Getting people to buy new television sets and aerials in order to receive BBC-2 was an uphill battle. Despite the addition of colour to the network long before it came to BBC-1 and the ITV companies, BBC-2 just wasn’t enough to sell expensive new sets.
The highbrow stuff remained front and centre, partially because it appealed to those with the spare cash to buy a 625-line (colour) set and a new UHF aerial, and partially because the BBC had long wanted to give the establishment what it wanted – a channel that, like radio’s Third Programme, they could be proud of without ever tuning into.
Making BBC-2 seem young and exciting and new and special was what was needed. The highbrow network had 4 hours a night on air, but the BBC made the case that these 4 hours were crammed with stuff we, the viewers, were missing. Drama, music, celebrities, hobbies – all were here if you’d just go out and get a UHF set.
A major thing was made not only of colour, but the fact that 625-lines was a better resolution than 405-lines on the two main channels. Alas, the new UHF transmitters were often woefully underpowered and people found that getting a good picture from a little signal was possible on VHF but not worth the trouble on UHF.
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