Revenue, Profit, And Service

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23086, 31 July 1940, Page 8

Revenue, Profit, And Service

The annual report of the National Broadcasting Service shows that revenue for the year 1939-40 was £407,991, of which £380,470 was derived from licences; that £110,410 was spent on programmes; that, after all other expenses had been met, £140,840 was transferred to the reserve fund; and that this now stands at '£698,362. Listeners should protest. A process which is thoroughly unfair to them has gone on too long arid has gone too far. Less than a third of the revenue they contribute as licensees is spent directly on the programmes they hear. The sum transferred to reserves is nearly 30 per cent, greater and represents almost 35 per cent, of the total revenue. These figures mean that listeners are being overcharged. If the service they obtain were much better than it is, if it were about as good as it could be and should be, the truth would still be that they are overcharged. Their grievance is aggravated by the fact that, when the best has been said for the best in it, the service as a whole can only be called mediocre. But the plainest case is the strongest case; and it is the plainest case possible against the National Broadcasting Service that its charge is extortionate. It takes 25s from the listener; it spends 7s on programmes; it applies 9s to the rest of the business; and it puts 9s aside. It has been suggested from time to time that a-bold reserve policy is imperative, because plant may rapidly be antiquated, costly renewals become necessary, and large building extensions be required. But it is one thing to provide fully for depreciation; it is another thing to provide, on top of that, and on a scale twice as generous, for capital developments. In the year 1938-39, for example, £45,000 was set aside for depreciation; £IIO,OOO, besides, was transferred to the general reserves. It is reasonable to cover depreciation and renewals from current revenue; it is not reasonable to make present licensees endow the future with its capital developments, free of cost.