<P> As the public debate over the series increased, Sims wrote a letter of reply in The Guardian, outlining the BBC's decision and their objections regarding Sesame Street . They rejected the show's appearance in the U.K. because although the network aired other American programmes, as well as programmes produced all over the world, Sesame Street was produced specifically for American children, who were not exposed to the same high quality of children's programmes as those in Britain . Sims and the BBC claimed that the philosophy behind the show was what they called "wallpaper television", which encouraged children to watch television for several hours, something British programmes discouraged . The BBC also eschewed Sesame Street's didactic teaching methods, which the BBC felt was inappropriate in mass media . The BBC was against children's programming that dictated what young children should learn, so airing Sesame Street would go against twenty years of children's television programmes in the U.K. Finally, Sims and the BBC believed that since Sesame Street was "carefully geared" to the needs of disadvantaged children in the U.S., much of the terminology, including the words "trash" or "zip code" would confuse four - year - olds in Britain . </P> <P> Sims and the BBC's decision engendered both praise and disappointment, and generated an investigation into the network's scheduling practices . The controversy also stalled development of a British co-production . In 1974, the BBC broadcast 13 episodes of The Electric Company, another CTW show, for an eight - week run . Their rationale to air it was that the show was a part of a school curriculum, accompanied by back - up resources such as books . An independent assessment was conducted afterwards . With the BBC's refusal to air Sesame Street, the debate over its place on British TV passed to ITV . </P> <P> After the BBC rejected Sesame Street, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) considered giving it a network slot on ITV, after concluding that further research was needed . In March and April 1971, HTV broadcast a three - week weekday test run; the series was received favourably, but the ITA concluded the more testing would be required . They passed the enquiry to The Authority Schools Committee, who authorised LWT, Grampian Television and HTV to broadcast another test run of Sesame Street, under the understanding that its permission "should not be construed as educational endorsement of Sesame Street for British children". HTV's second trial ran in December 1971 for a three - week daily run, and LWT and Grampian broadcast it for thirteen weeks on Saturday mornings from September to December 1971 . </P> <P> After the trials, Grampian dropped the series until July 1978, but HTV and LWT continued to air it . The ITA and The Authority Schools Committee agreed to allow both companies to continue broadcasting the series after their study concluded in March 1971, with addition three ITV companies agreeing to air it the following year . Like the BBC, some ITV companies also opposed Sesame Street, thus certain ITV companies created their own original children's programmes . This coincided with the British government's decision to require extra hours of children's programming in the afternoon . </P>

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