§ Mr. Murphyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement on Government proposals to provide commercial satellite television frequencies.
§ Mr. HurdMy right hon. and learned Friend announced on 16 September that the Government intend to include in the forthcoming Bill dealing primarily with cable provisions empowering the IBA to issue one or more contracts for services of direct broadcasting by satellite. If Parliament passes the Bill, it will be for the IBA in the first instance to establish whether companies or consortia judge the opportunity to be worth taking. Of the five frequencies allocated to the United Kingdom for satellite broadcasting, two have already been allocated to the BBC, and the IBA would also be able to use two. The details of the services to be provided would remain to be settled after the statutory powers have been enacted.