Television also had an impact on the world around it. People no longer went to the cinema because films could be seen on the television, within the home. Cinema numbers fell from 28m to 11m between 1947 and 1959. Radio numbers also fell because television was preferred. However, television had an impact on education because students could watch excellent documentaries helping them with schoolwork and expand their knowledge.
Sales in larger shops benefited directly from television. The shops would pay to screen adverts on ITV. People would see the adverts and consider purchasing the product and because of this profits soared. This impact that TV had on shops was known as consumerism.
Newspapers were greatly affected by television. News bulletins were shown on television and because people no longer needed a newspaper to find out the daily news sales dropped. To attract readers, newspapers had to offer supplements and attractions unavailable on television. Less profit was made in the newspaper industry because papers became larger and more expensive colour ink was used.
Why where television broadcasts criticised by some people in the 1960s and 1970s?
Many people in Britain in the 1960s thought that many programmes on British television were poor and sub-standard. J B Priestley, a television viewer in the 60s, referred to some programmes as programmes that ‘we would never leave the house and go fifty yards to see’. People at the time believed that top-quality programming would only begin when a nightly ‘pay-per-view’ scheme was introduced. This was because many off-peak programmes were cheap imports from North America.
In the early 1960s television writers became more adventurous and wrote comedies poking fun at current affairs and the country’s figureheads. For example ‘That was the week that was’, who’s victims included the Queen and Prime Minister, Harold Macmillian. Many people phoned the BBC to complain. They believed the jokes were unfair and not suitable for television.
In the late 60s discreet sex scenes became more frequent. Programmes portrayed affairs, sex before marriage etc,. The BBC was criticised by some people for encouraging immorality. One lady, Mary Whitehouse believed the BBC was in place to promote Christian principles and criticised television broadcasts for failing to censor the programmes in which it transmitted.
Elderly people were more offended by certain TV programmes so those people made the most criticisms. These people were used to laid back programmes in a world where crime, violence and poking fun at people wasn’t portrayed. When they saw programmes containing such material they became upset because they weren’t used to it and didn’t expect things like murder to happen on their screens. They criticised the broadcasts and often complained. They wanted life to be shown as how they wanted it to be rather than what it actually was.
Cinemagoers criticised television for encouraging people to stay at home, rather than go out. They believed it wasn’t healthy spending evening after evening sitting at home. People believed that the television was spoiling socialising and night-life because people were quite prepared to slump into a chair and watch television all week.
Many television critics accused programme makers of lowering standards of language and decency and glorifying violence and crime. Television companies were criticised throughout the late 60s and 70s for having no formal censorship and guidelines for programmes to be transmitted. People opposed because they believed TV violence would lead to violence on the streets. Other reason was the image being portrayed of Britain.
The Labour and Conservative parties criticised the BBC for showing broadcasts biased towards them. They also complained about the interviewing standards in which BBC political correspondents took when interviewing Cabinet ministers and members of parliament.
- In what ways did television broadcasting change from the 1950s to the 1970s?
The biggest change in television broadcasting between the 1950s and 1970s was the introduction of colour television sets. By 1978, nearly 12m people had colour television licences. The quality of the picture was now much crisper and much more fulfilment could be obtained from the new sets.
In the early 1950s there was only one channel, BBC1. By the 1970s BBC2 and ITV were also broadcasting. Television hours also changed. In 1950 BBC1 was only on for 6 and a half hours a day. Television didn’t begin until 3pm and finished at just 10.30pm, with a break at 6-7pm. However in the 1970s television began very early in the morning and finished past midnight*.
Television programmes were very different in the 50s compared to the 70s. A lot more dramas, films, live events and soap operas were screened in the 70s compared to the plays and documentaries of the early 50s. When ITV began broadcasting in 1955 it won 70% of the viewers. However by 1978 BBC had the top 4 programmes of the year. Morecambe and Wise topped the table with 28.7m viewers. Nearly three times the amount of licence holders in the late 50s.
Television broadcasts had become a lot more informal by the 1970s. Colloquial terms were used in favourite to Standard English to provide comical effects. Programmes now portrayed more violence and sex scenes in the 1970s than the 1950s despite ‘dumbing down’ after the criticisms throughout the 1960s.
By the 1970s however TV had lost the addictive sparkle that it had in the 1950s. People were thrilled to watch moving pictures on screen in their own house in the 50s but by the 70s this was the norm. People started returning to the cinema and going out.
Children were well considered in programmer’s minds in the 1970s. Pop music shows and children’s films were shown. In the 1950s very little was aimed at children or teenagers. The nearest programme was the Six Five Special.
Imported shows were much more common in the 1970s than the 1950s. A lot of comedies and sitcoms were brought over from America. In the 1950s only a few American shows were broadcast, the majority on ITV.
Live sport events were shows on TV in the 1950s. However they were few and far between. The only real sport matches shown were the F.A Cup Final, The Boat Race, Wimbledon, Test Match Cricket and The Grand National. However by the 1970s football league matches (highlights), rugby matches, Formula 1 racing, athletics, league cricket, golf etc, was broadcasted.
In conclusion, television broadcasts in the 1970s were very different to those of the 1950s. Reception, picture quality, aerial range and transmitters had been improved by the 1970s. More people had TV sets in the 1970s and more channels available. In the 1950s TV sets had been considered to be own by the richer of the population. By 1970 only the very poor did not own a TV in any shape or form. Comedies topped the ratings in the 70s compared to the documentaries and serious plays of the 1950s. By 1979 a consortium were planning to introduce a new terrestrial television channel because of the popularity of television. Channel Four was aired shortly after.
