PSB vs Commercial Broadcaster

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Introduction to Media Studies

To what extent are commercial and public service broadcasters different? Choose a commercial and a public service broadcaster, compare and contrast how they operate and their output.

This essay tries to present the two types of mass-media finance: public service broadcasting and commercial broadcasting. The essay will be a comparison analysis between the oldest broadcasting company in the world, the BBC and ITV, the first commercial TV station in the UK. In the next lines I will describe, compare and contrast the characteristics of the way a public service broadcaster and a commercial one operates. Also, I will analyse the output of each other in time, because the amount of audience ratings illustrates which type of television people do prefer.

From a statement made by Johnson & Turnock (2005) a question could be raised: is it better the BBC‘s public service broadcasting style which is regarded as a provider of quality programming, more suitable with the upper class, than the commercial approach that ITV adopted from the very beginning which is more appropriate for the middle class?    

In order to answer to the question above, firstly I will try to define the meaning of the “public service broadcaster” term. According to Taylor & Willis (1999), the idea of public service broadcasting has not a standard definition because the meaning of it has passed through some historical changes since its earliest manifestation in relation to the BBC. Although a number of official bodies have attempted to identify the most important characteristics. Public service broadcasters generally transmit programming that aims to improve society by informing viewers. In contrast, the goal of commercial outlets is to provide popular content that attracts a large audience, maximizing revenue from advertising and sponsorship. For this reason, the ideals of public broadcasting are often hard to reconcile with commercial goals. James and Jim McDonnell (1990) show the characteristics and a list of possible goals of a public service broadcaster. They cited the 1985’s booklet "The Public Service Idea in British Broadcasting – Main Principles” of the Broadcasting Research Unit. Following the research, the geographic universality is a very important feature of a public service broadcaster. The station’s programmes should be available to the whole population. The second type of universality is the one of appeal. According to this idea, broadcast programmes must satisfy all interests and tastes. A broadcaster which is in the public service should create a particular product for minorities, especially disadvantaged ones. Although the relationship between national identity and community must be remain. The most known attribute of a public service broadcaster is the type of funding. Almost all over Europe, the country’s community broadcaster it is publicly funded, but the manner could be different. In the UK, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, the public service broadcaster is funded by a television license only. The television license plus advertising system runs in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Romania. In Slovakia and Albania, the public broadcasters are financed thorough a television license, advertising and government grants. Spain’s RTVE, Portugal’s RTP and Hungary’s public broadcaster Magyar Televizio receive government grants and also have the permission to sell advertising space. In Luxembourg, the public service broadcaster has to compete in the advertising market to cover its expenses, because there are not any television license or government grants. An important principle that arises from the booklet says that a public broadcaster has to encourage competition in high-quality programming instead of struggling for rating. Due to the fact that a public service broadcaster receives all or a considerable part of their funding from governmental sources and it does not rely on advertising to the same degree as commercial broadcasters, allows it to create products that are less saleable, such as public affairs debates, documentaries and educational programmes.

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In contrast with the characteristics of public service broadcasting exposed above, the commercial media refers mainly to the profit which is made from the advertisers. This is the American model of television which in time was adopted by almost every country in the world. A commercial broadcaster could show from 8 to 20 minutes of advertisements in an hour time, depending of the local regulator’s policy. The amount of money which it is paid by the advertiser it is mostly based upon the ratings of the respective TV station. For this reason a commercial broadcaster relies too much on the ...

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