The B.B.C. and Radiovision

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 18, 15 November 1929, Page 12

The B.B.C. and Radiovision

A. Satisfactory. Decision at . _, Last AFTER many long and weary months of bitter controversy, the British Broadcasting Company have at last granted the Baird Radiovision Company satisfactory, if not adequate, facilities for the experimental transmission of Baird radiovision. ' The B.B.C.’s first offer to the Baird Co. was rejected on the grounds that three fifteen-minute periods per week outside normal broadcasting hours were insufficient. However, the Baird Co.’s pertinacity in seeking better terms has now been rewarded, for the B.B.C.'s second offer provided for five half-hour periods per week outside programme hours for radiovision transmission. Despite the fact that these facilities now granted are still considered inadequate, it has been decided to accept these terms together with the conditions imposed, and utilise them to show the general public what radiovision is capable of as a new and interesting form of entertainment. This decision should effectively curtail the radiovision controversy, which has been raging for many months past. As the ultimate inclusion. of radiovision in broadcast programmes was inevitable, it would s@em better had the B.B.C. foreseen this and acted accordingly. The total result of their hesi-

tancy has been that England, despite the fact that radiovision originated there, is now one of the most backward of countries with regard to'its development. Germany, for example, without delay, wholeheartedly attacked the problem of satisfactory radiovision broadcasts, with the result that the Baird system of transmission and reception is now an accepted form of entertainment in that country. In England, however, because of the hesitancy of the B.B.C., the general adoption. of this new science is but in its infancy. In any event, whether permission has been granted late or early, it now remains for that arbitrator of all national institutions, the public, to decide to what extent, if at all, radiovision is to. be incorporated in broadcasting. Though a definite solution to the problem appears to have been found, it is, however, extremely likely that fresh complications will arise, because the B.B.C. will be the sole interpreters of the public’s verdict. They have, in granting the broadcasting concession to the Baird Company, retained the power to discontinue at any moment the privilege thus conferred; and when it is realised that even now the B.B.C. is accepting the inclusion of radiovision broadcasts with extreme reluctance, it seems possible that in the near future fresh difficulties may develop.