Norman Collins, Deputy Chairman of the Associated Broadcasting Company, has written to the editor of The Times in response to Mr Grenville’s missive assuring him that his friend only has to contact the ABC’s sales director and can be given full details – day of week, hour of day and price – of the various advertising opportunities.
The possibility of boxing matches on commercial TV is a subject of interest to a number of newspapers. In The Guardian, a representative of the British Boxing Board of Control is keen for boxing shows to be tried on commercial television, but only under the Board’s jurisdiction. They assert that no promoter should arrange a long-term agreement of sign-up with just one company and there should be no studio tournaments. For televised matches it suggests that receipts would be divided 47 1/2 % to the promoter, the same amount to the managers and boxers, and 5% to the board.
The Daily Mirror reports similar comments, this time attributing them to Mr. Alexander Elliott, vice-chairman of the BBBoC. Some aspects are clarified further here. For example, to avoid TV just cherry-picking the bigger contests, BBBoC permission must be obtained on each occasion. Mr. Elliott also has concerns about the televising of a bout adversely affecting the crowds at other boxing events being run simultaneously and suggests that the blacking-out of certain parts of the country may be necessary to prevent this.
On the BBC it’s something of a light-hearted evening, with Fred Emney, Eric Barker, Jill Day, David Berglas and the Television Toppers in Lower the Gangway from somewhere in Portsmouth, Bernard Braden and his chums in Bath-Night with Braden and another Harding Finds Out.
Slightly more serious is the third programme in the series Harding Finds Out and more series still is In The News which is “an unrehearsed discussion on topics of the week.” Michael Peacock produces and Frank Byers attempts to keep in order the speakers who this week are Bernard Braine MP (Con, South East Essex), Anthony Greenwood MP (Lab, Rossendale), Julian Amery MP (Con, Preston North) and Geoffrey de Freitas MP (Lab, Lincoln).