BBC and output has been free of the constraints of commercial advertisers because of this unique funding method, leaving programme makers (in theory), accountable only to the licence payer. However, pressure from political parties via appointments to the board of governors and by threats over changes to the amount of the licence fee as well as competition with commercial television, channels for audience share are still significant factors in the corporation's output. (),
In 1955 Independent Television ITV was set up to provide competition to the , because it was suggested that perhaps the Corporation's monopoly on broadcasting was restricting the type of programmes available to the British public due to the limit that public funding imposed. ITV was more 'downmarket' in its approach than the BBC showing popular frivolous entertainment and quiz games sequentially to attract viewers to the new service. (http://www.itv.com/about/).
Unlike the BBC, ITV was funded entirely using revenue from advertisements/commercials shown between programmes. The is largely considered the most successful mass-market advertising format and this is reflected by the astronomical prices television networks charge for commercial airtime during popular television events.
ITV consisted of several different companies, each one serving a different section of the British Isles and producing programmes, which were shown either locally or nationally across the whole network. (http://www.itv.com/about/).
Another key difference was that the ITV companies merely held a franchise to broadcast in a particular region and licence renewal was not automatic therefore, these franchises are reviewed every couple of years. (), & http://www.itv.com/about/.
The Key developments in television since 1970.
In Europe, a number of significant developments occurred in television since 1970 due to the development of television technology. For example, roundabout the early 70’s, was the introduction of the colour broadcast, which was by the in November 1969. Alongside this, the introduction of the Ceefax text service in 1972.
Then, of television programmes on in September 1979. Followed by, television coverage of the House of Lords in January 1985, and events in the House of Commons in November 1989.
The World Service Television News service was launched in April 1991. ().
However, the key and most important development that occurred in television since 1970 was the development of cable and satellite means of distribution. The start of ‘’ in November 1997 for example, Shortly followed by the introduction of ‘’ and ‘’ in September 1998. (),
This development drove businesspersons to target channels towards a specific audience, and enabled the rise of subscription-based television channels (Pay-per-view), such as ‘’.
The name ‘Pay-per-view’ is a system by which there is a direct connection between the broadcaster and the consumer. I.e. viewers can telephone and order events to be seen on television and pay for the private broadcast of that event to their homes later. The event is shown at the same time to everyone ordering it, as opposed to systems
The ‘pay by view’ system is a part of the ‘value chain model’, termed a ‘gateway’ described by Briggs, & Cobley, 2002, P137.
Owing to sport becoming more popular with the public over the years, the cost of broadcasting certain sports has increased.
The competition organisers for instance, The Premier League, Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Association, International Olympic Committee, etc. sell these broadcasting rights. Using the money to pay player’s salaries, improving facilities and playing grounds.
Only on Pay-Per-View television, sports like boxing are shown, and the funds from this go mainly to pay out the enormous prize money awards.
According to Football clubs, the only way they can attract the best players is by charging large sums for the rights to broadcast their games and the amplified amounts of money collected by football shown on Pay-Per-View Television, often help fund youth programs, and helps in promoting healthier lifestyles.
Some people argue that the best teams will get larger amounts of money for the rights to their matches and then buy the best players. Thus, this will leave teams that are lower down in the ranking, unable to raise the money necessary to attract competitive players. Consequently, the rich teams will carry on winning and earning more money.
Additionally some people argue that if broadcasters are forced to bid higher and higher for one sport, football in this case, because there is not enough money left other sports could lose out. Therefore, could this have an effect on less popular sports, depriving them of essential funding?
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In November 1998 was the public launch of ‘’, then replaced by ‘’ in 2002, (Digital Terrestrial Television - DTTV or DTT or ).Using the ‘’ and ‘’ platforms the leads the world in DTT uptake by the general population
Digital terrestrial television (DTTV) is seen by the Government as an innovative technology to drive their country to the front line of the ‘’ and free up existing television frequencies for resale to communications operators.
For the price of a set-top box or new television, consumers see DTTV as a way to get more programs with the same simple antenna.
Broadcasters see DTTV not only as a way to saves money due to lower power consumption, but more importantly as a way to fight competition from satellite and cable DTV and other digital program distribution technologies, such as (PVR) and (VOD).
Whereas, DTTV is seen by hardware manufacturers as a way to sell set-top-boxes first and new all-in-one TV sets later.
Terrestrial DTV generally is seen as an instance of a technology that is being pushed on a public that does not display much demand for it. Particularly the high definition () broadcast, with not much content but movies and because the sets are very expensive.
Viewers who are content with their existing analog TV systems generally tend not to adopt terrestrial DTV systems. Furthermore, of those who want cable-TV-like services they will either buy cable TV or satellite DTV.
The government’s response to this is an effort to force the issue by imposing planned "switch-off" dates for analog television, but because the public fear that, they will have to replace every television they own; the government are encountering pushback from the public.
Due to the dramatic changes in British television in the late 1990’s a great deal of requests were made for changes in the regulatory structure. In response, the government in 2000 proposed the formation of a single regulator for the broadcasting and telecommunications industry (OFCOM), their purpose was to provide a consistency of approach across economic and content issues in the age of coming together. (Briggs, & Cobley, 2002, P136).
The future of the BBC has become problematic due to new technology. With new channels being introduced constantly, this has caused many television licence holders to argue against having to pay the licence fee. Such as those that wrote to the BBC’s comment page. Stating that the fee should be abolished and that the BBC obviously wants the fee to remain because it is, in effect free money. They also aired their views that, “the BBC is not a ‘public good’ anymore as there are numerous commercial alternatives; a ‘tax’ is no longer justified to fund it.” Arguing, why those without a television should get BBC radio and web services free, “especially given that both are far better than the TV output”.
Expressing also the feeling of doubtfulness regarding the keep the BBC advert free campaign because the BBC spend a large amount of time advertising its own products. Querying why this advertising is acceptable but commercial advertising is not.
Also stating that the licence takes no account of whether you use the services provided by the BBC or of ability to pay, based only on whether you have a television or not.
The overall view was that due to the high level of soaps, repeats, reality and make over shows on the BBC, that most of the time their television are on other channels. Therefore, “why should every owner of a television be forced to pay for a broadcast service they do not choose to watch?” -(between 31st Aug - 6th Sept 2004).
However, concerning the usage of BBC channels, the BBC differs in its opinion, stating that in 2003/4, 98% of the UK population used the BBC every month. ().
In the UK, the increase of homes owning a television set, (of which is practically every household). Along with the increase of the usage of televisions sets, which is, on average between four to five hours daily, (of which older people watch twice as much television than children, and women watch more television than men. 1(HMSO 2000). Has caused a huge impact on the sale of newspapers according to a study by HMSO, figures suggest that since the late 1970’s the readership of newspapers, (of which was the principal and fastest way to pass on information to mass public) declined. 2(HMSO 2000).
In television political bulletins coverage is very much a combined enterprise involving bulletin producers based at their headquarters in BBC, ITN and Sky plus their political teams at Westminster with programmes such as ‘Breakfast News’, on BBC, ‘GMTV’ on ITV and ‘Sky News’. (Briggs, & Cobley, 2002, P457).
According to a recent study between 1975 and 1999, the amount of political coverage on terrestrial television bulletins more than halved from 28% of programme content to 13%. (Barnett et al 2000), showing that although in British television news, politics has played an important role, it is a role that has been in decline in recent times. (Briggs, & Cobley, 2002, P456).
Some argue that the ‘mass media’ act as a conservative influence in society, and only give a biased view of the world. However, others argue that the wealth of information provided by the mass media encourages and promotes a variety of opinions, and this enables the population to be informed on a wide range of issues.
For example, one side argue that the media promote democracy by giving an unbiased account of news and that television news has to be partial.
However, in research of ITV and BBC news by Gaber in 1997 whilst searching to identify the main sources of political news on television, it revealed that politicians themselves were the most important single source. (Gaber 1997, ). Therefore, biased influence must be portrayed to the world by the television news.
Conclusion
Almost every country in the world now has developed at least one television channel. Television has grown up all over the world, enabling every country to share characteristic of their culture and society with others. However, with the increasing number of television channels, the growing popularity and competition along with the intensifying demand for more programming, it will become more difficult for the government to control the content of television.
Of the past forty years, the rising influences of television is probably the most important development in the media, and according to Gidden (2002 P452), “If current trends in television watching continue, by the age of eighteen the average child born today will have spent more time watching television than in any other activity except sleep”.
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1HMSO (Her Majesty’s Stationary Office) 2000: Social Trends 30 (London HSMO).P211. ‘Television viewing: by gender and age, 1998’: Social Trends 30. .
2HMSO (Her Majesty’s Stationary Office) 2000: Social Trends 30 (London HSMO). ‘Reading of national daily newspapers: by gender, 1991 to 1998-99’: Social Trends 30. -
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Briggs, A. & Cobley, P., eds (2002), The Media: An Introduction, second Edition, Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited. P136, 137,
Gaber, I, (1997) Television and political coverage in C. Geraghty and D. Lusted (eds) The Television Studies Handbook, London: Edward Arnold. .
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