§ Sir Peter Emeryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement about the selection of the colour transmission system to be adopted in the United Kingdom for direct broadcasting by satellite.
§ Mr. BrittanMy right hon. and noble Friend Lord Whitelaw announced on 30 November 1982—[Vol. 33, c.115–16] — the Government's acceptance of the recommendation of the advisory panel on technical transmission standards for direct broadcasting by satellite that the C-MAC system should be adopted as the standard for DBS in the United Kingdom. Since then the Government have been engaged in discussions with a number of other countries with a view to securing the adoption of the C-MAC system as the common DBS transmission standard for Europe. At the same time further work has been done on the technical specification of the C-MAC system with packet sound so that industry can make progress with designing and manufacturing the receiving equipment which will need to be available for the start of DBS. In July of last year the full administrative council of the European Broadcasting Union recommended that the C-MAC/packet sound system should be adopted as the common transmission standard for Europe, and that recommendation was subsequently endorsed by the European Association of Consumer Electronic Manufacturers. The European Parliament has also passed a resolution calling for member states to agree a uniform technical standard. The Government reaffirm their commitment to C-MAC as the DBS vision system for the United Kingdom and have decided that the sound system to be adopted will be the packet sound system as outlined in EBU document SPB284, with subsequent revisions. We shall continue our efforts in Europe to secure the widest possible acceptance of the C-MAC/packet sound system, as recommended by the EBU. We shall also be talking further with interested parties about the implications of the C-MAC system for cable systems in this country.