§ 2.38 p.m.
§ THE EARL OF LUCANMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the revenue cost of the present B.B.C. Television programme and what would be the revenue for television from the sale of 4.3 million licences at £5.]
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (EARL DE LA WARR)My Lords, -the revenue cost of the B.B.C. Television Programme for the financial year just ended is estimated at £3 ½ million. In addition, the Corporation last year spent £1 ½ million on capital works for television, and £10 ½ million on sound; it 1179 is also liable for income tax. On the other hand, the Corporation made a profit of about £1 million on its publications. None of these figures is static, of course; they change with the development of the B.B.C. services. The gross licence revenue from 4.3 million licences at £5 would, of course, be £21.5 million, but I regret that it is quite impossible to answer the noble Earl's hypothetical question as to how much of this would be "for television." As he probably knows, never in the history of the B.B.C. have the Government just selected an arbitrary amount for the licence fee and then, after making certain deductions, presented the B.B.C. with the remaining revenue, regardless of the Corporation's prospective needs. What the Government do is to examine the B.B.C.'s forward programme, including both capital and revenue expenditure, and then decide what licence fees are necessary to meet the Corporation's reasonable needs and to cover Post Office costs and a contribution to the Exchequer.
I assume that what the noble Earl is anxious to know is how I arrived, in my estimate given last December, at a figure of £5 for a television licence fee if the B.B.C. were asked to put on a second television programme at an early date. In the first place, it was assumed that the B.B.C. would provide a second television programme in 1955–56 (that is, at the same time as we expect the new Authority to start) for the same number of hours a day as we expect from the Authority. It was further assumed that the second B.B.C. programme would cost as much in revenue expenditure—that is, £3½million—and one-third in capital expenditure—that is, £500,000—as the existing programme. To this total was added the B.B.C.'s own forecast of expenditure in 1955–56, both capital and revenue, for their first television programme, as well as a sum to cover income tax. The grand total was then divided by 4½3 million, the number of licences in 1955–56, and to the resultant figure per licence was added £1 for sound and 10s. to cover Post Office costs and Exchequer contribution. No allowance was made for any subsidy to television from sound. These calculations gave a total of just about £5.
I should, perhaps, remind noble Lords that, although we frequently talk about 1180 a television licence, it is in fact a combined television and sound licence. The new £3 licence is therefore £2 for television and £1 for sound. This fact in itself may have helped to make the position a little obscure to the noble Earl.
§ THE EARL OF LUCANI thank the noble Earl for his full reply. The position is not crystal clear, and when I have examined it in writing I may come back with another Question to him.