§ 36. Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans for improving the reception of domestic broadcasts in those parts of the United Kingdom where there are reception difficulties.
§ Mr. MayhewThe coverage of their broadcasting services is primarily the responsibility of the broadcasting authorities.
The BBC and the IBA are engaged on a joint engineering programme to extend UHF television coverage to communities with permanent populations of 159W 500 or more. My right hon. Friend has given approval to a further engineering programme to extend coverage to groups of less than 500 wherever it is reasonably practicable for this to be done. This further programme will begin as the present programme tails off.
The broadcasting authorities are constantly seeking to improve the reception of their respective radio services and a number of improvements are in hand but the possibilities are severely limited by a shortage of frequencies for sound broadcasting.