Broadcasting (Cable Systems)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 8:15 pm on 2 December 1982.

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Photo of Geoffrey Robinson Geoffrey Robinson Shadow Spokerperson (Science) 8:15, 2 December 1982

I am fortunate to follow the hon. Member for Beckenham (Sir P. Goodhart). He ended with a request for speed. I believe that I have heard every speech in this debate, but I have heard nothing to justify the great haste with which the Government are embarking on the cabling of Great Britain. A case for speed can be made if the matter is approached correctly from the technological point of view. The interests that have been declared have been those of the programme organisers. They wish to use cable to advertise or reap the benefits of advertising revenue, and I do not believe that those are good enough reasons.

No one who is close to the British public can say that he has detected a crying need for the range of programmes that cabling will make possible. I have not detected that need among my constituents or the people of the area in which I live. The most puzzling feature of the debate is the speed at which it is taking place. There was a rather disgraceful report by the information technology advisory panel which is composed of an opinionated, self-interested and culturally disinterested group of people who urged that we go ahead with the cabling of Britain. As far as I could make out, they gave no good reasons for that. The Government, however, are quickly implementing the proposals.

Recommendation 8.11 of the report states: The Government should announce as soon as possible its approval for an early start on DBS services. That is all part of the same argument. There is a footnote which says: The Home Secretary announced the Government's approval in principle for a two-channel operational DBS service starting in 1986 in a parliamentary statement on 4 March 1982. This came as something of a surprise to those of us who have some experience of the excruciatingly slow and grinding processes by which Government decisions are made. Equally surprising was the fact that hot on the heels of that report the Hunt committee was set up. It was comprised of three members only because more members would have needed longer to reach a decision.

Within about nine months we had the Hunt report with its conclusions. One cannot start DBS until a decision has been made on which system should be used for transmitting from the satellite to the receivers. That is a difficult decision. A choice has to be made between two powerful lobbies—between the BBC and its PAL and extended PAL and the MAC system proposed by the IBA and its engineering directorate. It is a decision about which Governments would normally agonise for years. That problem was resolved without any trouble. Sir Anthony Part then crops up. I do not know what he knows about technology, but he has a good, independent and incisive mind. Within a matter of weeks he made recommendations. Despite many pleadings from the BBC—with which I do not agree—that it would cut us off from our European audiences, a decision was reached. Come what may, we shall have MAC. It is almost unprecedented for a Government to wish to push through so quickly a series of decisions in such a complex and difficult area. I can find no good reason for the speed.

No one has yet mentioned the inherent conflict in what we are trying to do. Those in favour of television by cable urge the maximum speed; with equal emphasis, we are told that it is a high risk activity and needs a long franchise period. Hon. Members have referred to the period being between 20 and 25 years—some with anguish and others with delight.

The two arguments do not go together. If we push ahead as quickly as we can and give a franchise for 25 years, with the technological state of the two alternative systems—coaxial and fibre optics—we shall tie in a major part of our cabling to the coaxial system.