HC Deb 30 July 1963 vol 682 cc209-10
6. Mr. Mayhew

asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation what plans he has for expanding the overseas services of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Mr. R. Carr

The most urgent need is to make the B.B.C. services more easily heard in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and for this purpose the Government have authorised a major programme of new relay transmitters overseas.

Mr. Mayhew

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that that is not the only problem? There is also the problem of the time of broadcasting which could and should be much more. Is he aware that, with the constant increase in the number of receiving sets in many parts of the world, the potential audience is constantly increasing? Why have we allowed the amount of B.B.C. broadcasting relative to other countries to fall so catastrophically since the war?

Mr. Carr

I accept the hon. Member's proposition that the more we can do the better, but we should be wrong to adopt what I would call a crude "league table" approach. There have been some increases this year, as no doubt the hon. Member is aware, but the most urgent need is to make sure that for the hours which we are transmitting we are adequately heard by the people to whom we are transmitting them, and that is our priority at the moment.

Mr. Farey-Jones

In view of my right hon. Friend's reply to the earlier question, would he pay particular attention to the urgent need for greatly stepping up broadcasting to Latin America, and would he make a statement?

Mr. Carr

The first need is to ensure that the hours which we broadcast to Latin America have a signal of strength and quality which can be heard, and that is what we are concentrating on.

Mr. Mayhew

The right hon. Gentleman talks about a league table. Is he aware that we have been overtaken by the United States, China, the Soviet Union and by the group of satellite countries and will shortly be overtaken by Egypt in the amount of broadcasting? Why will he not look into this matter and put the B.B.C. back on the map as far as the amount of broadcasting goes?

Mr. Carr

We are constantly looking at this, and I am sure that neither this House nor the B.B.C. would agree that it is off the map. It is doing a tremendous job for which we should give it credit, but I repeat that the first priority is to make the quality and strength of our broadcasts better than they are at the moment.