Television Advisory Committees: Minutes and Papers

In May 1934 a committee was appointed under the Chairmanship of Lord Selsdon to "consider the development of television and to advise the Postmaster General on the relative merits of the several systems and on the conditions under which any public service television should be provided". The Selsdon Committee's report (Cmnd. 4793) in January 1935 proposed inter alia the appointment of a standing Television Advisory Committee which was established on 31st Jan. 1935. This committee ceased to meet and act after Feb. 1940 as the television service had by that time been suspended because of the war.

In 1945, as a result of a recommendation in the published report of the Committee on Television under the Chairmanship of Lord Hankey, a Television Advisory Committee was set up with Mr G M Garro-Jones as chairman to "advise the responsible Minister on television service, including the standards to be adopted: (a) the planning, after consultation with industry, of the future television service, including the standards to be adopted; (b) the co-ordination and, where necessary, the initiation of research into the principles and practice of television; (c) The encouragement of pooling of television patents and their use in the national interest; (d) the investigation of all developments on television at home and abroad, including its use for cinemas, bearing in mind the importance of the export trade and the desirability of the adoption of international television standards."

In May 1952 in a White Paper (Cmnd. 8550), Memorandum on the Report of the Broadcasting Committee 1949 (see HO 254), the Government expressed the views that some element of competition should be permitted in the expanding field of television. They announced their intention of seeking advice on technical questions on the development of the BBC television service and on the best methods of introducing higher frequency sound broadcasting, including the form of modulation to be adopted, after consultation with the radio industry.

The Postmaster General therefore reconstituted the Television Advisory Committee on 29 October 1952 with the following terms of reference: "To advise the Postmaster General on the development of television and sound broadcasting at frequencies above 30 megacycles per second and related matters, including competitive television services and television for public showing in cinemas and elsewhere".