COLOUR TELEVISION SETS: ADVANCE RENTALS (Hansard, 9 May 1967)

§ LORD WILLIS
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, the control of advance rentals is linked with the control of down-payments under hire-purchase agreements, and imposed for the purpose of restricting credit. A special concession for colour television sets would not be justified.

§ LORD WILLIS
My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that dismal, discouraging and doleful Answer, may I point out—

SEVERAL NOBLE LORDS
No.

§ LORD WILLIS
May I ask the noble Lord whether he realises that in fact the Answer goes against all the tenets of the Party of which he and I are happy to be members, in that it imposes a colour bar? Does he not realise that the down-payment required in hiring a colour television set is now of the order of £70? 1304 This will therefore create a class of élite people who will own colour television sets, just as Onassis owns yachts. Will he not give consideration to this in case the Government go even further than creating a colour bar and in fact create a new privileged class?

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, it pains me very much to have to disagree with my noble friend on any matter, and particularly on one so close to his heart and about which he knows so much more than I do. I disagree with him completely when he says we are now imposing a colour bar or, indeed, discriminating as between rich and poor. In fact in this instance, as in all others, we are giving exactly equal treatment to black—or, shall I say, black and white—television and to colour television. The fact that it may cost more to buy or to hire a colour television set is no responsibility of Her Majesty's Government. The actual conditions which are laid down for these rentals are identical, whether the receiver is for colour television or black and white.

§ LORD ROWLEY
My Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether, in view of the fact that when one goes to the United States of America one finds colour television in a great many homes, we are to understand that the obstacle to our own people having colour television is not that we are behind the United States technically, but is purely on an economic basis?

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, my noble friend is perfectly right.

§ LORD WILLIS
My Lords, may I press this matter just a little further? Does not the noble Lord realise that millions of people will not be able to have colour television because of the cost? Does he not agree that his comment that this condition applies equally to black and white and to colour is rather like the remark made by Anatole France, that it is equally wrong for a millionaire and a beggar to beg in the streets? The point is that it is unlikely that the millionaire will ever have to do so. Therefore, will not the Government make some concession by reducing the amount of rental required in advance so that ordinary people can have the opportunity to look at colour television, which they 1305 will not be able to do if the present rates are maintained?

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, I do not want to pursue my noble friend into the realm of analogies, but if he is asking whether it would apply to other things it is rather like suggesting that down payments on Rolls Royces should be significantly less than those on Morris Minors or Minis, thereby allowing people to buy Rolls Royces just as easily as Minis.

§ LORD POPPLEWELL
My Lords, would the noble Lord not agree that the main problem is really the high cost of television? We are told that colour television sets will cost somewhere in the region of £200 or more. Is my noble friend satisfied that this cost will be fully justified? If not, is he conducting some inquiries to see whether this is the cheapest price at which colour television sets can be placed on the market?

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, with respect, I would suggest that whether colour television sets are being sold at too high a price is a somewhat different question, but I will gladly undertake to look into that side of the matter to see whether there is any evidence for suggesting that the manufacturers of colour television sets are in fact charging too much for them. But I think that is going a little far in connection with the present Question.

§ LORD WILLIS
My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the rental companies are in fact prepared to allow hirers to have a set for a much lower advance down payment—something like 20 weeks—and that it is the Government who are insisting on 42 weeks?

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, I am well aware that the companies are quite happy to allow people to have all sorts of things—colour television sets, ordinary television sets, motor cars, washing machines or anything else, at a very much lower rate of down payment than the Government have laid down. This is part of our whole financial policy in our attempt—unsuccessful—to stem inflation. If the sellers or renters of colour television sets would be prepared to accept a lower rental, then the down payment would correspondingly become lower.

§ LORD STRABOLGI
My Lords, would the noble Lord not agree that if 1306 the Government made it easier for all sections of the community to own colour television sets the price of them would probably come down?

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, I am sure that if the Government considered it was in the national interest to give a subsidy of 50 per cent. for colour television there would be far more sets sold or rented, in the same way that there would be more houses or other things if they were subsidised.

LORD SALTOUN
My Lords, may I ask Her Majesty's Government to ensure that any efforts which they make in the direction of cheapness will be modified by an awareness of the danger of getting what I am told is the crudity of colour that they have in the United States, as compared with the greater perfection in this country?

§ LORD WALSTON
My Lords, I think even more important than the crudity of colour is the crudity of some of the things one sees on the television screen. I think both these facets could be investigated.