The 9.25pm main bulletin from ITN on Sunday 22 March 1964 with Huw Thomas giving us the top stories.

Do watch until the end, where Huw makes a terrible pun: his reaction to doing so is perfect.

The post ITN News on 22 March 1964 appeared first on THIS IS ZENITH 1964 from Transdiffusion.

Trevor Lucas takes us through an evening of ATV London programming by slowly getting closer and closer and closer to the camera. When edited together like this, the effect is really quite creepy.

The post ATV London on 22 March 1964 appeared first on THIS IS ZENITH 1964 from Transdiffusion.

Take radio listening first. The sixties have seen a quite marked expansion in listening to BBC sound broadcasts. Since virtually every home has at least one radio receiver, and has had for some years past, a fair measure is the number of hours of listening to them per head of population (excluding infants). Here are the estimates for the past four years:

PER CAPITA TIME SPENT IN LISTENING TO BBC RADIO BETWEEN 7.00 A.M. and 11.00 A.M. EACH WEEK

This expansion has taken place despite the fact that listening after 6.00 p.m. has decreased. Whereas listening per capita before 6.00 p.m. has gone up from 5-7 hours a week per head in 1960-1 to 7.6 hours in 1963/64, listening after 6.00 p.m. has dropped from 1.6 hours to 1.1 hours. The downward trend in evening listening is, of course, nothing new. It is largely a consequence of the growth of television. From the earliest days of television it has been clear that people who have a choice between viewing television and listening to the radio tend to exercise it differently in the evening and in the daytime. In the evening they usually opt for viewing, cutting the time they spend in listening to a mere fraction of its former length. In the daytime, on the other hand, the ‘pull’ of television encounters much stronger resistance. When both television and sound broadcasting are available, substantial numbers of people, who could view, continue to listen. And, of course, there are many hours during which radio holds the field alone. At one time fears were expressed that people whose former listening habits had been broken by television might come to neglect radio in general. Experience has shown there to be little substance in this. The increased use of radio broadcasting in the daytime is indeed very largely accounted for by the listening of people who have television sets.

It must also be pointed out that even though BBC radio’s evening audience is much less than it was in pre-television days it is by no means inconsiderable. Recently (during January-March 1964, for example) it averaged one-and-a-half million persons, nearly half of whom were people who could have viewed had they wished to do so.

The amount of time spent in viewing British television (whether of BBC or ITV) increased during the sixties, but this was to be expected, for the number of people with television sets increased. In the spring of 1960 some 80 per cent of the population had access to a television receiver; four years later this figure had grown to 90 per cent. The table below shows, quarter by quarter, the estimated weekly amount of viewing (whether of BBC-TV or ITV) by those with television sets (the ‘week’ is taken to include 2.00 to 11.00 p.m. on Saturdays, 3.00 to 11 p.m. on Sundays and 5.00 – 11 p.m. on weekdays, making forty-seven hours in all).

PER CAPITA TIME SPENT IN VIEWING TELEVISION EACH WEEK

These figures certainly do not suggest that the sixties have seen any significant change in the amount of time viewers have devoted to viewing. But they do show that viewing fluctuated seasonally quite substantially. In winter people tend to view about 25 per cent more than they do in summer (whereas they listen to radio only about 10 per cent more in winter).

In considering the trend in BBC-TV (as distinct from ITV) viewing, a distinction must be made between ‘multi-channel’ viewers (those who can receive both BBC and ITV programmes) and ‘single-channel’ viewers (those whose sets can only receive BBC-TV). The time devoted by multi-channel viewers to viewing BBC-TV is shown below:

PER CAPITA TIME SPENT IN VIEWING BBC-TV EACH WEEK (MULTI-CHANNEL VIEWERS ONLY)

As will be seen, BBC viewing amongst multi-channel viewers increased by 0.4 hours between 1960-1 and 1961-2 and by a further 0.9 hours in the next year, but decreased by 0.5 hours between 1962-3 and 1963-4.

If each of these figures is expressed as a proportion of all multichannel viewing, they show how much of it, quarter by quarter, was devoted to BBC-TV, thus:

BBC-TV’S ‘SHARE’ OF MULTI-CHANNEL VIEWING

Between April-June 1960 and July-September 1961 the BBC’s ‘share’ fluctuated between 37 per cent and 40 per cent. During the next three quarters (October-December 1961 to April-June 1962) conditions were abnormal, for during much of this period a dispute with Equity affected the nature of ITV programming. However, the BBC’s share in those weeks which were unaffected by the dispute were such as to suggest that a substantial shift would in any case have been apparent. This was confirmed by the results for July-September 1962 – the first fully ‘normal’ quarter after the dispute was settled – for the BBC’s ‘share’ (44 per cent) was found to be appreciably greater than it had been in the corresponding months of 1961 and 1960. A further sharp increase occurred in October-December 1962. Although this was not wholly maintained, the BBC’s ‘share’ in 1963-4 (46 per cent) was substantially larger than it was in 1960-1.

Turning now to single-channel viewers, they can, by definition, only view BBC-TV (unless they view outside their own homes). The annual figures for their viewing were as follows:

PER CAPITA TIME SPENT IN VIEWING BBC-TV EACH WEEK (SINGLE-CHANNEL VIEWING)

(It is of interest to note in passing that the typical single-channel viewer spent almost as much time in viewing one service as the typical multi-channel viewer spent in viewing two.)

To obtain a complete picture of BBC viewing over the years, and of what this amounted to as a proportion of ‘all viewing’, it is necessary to combine the contributions of multi-channel and singlechannel viewers. This gives the following results:

PER CAPITA TIME SPENT IN VIEWING BBC-TV EACH WEEK (ALL VIEWERS)

BBC—TV’s SHARE OF ALL VIEWING

It will be seen that as the years pass these figures become progressively closer to those, given above, for multi-channel viewers only. This is because single-channel viewers are becoming rarer every year. (In 1960-1 one viewer in eight could only view BBC programmes; by 1963-4 this proportion was not much more than one in forty.) In short, with each passing year the area of competition increased. Despite this, the total amount of BBC viewing in 1963-4 equalled that of 1960-1 and the BBC’s share of ‘all viewing’ was slightly greater.

The post Listening and Viewing in the Sixties appeared first on THIS IS ZENITH 1964 from Transdiffusion.

This didn’t happen – the change of government in October 1964 scuppered the plans, as the Labour Party was ideologically opposed to expanding commercial broadcasting and would have preferred a BBC-3 educational television service, incorporating their planned University of the Air.

Here are the words of Lord Hill of Luton, the chairman of the ITA, from August 1963 as he announced what the Authority planned to do with the existing ITV service in the run up to ITV-2.

My main subject today is the shape, the pattern, the structure. Two main changes lie ahead. Firstly, there is the change to 625 lines and UHF. Secondly, there is the declaration of intention of the Government announced by the Postmaster-General on 27th June in relation to the second Independent Television service. You will remember his words: ‘if all goes well and there are suitable companies willing to offer their services to the ITA, the Government would certainly hope during the autumn of 1965 to authorize the physical build-up of the second programme, starting in the areas of big population’.

With these words in mind the Authority’s planning for the future must be based on the assumption that there is to be a second Independent Television service over much of the country. Therefore it has to begin as soon as possible to plan and prepare for Independent Television’s second phase – the two service phase.

On the assumption that the Government’s intention is fulfilled, the Authority has already resolved how the second phase shall begin. It contemplates that for the areas of denser population there shall be competition between two independent companies operating over the full week, and so for the viewer a choice between two independent television services. According to what is decided in the mapping out of these areas of denser population, there will be six or more seven-day companies competing in pairs. The Authority proposes, as soon as it has completed its urgent work in relation to the interim phase, to get down to the task of planning that second phase on these lines.

The basic plan for the second phase, which I have described, will change the face of television over much of the country. There will be changes of coverage, in terms of both areas and days. There will be openings for new companies in these highly populated regions and no doubt smaller companies then operating may wish to consider applying for the larger franchises.

Clearly the same contract cannot apply to the second phase with all its profound change as well as the period immediately ahead – the interim phase. It follows that the immediate contracts will have to end when the second service begins.

What should be the duration of the contracts soon to be awarded? In other words, when can we expect the second service? The Postmaster-General said it could be on the air in 1966 – and then went on to stress what he described as the very real hurdles. The actual date will depend on, amongst other things, the P.M.G.s decision, after having the advice of his Television Advisory Committee, on the method and timing of duplication on 625 of the two existing television services – a complicated problem which I will not go into now except to say that it affects the dates by which the Post Office could have the links available. In all the circumstances, the Authority’s judgment is that the second service will become possible at some time between the autumn of 1966 and mid-1967.

As the immediate contracts have to be related to the expected date of the launching of a second service, the Authority has decided that their duration should be three years, subject to four points. The first is that should the second service begin before the expiry of three years – this is possible but by no means certain – then the contracts will terminate when it begins. Secondly, should the announced date of commencement of the second service be after July 1967, contracts will continue (subject to a reconsideration of rentals in the light of experience) until the second service arrives, up to a total period of six years. Thirdly, any contract terminated by the arrival of the second service and applying only to an area in no way affected by its introduction will be renewed, subject to the six-year maximum and to reconsideration of rental. Fourthly, if for any reason it becomes apparent that a second service cannot be introduced before 1970, there will be no extension of the three-year contracts and the Authority will re-examine the whole pattern on the basis of a single service.

The question which now arises is whether there shall be a fundamental re-casting of the pattern from next July, bearing in mind that a drastic re-shaping is likely to occur two or three years later. Clearly it would be wrong to do anything in the interim phase which prejudices the long-term plan. A number of ideas, as you know, have been put forward. It has been suggested that a seven-day service should be introduced for the Midlands with or without a change from the 5:2 pattern to a 4: 3 pattern in London and the North. You know the objections equally well. The 4:3 pattern, involving the addition of a day to the weekend and a reduction of weekdays, is in conflict with the pattern of most of our lives – five days work and two days recreation. For myself I dislike this variation.

Should a seven-day service be introduced for the Midlands, the successful company knowing that a few years later there will be a competitor in the same area and for the same days? Some might think yes. On balance, because what lies immediately ahead is an interim period during which the second phase will be planned and those years will be the period when the expanded competition of the BBC will be felt, the Authority has decided not to submit Independent Television to two upheavals in a few years. With certain modifications, the existing pattern of days and hours will continue during the interim phase. Let me make it absolutely clear that what I have said relates solely to the pattern of days and areas – of supply that is – not of companies. Present companies and new companies are to apply for any area they choose. All bets are off and there will be a fair field for all.

The post Preparing for ITV-2 appeared first on THIS IS ZENITH 1964 from Transdiffusion.