Background Until 1978, when the BBC Film and Videotape Library was created as a permanent archive for all its television programmes, the BBC had no central archive. The videotapes and film recordings stored in the BBC's various libraries were often either wiped or discarded for recording new programmes and to free storage space to reduce costs. The BBC Film Library kept only some programmes that were made on film, while the Engineering Department handled videotape but had no mandate to retain material. Some shows were kept by BBC Enterprises, but they too had limited storage space and kept only material that was considered commercially exploitable. In the mid-1970s BBC Enterprises disposed of a lot of older material for which the rights to sell the programmes had expired, and the Engineering Department routinely wiped videotapes in an era when rescreening potential was limited.
Background Until 1978, when the BBC Film and Videotape Library was created as a permanent archive for all its television programmes, the BBC had no central archive. The videotapes and film recordings stored in the BBC's various libraries were often either wiped or discarded for recording new programmes and to free storage space to reduce costs The BBC Film Library kept only some programmes that were made on film, while the Engineering Department handled vi.deotape but had no mandate to retain material Some shows were kept by BBC Enterprises, but they too had limited storage space and kept only material that was considered commercially exploitable. In the mid-1970s BBC Enterprises disposed of. a lot of older material for ,which the rights to sell the programmes had expired and the Engineering Department routinely wiped videotapes in an era when rescreening potential was limited.