§ 5. Captain Orrasked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that holders of radio and television licences in the Warrenpoint, Kilkeel and Annalongy areas of County Down are experiencing poor reception; and what plans the British Broadcasting Corporation have for improving their services.
§ Mr. MarplesSuitable receiving aerials are essential to get the best results in this area. With these the Home Service and the Light Programme on medium and long waves should generally be satisfactory, but reception of the V.H.F. sound service and of B.B.C. television will unfortunately be variable because of the screening effect of the Mountains of Mourne. The B.B.C. tells me it regrets that there is nothing it can do at present to improve reception. It will continue to keep the needs of the area in mind.
§ Captain OrrIs my right hon. Friend aware that this is another case of people paying licence fees for very little, that the reception is really quite deplorable and that there is now no reason at all why the B.B.C. should not proceed with one of its smaller satellite transmitters to serve this area?
§ Mr. MarplesThe B.B.C. has a fairly large programme of satellite transmitters and no doubt it will have the needs of this area in mind. At the moment, however, it is a difficult technical problem because of these mountains about which we heard so much in N.A.A.F.I. concerts during the war.