Colour TV essential for the 1974 Games

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32459, 20 November 1970, Page 4

Colour TV essential for the 1974 Games

New Zealand has an irrefutable obligation to provide colour television coverage of the 1974 Commonwealth Games, says Mr Reeves Harris, a former director of the N.Z.B.C. and the man who will be largely responsible for arranging the news media coverage of the Games.

Mr Harris has no doubt that the biggest problem for his news media sub-com-mittee of the Games organising body will be television coverage, specially in regard to colour. It was of little concern to his committee, he said, whether New Zealand had colour television in three years or whether there are two channels or one, but what was of vital importance for the Games was that all camera work right through to the videotape and films stage be in full colour. Unless there was colour film available, overseas countries would simply not be interested in television coverage at all and if for some reason the N.Z.B.C. was restricted from providing. colour, then there would be no alternative but giving the concession to some organisation which did have colour facilities, said Mr Harris. “Colour it has to be, or we might as well forget it for the rest of the world—and for New Zealand that would be a catastrophe.” With colour cameras, videotape recorders and a 8.8. C. standards converter

for conversions to the American colour system, New Zealand would be in a position to supply film to any television country in the world with the exception of France, which has its own converters.

New Zealanders had no reason to be concerned if all the camera work was in colour, as black and white sets would show the colour film just as clearly as the picture they receive now—in some areas the quality of the picture would be even better than it is with black and white film, said Mr Harris.

Fortunately, he added, the N.Z.B.C. already has in operation most of the equipment necessary for a microwave link in colour from Christchurch to the satellite station at Warkworth.