:
Mom Sanch 3/2 At 2/12
See pina 5
82/1~
PS/Mr Eggar
ра
PA Brondearting
From:
GS Wright (Mrs)
Date:
28 November 1986
CC:
Mr Barrington
FED
RECE
HKD
Mr Clark WARC
HKK 306/1
PASTRY
- 4 DEC 1986
VISIT OF MR AI, CHINESE MINISTER OF RADIO, FILM AND TELEVISION
1.
Mr Ai, the Chinese Minister of Radio, Film and Television, is calling on Mr Eggar at 2.45 pm on Friday 28 November.
2. Mr Eggar should be aware the Home Office have told us that, during his meeting with the Home Secretary on 26 November,
Mr Ai expressed interest in exploring the possibility of a
reciprocal arrangement with the BBC External Services to share transmitter facilities in order to improve the quality of reception and range of programmes available in each country.
Mr Hurd had replied that this was a matter for the FCO. Mr Ai
will have had an opportunity to raise this idea with Mr Milne
at the BBC on 27 November and Mr Tusa at Bush House this
morning, but he may still mention it to Mr Eggar.
3.
HY
'un Taken
me
Transmitter sharing arrangements with foreign broadcasters
are a matter for the BBC as part of their management responsib- ilities. The preliminary view of the External Services on
this idea is one of polite but cautious interest. The French
had been negotiating a reciprocal arrangement with the Chinese
earlier this year, but the BBC say this has collapsed for some
reason which is unclear. The BBC have reciprocal arrangements with a number of other broadcasters including VOA, CBC and Deutsche Welle, but not so far with any Communist country. They already have difficulty finding time and frequencies for these broadcasts on their transmitters (the Japanese and Omanis have also been interested in similar relay arrangements).
The BBC
are not sure they want Communist broadcasts on their transmitters and they are very sceptical whether the Chinese would give the BBC a watertight guarantee not to interfere with their broadcasts in China.
/ 4.