TV control change?

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33521, 30 April 1974, Page 4

TV control change?

The 8.8. C. and I.T.V. would, in effect, be abolished if new Labour Party policy now being drafted were implemented, according to the British entertainment weekly paper, ‘'Television Today.”

The 8.8. C. and 1.8. A. would be replaced by a National Broadcasting Commission. This is one of the proposals to come from a committee, chaired by Mr Tony Benn, whose recommendations will be finalised at a meeting tomorrow.

This ■ revolutionary plan was reported by Peter Jenkins in “The Guardian.” He said that the committee recommended the abolition of the licence fee and the new National Broadcasting Commission would collect television advertising revenue and allocate funds across the whole field of broadcasting. Programmes would be contracted out to small independent producers. According to the report they would be made by “a diversity of programme units reflecting the creative talent from Scotland, Wales, and all the United Kingdom, as well as from London.”

Their output would be scheduled by two television corporations, each responsible for a national and a regional channel. A similar structure is envisaged for sound broadcasting with one, or perhaps two, radio corporations. Mr Jenkins said that the committee felt, that the media was “failing to relate to the needs of society." Its purpose was to open up the media to greater democratic control and participation.

Mr L. C. Neilson has. been appointed Deputy Government Statistician. He succeeds Mr E. A. Harris, who was recently appointed Government Statistician.