Evening star., 1949-03-30
World Leadership Lost
By British TeIevision
Press Criticizes Slow Progress and
Poor Quality of Programs
Bv WHliam McGaHn

oOi OouiNy VI AoSA ahAS
By William McGaHn
Foreign Correspondent Of The sar and Chicago Dolly News
LONDON, Mar. 30-Britain has lost its
world lead in television.
Practically everybody admits this except
Norman Collins. boss man of the BIC tele-
vision service, which is a state monopoly here
like radio
Mr.. Collins came back from look at the
rapidly expanding television business in the
United States and announced, I'VE have
nothing to learn"
But one of Mr. Collins key executives re-
signed recently because he was disappointed
at the "slow progress made by the BIC in
equipping the television service with postwar
apparatus"
c. Ian Orr-EWing, who was outside broad
casts manager. said: In the past three years
there has been no noticeable advance in re-
eQuipping the service. Improved studio and
outside broadcast facilities are badly needed.
If British television is to regain the technical
lead it once had
Now the newspapers have taken to writing
prodding editorials. The London Daily Ex-
press, for example. laments the "pitifui' lag
in development and says fatty that "tele-
vision equipment is obsolete" 1t declares:
There is no real drive to extend the system.
no time schedule, no plan of capital expendi-
ture beyond the Midlands station, which IL
expected to function in the autumn"
Two Stations in Britain.
Incidentally with the erection of this sta
tion in the Midlands (at Sutton Coldheld.
near Birmingham Britain will have the
grand total of two stations. The other one
is in London) America has 81 stations-and
is expected to have 400 by the end Of next
year.
In an interview with this writer. Mr..
Collins recognized Americas lead in the
number of stations but contended that
Britains programs are better. Yet the Sum
day Pictorial, in an article called THE
Truth About British Television." criticizes
British programs for being poor. Trans
missions on most days are only an hour IN
the afternoon and about two hours in the
evening. Afternoon programs are mainly
old American Aims. They are terrible. The
most popular and best produced programs
are plays. Next come outside broadcasts
Of sport and national ceremonies.
Many sports promoters are bitterly op-
posed to television because they fear attend
ances will suffer Consequently, most
sportscasts are of amateur events. Variety
programs are poor because the big combines
put television ban on their stars. No IA
cilities are given by West End theater man
agements and many f1lm companies put
no television' clause in their contracts.
Prospects of modern British films being
televised have receded. Powerful Aim in
terests regard television as dangerous
competitor. And the BIC can't or won't
pay high fees
Complain of Noises.
Other critics complain of the frequent
breakdowns and of the backstage noises that
go out on the air when scenery is shifted
in the two painfully cramped studios at
ALLY Pally' alexandra Palace. at present
Britain's lone station in North London.
America is ahead not only in the number
of stations but also in the quality of the
television screen. The BIC uses a screen
with 4o5-line standard of definition.
American stations get detail of small objects
better with their 525-line screen. But France
tops them both with an 819-line standard. "a
thousand lines would be needed to match
a movie screen-and a private French COM
pany is experimenting with television
screen of 1929 lineso
The trouble with increasing the number Of
lines in television screen is that it decreases
the transmitter's wave-length This means
costlier transmitters. shorter range and more
ghost images due to reflection from nearby
buildings. In Paris, however, the govern
ment-run Radiodifusion Franchise has little
television aerials are mounted on the 985-
foot Eiffel Tower.
Despite inferior programs. television Is
growing fast in popularity here in Britain.
Stores are selling sets faster than they can
get them in.
100000 Set Owners.
One hundred thousand Britons owned tele-
vision sets in January-and while this num-
Der Is 900 under the American figure, it
is double the British figure of only six months
ago. It probably will be doubled again before
the year is out. Nearly all these sets are in
British homes. The British don't go for sets
in their saloons.
Sets are cheaper here than in America.
You can get one with 10-inch screen for
as little as. SITS Gncluding $32 sales taxi.
The H-shaped aerials Chat cost upwards OF
s36 installed will start mushrooning in the
Birmingham area in the autumn when the
opening of the new station there adds an
other 100000 persons to the television
audience.
Many unkind words are said about British
television these days. But 1t is only fair to
point out that part of the difficulty stems
from the fact that six years were lost during
the war. Television shut down from 1910
to 1916, and the Alexandra Palace station
was used to send out homing beam for
Yankee bombers returning from missions
over Germany.
The money for television in this country
comes from the pockets of the people who
pay for licenses to own radio and television
sets-$4 year for radio, So for television.
The BIC spent 81 900 900 on television last
year. Mr. Collins insists that he is not short
of money but rather of equipment. He says
that new equipment is on order which must
take back seat to the general export drive
on which the nations recovery depends.
Questions and Answers
A reader can get the answer to any question Of
fact By writing The Evening Star 1nformstion
Bureau, 316 street NE Washngton Z, ~ T.