HC Deb 06 February 1962 vol 653 cc205-6
8. Mr. Mayhew

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation why it is proposed to curtail the American Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Mr. P. Thomas

I have been asked to reply.

As I informed the hon. Gentleman on 23rd January, this decision is part of a redeployment of the British Broadcasting Corporation's external broadcasting to countries where it can make the greatest impact. It has also contributed to the 10 per cent. reduction in our expenditure overseas.

Mr. Mayhew

Does the hon. Gentleman realise that cutting this service means depriving over 1,000 American radio stations of material which they have been using for several years now in an output of 1,000 hours of broadcasting of British material a month? Is it not a very stupid little cut?

Mr. Thomas

No, Sir; we regard it as an important cut. The point is that every other channel of communication exists between Britain and the United States, and we are concentrating our broadcasting on areas where channels other than radio are less developed or do not exist. As regards the number of hours of broadcasting, I am told that in the United States there are 6,000 broadcasting stations and their total output cannot be less than about 1 million hours per month. One thousand hours is a very small proportion of that.