TNAG-1555-FCO40-2119-Broadcasting-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 331

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16. Mr Ratford argued that the highest priority needed to be given to improving the audibility of the World Service. It was agreed to ask the BBC for a summary of present World Service audibility worldwide with a map showing footprints

of acceptable signal strengths.

17. Mr Barrington briefly brought the Committee up to date on BBC plans for an External Broadcasting Service in Vision. The BBC Working Group established in 1985 had produced a report which we had not seen. A new Planning team was now carrying out a more detailed study into a possible service of one or two half hour international news programmes a day.

The Their report was supposed to be completed in August. main problem would be funding, and no commitment even to consider funding had been given. Indeed before funding could be considered we needed to be convinced that what the BBC proposed could not be done by the private sector for example by Visnews, ITN etc.

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Conclusions

18. Summing up the conclusions of the meeting,

Mr Barrington said Information Department would submit to Ministers, after exploring with the BBC, the possibility

of:

(i) an extra 1 hour a day in Mandarin at a good

listening time;

(ii) a new 30 minute a day Korean Service at a good

listening time;

(both of these changes to be implemented on completion of

the Hong Kong relay and financed without cuts to existing Services using any windfall additional resources available

to the BBC).

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