The Press TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1966. Colour Television In Britain

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31009, 15 March 1966, Page 16

The Press TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1966. Colour Television In Britain

The Postmaster-General, Mr Wedgwood Benn, ended a long period of uncertainty for manufacturers of television sets when he announced in the House of Commons last week that transmissions in colour will start in Britain towards the end of next year. He also appeared to anticipate, though perhaps too hopefully, an end to the long controversy on systems and line standards when he said the 8.8. C. 2 would use the West German Telefunken P.A.L. system on 625 li nes — a much-sought conversion from the existing 405-line system. Initially, said Mr Benn, there would be four hours of colour transmission each week, rising to 10 hours a week after 12 months. The House no doubt heard the Minister’s announcement with great interest, since colour transmissions in the United States have for long been whetting the public appetite in Britain. For British manufacturers, however, sales experience in the United States might be a very useful guide. Colour sets went on the market there in 1955, but development was surprisingly slow. No doubt the unreliability of sets and the vagaries of reception were major causes of hesitancy on the part of viewers. Whatever the reason, in the first 10 years of the new service sales of colour sets totalled less than 7 per cent of sales of the conventional black-and-white. British makers are confident that they can benefit from American experience by producing sets of a high and consistent standard of performance. Technical factors were the main cause of delay in reaching a decision on colour television in Britain. The cost of the service, for instance, will require the introduction of a supplementary licence fee. Indeed, Mr Benn told the Commons —with rather surprising candour on the eve of an election campaign—that B BC. finances were in such poor shape that a licence fee of £7 was a possibility within two years. He emphasised, however, that a more important consideration for the success of the service and export prospects for the British electronics industry was uniformity of transmission in Europe. Mr Benn said it would lead to technical confusion if Britain adopted a colour system in advance of European agreement on a single type. The desirability of having a common standard is already widely recognised in Europe, yet conferences between the colour study committee of the European Broadcasting Union and the top-level International Radio Consultative Committee have so far failed to reduce the three available systems to one for common use. West Germany, which also proposes to introduce colour television next year, has been strongly pressing the claims of its system, P.A.L. (Phase Alternation Line) for common use in Europe —apparently with British approval. The other svstems are the American N.T.C.S. (National Television System Committee), and the French Secam (Sequential and Memory) which the French Government, at the moment, is determined to adopt and to press on other interested governments. An international conference at Oslo in June will make a determined bid to resolve the tricky problem of system uniformity, which obviously has a vital bearing on the standardisation of sets and, for British industry particularly, on market penetration in Europe. The cost of sets, it has been pointed out, will depend largely on the rate of sales expansion when transmissions begin. Mr Benn thought British colour receivers would cost about £250. In the United States the cheapest sets sold at about £lBO 10 years ago. Last year, when the period of real expansion began, competition had forced sets down in price to a iittle more than £lOO. American experience suggests that service expansion and the rate of market growth will in due course influence the price of sets in Britain also.