Beveridge

Abstract

It is a testimony to the strength of democratic tradition in Britain that so much of the discussion about public service broadcasting has concerned itself with the problems of monopoly. Commercial interests certainly played an important part in the events which led to the first Television Act, but their role was mainly to provide the means whereby the political will to end the BBC monopoly could be made effective. Initially concern was felt not so much over the dangers of monopoly as over monopoly control by certain groups or sections of society. Soon after the creation of the British Broadcasting Company in 1922, the Sykes Committee of 1923 recorded its view that ‘the control of such a potential power over public opinion and the life of the nation ought to remain with the state’. But this committee did not actually recommend a public monopoly and left open the possibility of more than one provider.