Compare and contrast the origins of television in Australia and Britain.

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Name                        Louise Alexander

ID                        s1545100

Subject                        2117 FMC

Tutor                        Jason Jacobs

Tutorial                Wednesday 12:00 N29_Theatre 3

Assessment                Long Essay

Due                        Friday 5th June 2003

Word Count                2,228

Title        Question 1) Compare and contrast the origins of television in Australia and Britain.

Broadcasting is an extraordinarily expensive business. To put to air even the most humble of programs requires trained personnel and complicated equipment to create just one hour of television can cost more than the average family home. So due to broadcasting being so expensive it is interesting that two countries alike in culture would choose comparative and yet contrasting techniques. Like in much of Australian culture, it has mimicked that of the British. It is hardly surprising considering Australia’s heritage and being colonised by this England it seems only right that many things are done the same way. With regards to media both had similar beginnings. Radio was for a long time the prime source of entertainment and information and was followed by television that had a very different history in each country. By comparing and contrasting television’s origins in either country we can see how entertainment changed in many different ways and how the beginnings of television had an enormous impact on broadcasting development.

The British Broadcasting Company was founded as a monopoly radio broadcaster in 1922. The BBC dates from 1927 when, after extended heated parliamentary discussion about how the organization should function the ‘Company’ was relaunched as a ‘Corporation’ and given a Royal Charter. Unlike a government department, the statutory authority was based on an Act of Parliament and it would be responsible through a minister. The statutory authority must maintain its distance from political control and remain independent to ensure impartiality. Freed from commercial pressure by its licence fee income, the BBC could project all that was good in British Culture; so it could not just entertain but ‘uplift’

This arrangement continued without basic changes until 1955 and a pilot television channel was launched in 1936. During the war, television broadcasts were discontinued and resumed in 1946. The BBC radio stations, due to its impartial and reliable news and being a source of comedy and entertainment, came out of the war strengthened locally and nationally. It was having a major influence on social, cultural and political affairs of the nation. Subsequently in 1962 a second television channel was established and launched.

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However besides informing and entertaining the British audience the BBC had another role in society. This ideal was that programmes should: improve and elevate, be a worthwhile experience and enhance the viewer’s quality of life. It was these ideals that made guiding principles in designing programmes. The BBC would have to carry easily digestible information and act as a means of relaxation for those not up to its more taxing fare, but it should aim to challenge the rest of its audience with more developing material, programmes which would broaden their cultural knowledge and possibly even question their basic assumptions. ...

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