§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Postmaster-General what representations he has had from the Radio Astronomy Observatory in respect of the possible use of Channel 6 by unauthorised television stations.
§ Mr. BennNone. But, from recent discussions between the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory and my Department, I am fully aware of the importance of Channel 6 to the Observatory and of the problems to which any unauthorised use of the channel would give rise. The observations which are being made on frequencies in this channel include a sky survey, of fundamental importance to radio astronomers, of radio stars in the Northern Hemisphere. This was started in 1958 and will not be completed until 1966.
This does not prevent the use of the channel for legitimate television broadcasting. Indeed, several B.B.C. and I.T.A. stations will be using it by the end of this year and the discussions to which I have referred were concerned with the arrangements to enable the Observatory to fit its work into the times of the day when those stations will not be operating.