BROADCAST RELAYS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 115, 13 February 1928, Page 8

BROADCAST RELAYS

QUESTION OF PAYMENT COMPANY’S STATEMENT An official statement has been issued by the Radio Broadcasting Company concerning the subject of payment for relays, on which some public comment has been made of late. The band contest which is to be held in Christchurch this month is not to be broadcast. This information has been conveyed to the company, wTiose application to broadcast has been refused. Referring to the matter, Mr. A. R. Harns, general manager of the company, said that the secretary of the Band Contest Committee had stated that the reason for the committee's decision was that it refused to give the company “something for nothing.” “There is apparently a misconception amongst some people regarding the functions and duties of the Broadcasting Company,” said Mr. Harris. “In the first, place, it is not the Broadcasting Company that is getting something for nothing, but the attraction that is broadcast on relay. It costs the Broadcasting Company considerable money to broadcast, and' the persons whose performance is broadcast no additional expenditure. Neither has it any adverse effect on the attendance. As a matter of fact, it has been proved here and elsewhere that considerable benefit accrues to the attraction broadcast, due to the publicity given. “The Radio Broadcasting Company’s position is not that of a private company formed to exploit the public, but that of a public company formed under Government regulation to administer a public utility in the interest of the communitv.

“The company appreciates that it costs racing and trotting chibs, band associations, musical societies, and such like public institutions a considerable amount of money to provide their form of entertainment, and it is their business to decide whether they shall or shall not permit broadcasting, 'file company also appreciates that these institutions are giving, in their own way, and at considerable personal effort and expense, service of the greatest public interest. However, as the Broadcasting Company's service is also given in the public interest, it cannot for this reason make direct payment for relays, although it is prepared to co-operate with such institutions to the extent of providing the broadcasting service without any cost to them.”