The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

July 1956 CINE TECHNICIAN 99 In place of our usual leader we print on this page this month an article on the Americanization of British Television, by Desmond Davis, TV representative on the Executive TIME, SPACE AND THE I.T.A. J" OUD, frequent and to my mind •^ wholly justified are the cries of wrath against the increasing Americanization of English television; for, whatever we feel about the American way of life, and however much we might admire the genuine, native American, we certainly do not want to bring up in this country a race of ersatz Yanks. And that, unless we are very careful, is what we are about to do. But anger, however enjoyable, is of no avail if it is expended in a vacuum. Let us, therefore, examine the root causes and thereby suggest a remedy. The first cause is that, owing to the long domination of the American film industry, entertainment has become associated with an American accent in the minds of a large mass of the population. The silliest plot and the dullest dialogue will, to them, seem more witty, slick and professional if it is delivered with a transatlantic twang and is liberally peppered with American cliches. The second and much more powerful cause is that the television production companies, for reasons we will examine later, are in very low financial water; they are, therefore, forced to put on the cheapest programmes that will pull in the largest audience. These are largely American TV films that have already paid for themselves in the States and English TV films that, because of economic pressure, are basically aimed at the American market and, for this reason, are Americanized. But why has the economic insecurity of the commercial companies produced the same effect, though admittedly to a lesser extent, in the BBC which is financially secure and independent? The answer to that is a BBC policy decision at high level. The BBC instead of using its wealth to set its sights and standards high and give an example of what television could and should be, has unfortunately decided to enter the rat race and join issue with the commercial companies in the scramble for ever larger viewing figures. In fact commercial television is leading the BBC by the nose round the downward spiral towards an ever lower and more common denominator. Let us delve a little deeper yet. We have seen that the prime cause of the Americanization of British television is the economic struggle which the commercial companies are having. Why are they having this struggle? There are a number of small reasons for this but by far the biggest, the best, the most basic reason is the fact that the ITA gave them a foundation on which it was virtually impossible to build a satisfactory house. Geographical Chunks The ITA, in an attempt to provide a semblance of competition, divided the country up into geographical chunks and handed those chunks round to the programme contractors. This early bloomer has completely bedevilled the entire operation and will continue to bedevil it until it is rectified. Television is very, very expensive indeed. The basic need of good television is plenty of money. Cheap programmes are almost always nasty programmes. For commercial programmes to be of top quality they must have the maximum income and to have the maximum income they must have the maximum audience, since advertisers naturally pay strictly in relation to the number of viewers. To have the maximum audience they must be transmitted by all stations simultaneously throughout the country. Instead of splitting the space the ITA should, of course, have split only the time, the days and hours of operation, between the programme contractors so that all their programmes, except those very few of purely regional character and interest, could have been automatically networked and transmitted nationally; thus giving them the maximum audience coverage. Under the present, absurd system of waste and duplication with its multiplicity of local programmes each with a very limited audience and income, contractors are starved of money, overburdened with capital expenditure and forced to originate programmes in places where there is little or no local talent, because the local talent has naturally gravitated to London, the traditional centre of the entertainment industry. What is the solution? Short of stopping and starting again in the right way, it is impossible to say in the course of a brief article. Doubtless some sort of fumbled compromise could be found. The ITA could, I suppose, give the offending production companies a little homily on cultural and aesthetic values. They could tell them that they were very naughty boys and that they must mend their ways. But it is hardly the effective time to do so when those companies are virtually struggling for economic survival. It would be like rebuking a drowning man for getting his collar wet. One thing, however, is certain; the ITA, set up by the government as a bulwark against bad taste and low standards, has made this one cardinal blunder which is tending not only to debauch commercial television but is also reducing the standards of the BBC. DESMOND DAVIS. CINE TECHNICIAN Editor: MARTIN CHISHOLM Editorial Office: 2 Soho Square, W.l Telephone: GERrard 8506 Advertisement Office: 5 and 6 Red Lion Sq., W.C.I Telephone: HOLborn 4972