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distributed to radio stations abroad) which, though partly
self-financing, requires over £900,000 subsidy from the
grant-in-aid. Our other proposals involve ending broadcas
in Italian, Maltese, French to France and Spanish to Spain
(the French Service to Africa and the Spanish Service to
Latin America would not be affected). We have also asked
the BBC to increase output in Russian, Farsi, Turkish and Pushtu (mainly because of Afghanistan) at a cost of
£200,000 p.a., so the net saving on the current side would
be £1.5m. I do not recommend seeking further savings in
current operations on the dher vernacular services, which
are mainly directed to communist and developing countries,
since these are important tools of foreign policy. (Full 1 at Annex B) 5. I have met great resistance from the BBC to making
the savings in the services mentioned above, which they
vigorously maintain are of national importance. It will
be recalled from the campaign which the BBC conducted in
1979 that they can muster a powerful lobby against cuts in
Parliament and elsewhere. With this in mind, Nicholas
Ridley has kept the Backbench Media Committee generally
informed. But we must expect another major row when our
proposed savings become public knowledge. Nevertheless in
we are at the same time able to ensure a sensible capital
programme for the BBC, we should manage to counter any new
campaign effectively.
6. I have carefully considered the various elements in
the capital programme and I believe there is a very strong
national interest in making all the funds required
available. The programme would be phased over a number of
/years
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