22 JANUARY 1954, Page 4

A New Deal for Listeners

countries, and in the United States the standard medium for television sound transmissions. As for cost, it is estimated that the 75 transmitters needed to provide national VHF coverage for three programmes (to supplement, not to replace, the present long and medium wave stations, which will con- tinue to operate) could be installed for £31 millions, and run for £800,000 a year, while the extra cost of incorporating VHF in new receiving sets would be of the order of 30 per cent. If this really means high-quality, interference-free broadcast reception, it will be, by present-day money standards, cheap at the price.