HC Deb 30 June 1965 vol 715 c86W
20. Mr. Grimond

asked the Postmaster-General what special telephone arrangements were made for the British Broadcasting Corporation in connection with the programme "Hot Line".

Mr. Benn

The B.B.C. did not ask for special telephone facilities for the first programme. For the second, it asked for only two additional exchange lines and we provided them. On both occasions, it was arranged with the B.B.C. that the programme should be recorded and retransmitted a few seconds later; that subscribers should be called 15 minutes before their broadcast; and that amplifiers should be used to give satisfactory audibility. The B.B.C. has generously admitted that the failure of this programme was not due to the Post Office.