THE SPECTATOR'S ARTS NOTEBOOK
The present buoyancy of ay shares is clearly encouraged by the belief of investors that the companies will succeed in their pressure campaign to get a second com- mercial channel. a campaign in which I see they have enlisted the aid of the Daily Express's James Thomas. The country both 'wants' and 'needs' an ITV 2, avers Thomas, 'if only because it would give ITV the chance to develop new and better pro- grammes.'
This, of course, is hogwash. But routine. We are well accustomed to the procedure whereby whenever official approval is sought for a profit-making enterprise, the operation must first be given a veneer of public service and even artistic respecta-. bility. A hint of the truth emerged in Thomas's piece, almost in passing, when he spoke of all the Fry studio space at pre- sent only half employed.
He might also have mentioned that the n v companies have a situation in which they don't know what to do with all their surplus staff—people with contracts whom they can't advantageously employ, yet don't want to fire, partly because of redundancy payments and union difficulties, and partly because of the second channel hopes. Natu- rally, they are not the best people, but they are the ones who would be used in irry 2, which would npt be, as Thomas thinks, a 'nursery' for the new but a dumping ground for the worn-out, a place for good pro- ducers and directors to go when they die.
Even the Writers' Guild, as keen as any- body to see another market, can't quite swallow the idealistic view of the lobbying. They have passed a resolution calling for an ITV 2, but the words, 'in the interests of improved television and -to stimulate neces- sary competition which creates the best television.' were carefully deleted from the resolution.
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