§ Mr. John H. Osbornasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement about the transmission standards for direct broadcasting by satellite.
§ Mr. WhitelawThe transmission standards for the United Kingdom direct broadcasting by satellite—DBS—services need to be determined soon if the necessary receiving equipment is to be ready in time for the projected start of DBS in 1986. Before reaching final decisions, which will be of great importance both to our manufacturing industry and to the viewing public generally, I wish to have the benefit of independent expert advice and am accordingly setting up, in consultation with the Secretary of State for Industry, an advisory panel with the following terms of reference
To consider what technical transmission standards should be adopted for United Kingdom services of direct broadcasting by satellite; and to submit advice by early in November 1982.I am glad to announce that Sir Antony Part, chairman of Orion Insurance Company and a former permanent secretary of the Departments of Trade and Industry, has agreed to be chairman of the panel. The other members 215W will be Professor Roger Griffiths, Professor of electronics at Loughborough university, and Professor Alan Day, pro-director and professor of economics at the London School of Economics. Additionally, Mr. Bernard Rogers, a consultant on consumer electronics and on international and national standards and issues, will be available to the panel as an assessor.
I am most grateful to the members of the panel for agreeing at short notice to undertake this important piece of public service.