B.B.C.—2 HUGE EXPENSE OF EQUIPPING NEW TELEVISION CHANNEL

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30399, 25 March 1964, Page 16

B.B.C.—2 HUGE EXPENSE OF EQUIPPING NEW TELEVISION CHANNEL

[By

MICHAEL DONNE,

in the "Financial Timet.” London.)

(Reprinted by arrangement.) As 8.8. C.-2 television programmes on 625-lines U.H.F. draw near (the present programmes are on 405 lines) it is clear that the radio industry is on the verge of what may be its biggest-ever period of prosperity in the provision of both TV receivers and transmitting equipment to facilitate the new service.

It has been estimated that the cost of engineering the entire country, to receive 8.8. C.-2 will cost upwards of £4O million, involving eventually at least 60 new main transmitting stations and their equipment, and hundreds of smaller lower-powered relay stations. In time I.T.V. will also probably get a second channel, opening yet another market for new equipment.

For the TV set makers,' 8.8. C.-2 is only the start of what has been described as “a ten-year period of solid production,” taking in PayTV, the possible advent of national educational TV 24hour sound broadcasting, possibly also competitive local broadcasting, and colour TV. Pye, one of the major TV set makers, considers that with annual set sales likely to reach 2 million (“if the programmes are good this estimate will prove to be low”) there is likely to be a total radio industry turnover in sets for the next three years alone of £275 million and this may rise to £340 million spread over the main manufacturers. It has also been estimated that the total cost of new transmitters and associated equipment for 8.8. C- .- will be nearly £22 million apart from the costs of site acquisition, and construction o'f buildings.

For the TV set makers to date, however, sales in the shops have been moving slowly, despite the 21 per cent increase in deliveries last year to 1,673,000 units as dealers stocked up in anticipation of demand. With over 12 million sets in use throughout the country, of which only a small proportion is currently capable of receiving 8.8. C.-2, it is clear that there is much leeway to be made up. Even in the London area where 8.8. C.-2 starts first on April 20, the initial audience is estimated at only Im to Ijm viewers, out of the population of 14m, reached by the Crystal Palace transmitter. Contract Awarded On the equipment side, some manufacturers have already been awarded substantial contracts, and many more are likely to follow. Marconi has been awarded contracts for aerials and transmitting equipment. E.M.I. Electronics has also received a number of contracts, including a joint contract from the 8.8. C. and I.T.A. for masts to be erected at Winter Hill (Lancs.), Emley Moor (Yorks.) and Belmont (Lincs.). Two of these masts will be the highest in Europe, well over 1000 feet tall. British Insulated Callender’s Construction Company is undertaking much of the design, supply and erection of these masts, under sub-contract to E.M.I. In addition to the construction of masts and transmitting stations, which are the responsibility of the 8.8. C. and I.T.A. the General Post Office is also involved, being responsible for the’ circuits which will carry the programmes from the studios to the transmitters.

The pattern of expansion of 8.8. C.-2 is likely to be more rapid than is customarily imagined, despite the immense demand that the engineering itself is making on money and resources. Apart from the Crystal Palace transmitter, which is now working on full power, there are eight more scheduled to be completed and in operation in 1965—covering the Midlands, the Isle of Wight, South Wales, Lancashire, North East England, Northern Ireland, South Yorkshire, and Central Scotland; with another nine due to be completed by 1966-67—South-east Kent, Suffolk, Anglesey, Nottinghamshire, Bristol, North Yorkshire, Kincardineshire and Northampshire. By the time all these stations have been completed, it is expected that 75 per cent of the population will be within reach of 625-line transmissions. These main transmitting stations are being planned so that they can, if necessary, be extended to take up to four programme services (including any eventual I.T.V. 2), and masts and aerials are being standardised as far as possible. Many of them are on existing 8.8. C. or I.T.A. sites, although a few new sites will be needed. Poor Reception Areas Even in and around the main transmitting areas, however, there will be fringes and pockets where reception will be either poor or non-existent, because of the terrain. For example, in the London 8.8. C.-2 area there is a long, narrow pocket along the southern slope of the North Downs, only a few miles from the Crystal Palace transmitter, where reception will be exceedingly difficult. It is to cater for such areas as these, of which there is expected to be a large number, that the 8.8. C. itself is undertaking a construction programme of “fill-in” or relay transmitters, which will pick up the signal from the main transmitter, amplify it, and re-transmit it on another channel. Many hundreds of these subsidiary transmitters will be needed. Several sites are already announced for the London area —Guildford, Raigate, Tunbridge Wells, and Hertford. But these transmitters will take time to build, and in the meantime the radio industry has taken steps to try to meet the problem. Pye, for example, has developed a small booster device which can be fitted to the 625-line aerial at the viewer’s home, which will substantially in-

crease the U.H.F. signal strength. A viewer in a fringe area, therefore, may be able to bring a poor picture up to an acceptable standard, and in this way the device may serve to widen the initial area of 8.8. C.-2 reception. But the charge, five guineas, when added to the already high cost of buying a new 625-line TV set, and buying and installing the appropriate aerial, may well deter some would-be viewers. Many people may wait and sample the quality of programmes before committing themselves to the expense of equipping 8.8. C.-2. 405-Line Coverage In addition to the engineering work done on 8.8. C.-2, there is still a great deal being done to increase the coverage of 405-line TV. This month the 8.8. C. has opened a new 405-line TV service for Wales on Channel 13. Many new 405-line TV relay stations are also being built throughout the United Kingdom. At present, it is estimated that over 99 per cent of the population is within reach of 405-line TV, and the 8.8. C. admits that each new relay station adds only a small fraction to the total number of viewers. “Nevertheless,” it adds, “these new stations mean a great deal to the comparatively small number of people whom they provide with a TV service for the first time; many of them are also important to much larger numbers of people whose reception, hitherto unsatisfactory, has been improved.” Out of some 50 of these 405line relay stations approved in principle, about half have still to be built and brought into service. It is estimated that this programme will be largely completed by the end of this year, or early in 1965, freeing resources for work on 625line engineering. What all this engineering will mean to the 8.8. C. financially is not yet certain, although the Corporation has already warned that a £6 licence fee may become necessary from April 1, 1965. The Corporation has said that if it had received the full proceeds of a £5 licence from April, 1963, for which it had asked, it could have managed out of income to finance its

services until the end of the 19605. Having instead been given the full proceeds of only a £4 licence (for combined sound and television) —and that only from October 1 last, six months later than had been expected— it says it will be forced by April 1, 1965, into making substantial use of its borrowing powers. The 8.8. C. now has rights to borrow £lO million for temporary banking accommodation, and up to £2O million for capital purposes. But it would still prefer to finance itself from licence income, and it is likely to continue to press for the dearer licence, although Mr Bevins, the Postmaster General, has already said that this will not be permitted in the life of the present Government.