During the last decade there has been a rapid increase in the use of television in tertiary institutions and there are few, if any, who do not have a significant financial commitment to television equipment either in a large audio visual centre or in unco-ordinated departmental units. In a series of five experiments the field study seeks to assess the possible effects on the learning process of two aspects of present television usage:- - the technical limitations of existing U-matic equipment. - the conditions under which the material will be viewed. Results show that when used for first-generation recording and convenient replay access,U-matic equipment has proved reliable and useful but when used for multigeneration recording, editing and dubbing, technical problems can affect the attitudes of the viewers. Similarly the difficulty experienced in trying to control viewing conditions in many existing teaching areas appears to be a major limitation in the effective use of media.