HC Deb 15 February 1971 vol 811 cc1185-7
25. Mr. Pardoe

asked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications if he will seek to amend the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1949, to ensure that in areas of poor or non-existent television reception where a satisfactory service can only be had by means of a television relay system the rent payable for such a system is deductible from the broadcast receiving licence fee.

Mr. Chataway

No, Sir; licence revenue finances the B.B.C. A standard licence fee is a fair way of spreading the cost among all viewers, leaving individual viewers free to use the services of relay companies if they wish.

Mr. Pardoe

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the cost of these relay services, without which many of my constituents cannot receive anything but a large snowstorm, is often more expensive than the cost of the licence? Does he not think that the Government should start offering something for the money that they are taking? Is he aware that in private hands this would be tantamount to fraud?

Mr. Chataway

It would be very difficult to depart from standard licence fees. If we were to do so there could be as good a case for arguing that the fee ought to be related to the cost of getting the signal to the viewer as there is for relating it to the number of services that the viewer could get or the standard of reception.

26. Mr. Pardoe

asked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications if he will seek to amend the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1949, to ensure that the fee for a broadcast receiving licence is payable only for actual reception and not only for the installation of broadcast receiving apparatus.

Mr. Chataway

I assume that the hon. Member's purpose is to relate the licence fee to the quality or quantity of services received. I could not agree to that; nor would the hon. Member's proposal in fact achieve that end.

Mr. Pardoe

While hoping the right hon. Gentleman's reply to my last Question will not be extended to cover his postal services in future, may I remind him that for almost as long as television has existed many hundreds of people on the North Cornish coast have been unable to receive any kind of reception at all? Does he not think that, far from charging just for the quality of reception, he should remove the licence for those who cannot receive anything?

Mr. Chataway

If there are those who cannot receive anything, they probably would not be tempted to take out a licence in the first place. The broadcasting authorities place a pretty big priority upon the extension of their services.

Mr. Scott-Hopkins

Can my right hon. Friend give us any firm guidance as to when the Post Office will be able to install the low-voltage boosters for 625-line transmission in areas such as North Cornwall and West Derbyshire?

Mr. Chataway

I could not say offhand but I will certainly inform my hon. Friend by letter.