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Site maintained by Ben Clarke
(Sorry, I can't provide videos or any other materials, so please don't write to ask!)

"To erase recorded broadcast material after one year, or three years in the case of radiovision, is a shocking waste of educational material."

Various video recording devices available to schools in the 1970s: (from top to bottom) a Video Cassette Recorder, a Cartridge System and an open reel Video Tape Recorder

BBC Schools Television Broadcasts on 16mm Film

It's not mentioned on this page, but back in the 1960s, BBC Television broadcasts were made available to schools on filmstrip. Hire charge 20s each (Granada filmstrips were available for 12s 6d)

The advent of consumer reel-to-reel and cassette video recorders (the latter being massively preferable to the former, of course) in the early 1970s was a massive step forward in the usefulness of television broadcasts to schools. Teachers who had previously relied on discovering, and perhaps learning from, broadcasts at the same time as their pupils, and hastily improvising some follow-up work, were now presented with the convenience of previewing any programmes they might like to use, selecting only the most relevant episodes, and thoroughly preparing pupils for the viewing experience ahead of them, all at a time suitable to the teacher. Teachers were generally able to blag a spanking new video recorder off of their LEA for free, and when they were able to get hold of a suitable amount of videotape as well, a sizeable and invaluable resource library could be built up in just a few months.

ITV, the independent pioneer as always, was perfectly happy to encourage such practice. From the very early days of domestic recording, they cheerfully permitted schools to record any educational programmes they wanted, to keep them to use when they wanted, and even to run off copies for any other schools that wanted them - the only condition being that the LEA had to have been granted a licence by the Independent Television Companies Association, a basic formality which meant that all "educational institutions within its geographical area may make use of this facility." Not just the Authority-sustained schools, note, but esentially all schools, colleges, nurseries and universities in the country. The standard ITV Schools disclaimer did state that it was "in the essence of the licence" that the recordings be destroyed after three years, but I don't think this was ever legally contracted.

Things were hardly so cheerful and straightforward over at the BBC, though. Sure, schools were graciously granted permission to make recordings of schools broadcasts, provided that the recordings were:

1. Made by a teacher or student in the course of instruction;
2. Used for instructional purposes only in the premises where they are made;
3. Destroyed within twelve months of their being made, or in the case of radiovision recordings by the end of the third school year

So if any of the delicate new equipment broke down, then legally teachers weren't allowed to ask their mate at the next school to lend them a copy of the missed programme; and also legally the recordings had to be made in the school, not round a teacher's or parent's house on their machine.
And don't even think about trying to record BBC material other than schools broadcasts - in this case you had to personally gain the written consent of: 1. the BBC; 2. copyright holders of all literary and musical material; 3. all performers; 4. all gramophone companies whose records are included in the programme.
I mean did they ever genuinely expect people to stick to all these nonsensical rules, at the expense of offering the best possible education to schoolchildren? It's like modern photocopying restrictions - no more than 10% of any individual work for private purposes only - yeah RIGHT!
NOTICE: This website does not encourage or condone any breach or misinterpretation of copyright law relating to photocopying, video recording, or in any other medium. Copyright theft is a crime. Just like kidnapping. And genocide.

The 'problem' of off-air recording from the BBC dates back to the 1950s, when early audio tape recorders began to be used in primary schools. At the time, it was actually illegal to record any broadcasts, and the BBC education bods going round on school visits made a habit of 'looking the other way' whenever they saw or heard of such practice. It was only in 1961 that agreement with "the interested parties" was reached to legally allow schools even the very restrictive rights explained above.

There were valid, legal reasons for all of this fannying-about, of course, principally that although the BBC produced and owned practically all of its own programmes, it did so on the cheap - contracting actors, for instance, only to allow exhibition of their performances for three years, and only purchasing sufficient rights to the music in the programmes for the same period. Significantly there is no mention of getting permission from the actual programme makers. This is because programme makers - the producers, directors, even cameramen and other craftsmen - were BBC staff, and everything they made automatically did become property of the BBC in perpituity, to exploit however the Corporation saw fit.

Anyway, this obstinancy from the BBC triggered a massive backlash from teachers, as expressed (civilly) in the shocking waste quote from an anonymous teacher in 1973 given at the top of this section. By 1975, the BBC had apparently been doing some negotiating with the unions and proposed two new concessions: television and radio recordings could now be kept by schools for three whole years instead of just one; and LEAs were allowed to establish resource centres which could record and lend out tapes to schools. Many of these resource centres still exist today and are a marvellous aid for teachers interested in using any multimedia material. In their current standard fob-off letter to teachers requesting videos of old schools programmes, BBC Education officially recommend contacting these centres for further help. They also recommend visiting Greg Taylor's Watched It website for information and pictures from Look & Read stories. What's wrong with this one here, then, I'd like to know?

BBC videos were released on the Educational Publishing label, with all the necessary idents and copyright details at the start.

Central Video Resource Unit copyright slip

The early ITV Schools videos had nothing at all on the tapes apart from the raw programmes. The copyright disclaimer was given in a scrap of paper shoved into the video box.

A poster sent to schools in 1994, advertising available Look & Read resources - including two video packs.

This sorry situation continued for a further thirteen years (the one about recording programmes, not the one about the websites) until the government stepped in and sorted the BBC out in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1989, which declared that a new licensing scheme should be introduced allowing schools to record and reuse any educational material at their convenience. Which strangely is *exactly* what teachers had been calling for since the early 1970s. For about a year in late 1989 and early 1990, the BBC simply issued a disclaimer saying that schools could "record any radio and television programmes off-air at no charge until a licensing scheme is introduced." Now what's wrong with things just staying like that forever?

In 1990, the Educational Recording Agency was set up. Basically, the ERA sells licences to educational establishments, which then allow these establishments unlimited and free use ('slong as it's for educational purposes) of any broadcast material they record. The licensing is merely a formality however, since as far as I know all Local Education Authorities and Universities, plus a huge majority of independent schools and colleges, hold licences practically by default. This is the scheme which remains in place today, you can read the full terms and conditions of the ERA licences on their website: www.era.org.uk. Notice, though, that it is just the same as what ITV had been doing for almost twenty years. Come on, BBC!

Also by the early 1990s, it had been realised that it is very easy for teachers to miss episodes of a programme, mangle up the tapes, or record over a good programme, and so it became possible for schools to purchase pre-recorded videos of whole series at once. Look and Read first became available on video in 1994, when tapes of Through The Dragon's Eye and Sky Hunter II were released, with all 10 episodes of each serial split over two videos in a pack. Unfortunately, these early tapes were very kindly edited by the BBC, to remove the end credit sequences and music from all but the final episodes on each video, and the Look And Read Eyes from all but the first - infuriatingly ruining the programmes.

The videopacks initially cost £39.99 (including VAT), though later came down to just £29.99 each. For the 2002/2003 school year, they are now back up to about £35 (prices are now declared without VAT, making it slightly complicated to work out the actual price). Since schools programmes are educational by definition, all videos are exempt from classification by the BBFC.

To finish off, here's a list of all the Look and Read videos published by the BBC. The ones marked with a bullet point (•) are, I BELIEVE, still available to order from BBC Educational Publishing. Contact the BBC for details (THIS WEBSITE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BBC) and be prepared to pay an extra £3.50 for postage & packing. The BBC order number is the last six digits of the ISBN.

	SERIES	ISBN
•	*Through The Dragon's Eye*	0-563-34985-9
	*Sky Hunter II*	0-563-35396-1
	*Earth Warp*	0-563-37368-7
	*LRTV*	0-563-37378-4	(only 8 episodes but still full price)
•	*Spywatch*	0-563-37459-4
•	*Captain Crimson*	0-563-46586-7	(only 8 episodes but still full price)
•	*The Legend of the Lost Keys*	0-563-37651-1
•	*Zzaap and the Word Master*	0-563-54107-5	(only 6 episodes but still full price)
•	*Spelling Strategies*	0-563-54324-8	(only 3 episodes -- half price)
•	*Spelling with the Spellits* Year 3	0-563-54520-8	(Video Pack includes notes, posters and PCMs)
•	*Spelling with the Spellits* Year 4	0-563-54522-4	(Video Pack includes notes, posters and PCMs)
•	*Spelling with the Spellits* Year 5	0-563-54526-7	(Video Pack includes notes, posters and PCMs)

BBC Educational Publishing, Customer Services, PO Box 234, Wetherby, LS23 7EU
Tel. 0870 830 8000 (Mon-Fri 8am-6pm), Fax 0870 830 8002, Email bbc@twoten.press.net
www.bbcschoolshop.com

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The Look and Read title and logo, as well as all related material, is copyright © BBC, 1967-2006. The official BBC Schools website is at www.bbc.co.uk/schools. Everything else on this website © Ben Clarke, 2000-2006.
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