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change of government.
October: Twickenham Studios were taken over by
Film Location Facilities.
October 16: Sir Michael Balcon died. November: 21st
Anniversary of the London Film Festival.
December 24: The partnership between Genera l
Cinema Corporation and Associated Te l ev i s i o n
Corporation, which resulted in the formation of
Associated General Films, was dissolved.
1978
January: Proposals for the setting up of a British Film
Authority: 1st Report of the Interim A c t i o n
Committee on the Film Industry was presented to
Parliament.
March 28: ITC Film Distributors commenced trading.
May: Lord Grade announced $120 million film package
at the Cannes Film Festival.
June: The National Film A rch ive took ove r
Hendersons Laboratory.
June: ATC purchased the Los Angeles based company
Marble Arch, which made television films and
series, for $14 million.
July: The Protection of Children Act 1978 made it an
offence to take, distribute or show indecent photographs
of children under 16.
July 2: Columbia-Warner and EMI combined to form
a joint distribution outfit, C o l u m b i a - E M I - Wa r n e r
Distributors Ltd.
August 11: A ballot of the two technicians’ unions
s h owed 76% of the Association of Bro a d c a s t i n g
Staffs (ABS) and 52% of ACTT members were in
favour of amalgamation. (See October 1979)
S eptember 14: Associated Te l evision Corpora t i o n
changed its name to Associated Communication
Corporation (ACC) which was felt to be more in
keeping with the company’s increasingly diversified
activities.
N ovember: ACC and EMI combined to form
Associated Film Distribution (AFD), a major new distribution
company in the US and Canada.
BFI Information Services
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1979
January 26: Detailed figures of payments made by
the BFFA from the Eady Levy were published for the
first time, appearing in Trade and Industry.
Ja nu a ry; Mamoun Hassan became Managi n g
Director of the MFFC following the retirement of Sir
John Terry.
February: Lord Grade acquired the Classic Cinema
chain.
February 8: As a result of judgement in the case of
S p e l l i n g - G o l d b e rg vs BPC Publ i s h i n g , stills taken
from the frames of a moving picture were no longer
protected by the Copyright Act 1956 (see February
1980).
June: The Financing of the British Film Industry: 2nd
Report of the Interim Action Committee on the Film
Industry was presented to Parliament.
July: Samuelsons opened the Production Village.
October: In a second ballot of ACTT members on the
p roposed amalgamation with A B S, 7,108 vo t e d
against and 2,010 for.
November: Thorn’s £169 million bid for EMI won the
board’s backing - take-over officially completed June
1980.
1980
February 11: Judgement that a still taken from a single
frame is not covered by the Copyright Act 1956
was reversed in the Court of Appeals.
March: Lord Grade’s ACC made its theatrical films
available to television three years after their cinema
release instead of the five recommended by the CEA.
March: Statistics, Technological Development and
Cable Television: 3rd Report of the Interim Action
Committee on the Film Industry was presented to
Parliament.
April EMI made its films available to television after
three years.
May: The CEA agreed to English language films being
shown on television three years after their trade
show.
May: Rank launched a £12 million production programme
at the Cannes Film Festival.
June: Rank announced its decision to pull out of production.
June: The formation of the video Copy r i g h t
P rotection Society by the Society of Fi l m
Distributors, BBC Enterprises and the Independent
Television Companies Association was announced.
July: Films Act 1980 which continued certain existing