§ Mr. Whiteheadasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what Home Office regulations govern the pattern of transmitter use by the independent television companies.
§ Mr. WhitelawThe planning and construction of the UHF television transmitter network is primarily the responsibility of the BBC and the IBA which are engaged on a joint engineering programme designed to maximise population coverage within the respective franchise areas with maximum economy in the use of the limited available frequency spectrum. The UHF transmitting network is now substantially complete; all the main high-powered stations are in operation and the broadcasting authorities are concentrating on a programme to extend the UHF services to all communities with permanent populations of 500 or more through the construction of relay stations. Within this framework it is for the IBA to decide which ITV service should be transmitted from its television transmitting stations.
Both the Government and the broadcasting authorities believe that priority should be given within the UHF engineering programme to extending the UHF services to communities which currently do not have one at all.