2013-11-08
An interesting bit of cold war history: ...
An interesting bit of cold war history: when the British army had a large number of people stationed in Germany a TV station was set up, BFBS Television which still runs in areas where the British army is active. Back in the 1980s satellite home distribution wasn't an option so first videotapes where sent from the London studios to the German transmission center(s) where they were transmitted to the families using low-power local UHF tv transmitters. 'Current affairs' programs such as the news were only delayed by about a week, less urgent programming could be delayed by up to 6 weeks. In 1983 a microwave link England - France - Belgium - The Netherlands - Germany made live transmissions possible from London, a major and costly upgrade. The first live transmissions were the ITN and BBC evening news programs both of which mentioned their new audience.