesmen during the debates on the Television Bill. These extracts show that
(i) it was intended that ITA should receive a limited appropriation out of the rapidly growing licence revenue; (ii) this money was to enable a proper balance to be kept in the programmes and to allow particular items to be divorced from advertising;
(iii) the Government regarded this provision as an essential part of the new indepen- dent television system.
But Pharos ignores all this. He states that the Authority has first to balance its pro- grammes, after which the Treasury, if it is pleased, will hand out some money. On this naive and fanciful foundation he establishes his 'plain fact' that the ITA has fallen down on its job.—Yours faithfully, B. C. SENDALL Deputy Director-General Independent Television Authority
[Pharos writes : 'I was not concerned with the many curious things Members of Parlia- ment said in the course of the debates on the Television Bill; 1 was dealing with the Act itself. It said :
(1) 'that the programmes maintain a proper balance in their subject-matter and a high general standard of quality' (sec- tion 3).
(2) 'The Postmaster General may, with the consent of the Treasury, pay to the 10 Authority out of moneys provided by 'There is nothing in the Act to suggest that (2) was to be forthcoming in order to make (I) possible; so it is untrue to pretend, as the ITA did in its recent handout, that the subsidy was 'provided in the Television Act for the support of balancing programmes.' It was not. Balance was stipulated without any such qualifications: and the ITA, as I said, having failed in its duty to maintain any balance, cannot expect much sympathy now.'—Editor, Spectator.]
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