Lords and the B.B.C.
In the House of Lords, as in the columns of The Times, the impression is driven home that it takes a Peer to do justice to the B.B.C. The two-day debate that was opened by Lord Reith, the greatest single authority on the subject of British broadcasting, and closed by the Lord Chancellor, certainly brought a great weight of authority to the discussion of the Government's White Paper on the future of the B.B.C. But the majority of the speeches did not confirm what might have been thought to be the reasonable conclusion from that White Paper, that the B.B.C. had been very well treated in it. The Charter was extended for ten years, which in the history of SQ vital a public service is a long time. But Lord Listowel seemed more concerned about the strain placed upon the higher officers of the B.B.C. who, in a mere seven years' time, will begin to concern themselves about the next renewal. There will be no sponsored broadcasting, which suits the B.B.C. very well, and there will be no sponsored television for at least three years, which also gives the B.B.C. time to consolidate its position by improving the quality of its television programme. But numerous Peers seemed to be deeply perturbed by the very fact that sponsored television might ever be.allowed at any time. They quoted at length their own experiences in listening to television programmes,- interrupted by advertisements, in the United States. The reminder that they could have spared themselves this misery by the simple process of turning a switch, and that they will always be able to avoid it in this country by listening to the B.B.C., which will always be with us, seemed to have no more effect than it has ever had in this controversy. We must have the B.B.C.; the whole B.B.C., and nothing but the B.B.C. In the circumstances this spirited defence of monopoly (a defence so strong that even the term " monopoly," exactly descriptive as it is, was treated with distaste) seems perhaps a little excessive. Anyway the Lord Chancellor was not impressed by it, and said so.
Previous page
