Television is probably the most important single factor in the continuous contest for the public’s favour between the political parties. Parties and candidates cannot buy advertising time. At intervals each channel provides time for each of the three main political parties for party-political broadcasts, and during an election campaign a great deal of time is provided for parties’ election, always on an equal basis.
Minor parties get time, based partly on the number of their candidates. In Wales and Scotland the nationalist parties get TV time on the same basis as the three others. Studios and transmitters must be provided free of charge. But often a party prefers to film a broadcast outside the studio at its own expense, for greater impact.
BBC TV Europe broadcasts some of its own programmes by satellite, and from 1991 BBC TV International began to sell and distribute its World Service TV news in English and some other languages.
The BBC’s Radio 4 is the main general interest radio service, with some items run by regional studios. Radio 3 is for minority interests, including music, “2” for light entertainment, “1” for pop music and “5” for sport, education and children’s programmes. There are also several dozens local BBC radio stations, covering the whole country. The world wide radio service has been established for long time, and is the activity of the BBC to receive a government subsidy.
The BBC runs several dozens of local radio stations, which compete with independent commercial rivals, financed by advertisements. All provide a mixture of local news and comment, with some entertainment matter, mainly pop music, in between. In the 1990s there should be one or more new commercial radio stations broadcasting nationwide, including one “non-pop” station, possibly for continuous broadcasts of classical music.
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