§ 3. Mr. Pardoeasked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications what steps he proposes to take to improve television and radio reception in Cornwall.
§ Mr. ChatawayThe B.B.C. and I.T.A., which are primarily responsible for the range and quality of the transmissions of their services, tell me that with the exception of small pockets of difficult reception they are receivable throughout Cornwall, provided efficient receivers and aerials are used.
§ Mr. PardoeIs the Minister aware that those pockets are rather larger than he has been given to understand and that this has been a recurring question for 20 years or more? During that time absolutely Sweet Fanny Adams has been done about it. Is it not fraudulent that hundreds of Cornish television viewers should have to pay a full licence fee for the privilege of watching a perpetual snowstorm four seasons if the year? If the right hon. Gentleman drives a car across my constituency he will find that the radio comes and goes in such a way as to make it virtually impossible to tell Bach from Bartok.
§ Mr. ChatawayI am advised that the county is generally well served. Two out of the first 19 transmitting stations to transmit the new colour service were built in Cornwall. Nearly 60 will be required to provide for the United Kingdom as a whole.