TASTES IN TV SIR,—Your article 'Monument to Fraud' does not
accord with the usual standards of fairness which one expects from your journal.
Commercial Television has only been established for four months and one would surely expect a little forbearance on the part of the critics until there has been time to see how the programmes are really' shaping. It will be much easier to judge when the service is more widely established.
In any case, I cannot agree that the pro- gramme standards are any lower than those of the BBC. Commercial Television has put on as many serious items as the BBC. Of course the majority of television programmes fall into the 'popular' category, but this applies, and has always applied, to the BBC as much as to the Commercial service. • The members of my Committee, who include men and women in all walks of life and reflect every shade of opinion, were con- cerned with the principle that a monopoly in television, or indeed any field concerned with the dissemination of ideas, is unjustifiable. In this we had the support of tens of thousands of ordinary members throughout the country, and I am sure of a majority of the people.
Nothing that has happened in the last few months has led us to change our minds.— Yours faithfully,
R. E. SIMMS Secretary Popular Television Committee
21 Devonshire Street, London, WI
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