Contemporary British Broadcasting

To print blank past paper questions, broadcasting-essay-titles3

To print out the past paper questions with ideas/plans (as below) broadcasting-essay-plans

BROADCASTING: PAST PAPERS & HOW TO WRITE THE ESSAYS

CONTEMPORARY BRITISH BROADCASTING

 Jun 2007

Consider the developments in British broadcasting in recent years that have contributed to the industry’s current position.

Jun 2005

Discuss the progress made in British Broadcasting since 1990.

June 2002

What do you consider to have been the most signiificant changes in British Broadcasting since 1990?

 What’s happened in the last 20 years?

 The Industry/Market

 

• As the market become more competitive, the battle for audiences has intensified.
• More channels, but almost no increase in viewing, meaning greater audience fragmentation.
• The two mass audience channels, BBC1 and ITV, particularly ITV have seen significant drops in audience over the last 10 years.
• Each channel will capture a smaller following than the few channels did in the old era of scarce broadcasting, thus attracting less advertising or subscription revenue; and for many channels these factors will lead to cheaper and poorer content, and, in a spiralling decline of audiences and revenue, to a likelihood of closure.
• Hundreds of new radio and TV channels – but do they really offer more choice?

ITV licences now in the hands of only a few companies

• If, given the technology and economics of TV broadcasting, it had ever made sense to operate a regional system in a country as small as Britain, it was making much less sense in the 1990s. All the licensees’ competitors on the other channels operated on a scale which was at least national, and the government accepted their need to get bigger by relaxing some of the ownership rules.
• Broadcasters are now fewer and bigger than before, and over the last 20 years foreign companies have taken a considerable stake in British commercial radio and television.
• Andrew Graham & Gavyn Davies: ‘while one source of monopoly, spectrum scarcity, has gone, it has been replaced by another – the natural monopoly of scale and of scope’.
• Dennis Potter, playwright, argued against the dangers that lie in this movement towards cross-media ownership: ‘No individual, group or company should be allowed to own more than one daily, one evening and one weekly newspaper. No newspaper should be allowed to own a television, and vice versa. A simple act of public hygiene, tempering abuse widening choice and maybe even returning broadcasting to its makers.

 The Audience

• Multi-channel homes do not watch TV collectively.
• Television (and to a lesser extent radio) have become more interactive. Viewing has become a much more active process.
• The majority of people have continued to watch terrestrial channels more than any other channels.
• Curran & Seaton: ‘The fragmentation of the media system, it is argues, is eroding communication between social groups in a shared public space’. Rather than bring us together, TV now emphasises our differences.
• The whole idea of broadcasting has changed:
  • not always transmitted at the moment it is received
  • not always offered by the broadcaster so much as sought by individual viewers (who may not even amount to a ‘mass’ audience in any meaningful sense
• Increasingly, computers are used a way for individuals to broadcast their own material. Audiences have become producers

 New Technologies

• Better picture and sound quality
• If you are confused about all the new media technologies (digital.HD etc) go to this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6142998.stm
• Here’s quite an interesting article on how ‘Video on demand has finally arrived.’: http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2063126,00.html
• The television set can resemble the computer in offering e-mail, internet access and home shopping.
• The Sky channels, in particular, imitate the ‘busy screens’ of computers, making much use of split images, rolling text and various kinds of graphics.
• Devices like Sky+ mean that viewers can effectively compile their own schedules. If viewers can effectively put together their own channels, what is the point of having single channels that show a range of programmes? Also, much easier to ‘avoid’ advertising.

 Style/Quality of Programming

• Tendency to treat complex matters in a fitful, superficial way.
• What does television do for patience, concentration, the ability to construct meaning through sustained narrative or argument? With the help of the remote control, interactivity can simply mean hyperactivity and suggests that old-fashioned ‘passive’ viewing may have its virtues after all.
• The victims of media concentration are variety, creativity, and quality: while the future proliferation of broadcasting channels in the hands of a shrinking band of operators is certain to make matters worse. 

Impact on Society

• Curran & Seaton: The rise of transnational media and globalization are weakening identification with the nation. They are also said to be eroding engagement in national politics since this derives from a sense of national belonging.
• The very peculiar capacity of the medium to assemble, address, and touch the emotions of huge national audiences simultaneously seemed to be disappearing.

 What’s the current position and future of PSB?

 

• •  
    • BBC programming criticised for being too mainstream/populist and not focused enough on PSB.
    • ITV seriously considering pulling out of analogue broadcasting and its broadcasting commitments. It is fed up with PSB responsibilities without a slice of the licence fee.
    • Channel 4 is struggling financially and wanting more financial support for its PSB.

 

Curran & Seaton: Public service broadcasting was compared unfavourably with ‘the real choice offered to consumers by a more effective market.’ Yet the ideology of choice was absurd. Commercial broadcasting is based not on the sale of programmes to audiences, but on the sale of audiences to advertisers. Thus the introduction of more competitors will reduce advertising revenues both by spreading them between a greater number of channels and by splitting potential audiences into even smaller groups. As the main incentive will remain the attracting of the largest possible audience, the competing channels, less constrained by regulation to produce a variety of programmes, will tend to show more of the same or similar programmes…..Thus the victim of media concentration are variety, creativity, and quality, while the proliferation of broadcasting channels in the hands of a small band of operators, ‘liberated’ by government policy from the obligations of public service variety, is likely to make matters worse. ‘Choice’, without positive direction, is a myth, for all too often the market will deliver more – but only more of the same.’

 Or

Discuss the impact of new technology and/or new regulations on the UK broadcast industry in recent years.

 New Technologies

• Better picture and sound quality
• Digital TV = more channels, more choice?, more interactivity.
• If you are confused about all the new media technologies (digital.HD etc) go to this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6142998.stm
• Here’s quite an interesting article on how ‘Video on demand has finally arrived.’: http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2063126,00.html
• The television set can resemble the computer in offering e-mail, internet access and home shopping.
• The Sky channels, in particular, imitate the ‘busy screens’ of computers, making much use of split images, rolling text and various kinds of graphics.
• Devices like Sky+ mean that viewers can effectively compile their own schedules. If viewers can effectively put together their own channels, what is the point of having single channels that show a range of programmes? Also, much easier to ‘avoid’ advertising.

 For ‘regulations’ see below…

 Jan 2007

To what extent has British broadcasting been able to succeed in recent years?

 Perhaps we need to begin by defining what we mean by ‘successful’? ‘Successful’ broadcasting might not mean the same to the industry and the audience. What might be the criterion on which we judge success? Choice? Quality? Profit?

 Choice

On the face of it, there is so much more choice than was available to previous generations of audiences. This has come about from the emergence of new technologies and the provisions made by the Broadcasting Acts 1990/1996 and Communications Act 2003. Firstly, in these Acts, the government made it possible for the emergence of Channel 5 and new national and local radio stations (1990). In the subsequent Acts the government arranged for the provision of new digital licences for both radio and television.

We might ask, however, whether there really is the level of choice that we might have hoped for. Is there really a great deal of variety in programming.

 Quality

We might like to judge broadcasting on the basis of quality. To do so, however, is fraught with difficulty. Who is to be the judge of quality and increasingly view the whole idea of quality arts/culture programming as fundamentally elitist. There is a sense, however, in which the commercialisation of broadcasting, with its emphasis on ‘giving people what they want, not necessarily what’s good for them’ has resulted in a certain degree of ‘dumbing down’ and loss of quality.

Commercial broadcasters have had to become more and more ruthless in their pursuit of audiences and, particularly in the case of ITV, they are more and more reluctant to fulfil PSB responsibilities.

Meanwhile, the BBC, to try to maintain enough traffic coming to their channels must also ensure that its programming is sufficiently populist to draw in large audiences. As a result, the BBC has been criticised for producing programmes that compete directly with commercial programming.

Ofcom, established in the Communications Act 2003, have to monitor and report on the state of PSB. In their recent report (see Broadcasting News page) they have proposed some options for the future of PSB.

 Profit

As broadcasting has become more commercial and competitive, the situation for broadcasters has become more and more challenging from a financial point of view. The factors involved in this are:

• – more competition – everyone fighting over the same advertising money. Much more difficult to gain large audiences and attract advertisers etc.
• – broadcasters are also having to compete with other audio-visual entertainment (videogames and the internet)
• – globalisation – channels now have to compete on a global rather than just a national scale

 Or

To what extent has deregulation and increased competition improved the quality of broadcasting in the UK in recent years?

June 2006

To what extent have audiences benefited as a result of the Broadcasting Act 1990?

Jan 2006

What have been the effects of the 1990, and subsequent, Broadcasting Acts?

June 2004

How has British Broadcasting changed in the light of broadcasting legislation since 1990?

 What did the Broadcasting Acts and Communcation Act actually achieve?

In combination they have managed to move the industry forward, accommodating new technologies and globalisation, to make sure that the industry remains competitive and vibrant.

Broadly speaking the Acts reflect a ‘Free Market’ approach, trying to remove unnecessary regulation/control from the broadcasting industry. The intention is that the industry should be left to the mercy of market forces. If people want to watch a channel, it will survive.

 While trying to remove unnecessary interference with the market, the Acts also made sure that some provision was made to monitor quality and deal with complaints against programming. After many changes in the structure of broadcasting watchdogs, there has been some stability since the establishment of Ofcom in 2003.

 What about 1990?

The positive effects (for audiences) of the 1990 Act were that it:

• Encouraged more choice and competition (provision put in place for the emergence of  Channel , 3 new commercial radio licences and many new local radio stations.
• Encouraged efficiency and competition by making BBC and ITV acquire at least 25% of their programme output from independent producers.
• For audiences, there was also still plenty of ‘protection’ in that there were now 4 organisations that in some way monitored or regulated content:

Radio Authority

Independent Television Commission

Broadcasting Standards Commission

Broadcasting Complaints Commission

 For the industry, the picture was not quite so positive. Rather than leaving the industry simply to the mercy of the market, and putting ITV licences up for tender on a purely commercial basis, there was a ‘quality threshold’ through which all bids must first pass. Rather than reducing the regulatory framework, splitting the IBA into 2 and creating the Broadcasting Standards Commission added another layer of bureaucracy and ‘interference’ through which the industry had to work.

 What about the other two Acts – 1996 and 2003? What do I really need to know about them?

1996 –

Trying to make broadcasters more competitive so that they could survive the challenges of the global marketplace. Relaxed rules on cross-media ownership and ITV ownership.

The Act was an attempt to catch up with and ensure the successful adoption of new media technologies. The framework for licensing digital TV was implemented.

 You could argue that although the Act enabled broadcasters to be more competitive (in other words to grow to a point where they could compete internationally), this was not necessarily in the best interests of audiences. From our point of view, this might mean less variety, less diversity, less choice.

 2003

Established Ofcom – significant simplification of the regulator/watchdog system. Also reflected the fact that broadcasting could no longer be separated from other ‘new media’. It was hoped that this would simplify and even reduce some of the levels of bureaucracy in the industry.

Further relaxation of the rules on cross-media ownership.

 Jan 2005

To what extent has broadcasting legislation since 1990 and its consequences damaged public service broadcasting?

June 2003

Is the idea of public service broadcasting an outdated concept?

 What’s the current position and future of PSB?

 BBC programming criticised for being too mainstream/populist and not focused enough on PSB.

ITV seriously considering pulling out of analogue broadcasting and its broadcasting commitments. It is fed up with PSB responsibilities without a slice of the licence fee.

Channel 4 is struggling financially and wanting more financial support for its PSB.

 Quality

We might like to judge broadcasting on the basis of quality. To do so, however, is fraught with difficulty. Who is to be the judge of quality and increasingly view the whole idea of quality arts/culture programming as fundamentally elitist. There is a sense, however, in which the commercialisation of broadcasting, with its emphasis on ‘giving people what they want, not necessarily what’s good for them’ has resulted in a certain degree of ‘dumbing down’ and loss of quality.

Commercial broadcasters have had to become more and more ruthless in their pursuit of audiences and, particularly in the case of ITV, they are more and more reluctant to fulfil PSB responsibilities.

Meanwhile, the BBC, to try to maintain enough traffic coming to their channels must also ensure that its programming is sufficiently populist to draw in large audiences. As a result, the BBC has been criticised for producing programmes that compete directly with commercial programming.

Ofcom, established in the Communications Act 2003, have to monitor and report on the state of PSB. In their recent report (see Broadcasting News page) they have proposed some options for the future of PSB.

 Curran & Seaton: Public service broadcasting was compared unfavourably with ‘the real choice offered to consumers by a more effective market.’ Yet the ideology of choice was absurd. Commercial broadcasting is based not on the sale of programmes to audiences, but on the sale of audiences to advertisers. Thus the introduction of more competitors will reduce advertising revenues both by spreading them between a greater number of channels and by splitting potential audiences into even smaller groups. As the main incentive will remain the attracting of the largest possible audience, the competing channels, less constrained by regulation to produce a variety of programmes, will tend to show more of the same or similar programmes…..Thus the victim of media concentration are variety, creativity, and quality, while the proliferation of broadcasting channels in the hands of a small band of operators, ‘liberated’ by government policy from the obligations of public service variety, is likely to make matters worse. ‘Choice’, without positive direction, is a myth, for all too often the market will deliver more – but only more of the same.’

 HOW TO WRITE THE ESSAYS

It’s hard to predict the exact questions in the new style exam. However you should be prepared to answer:

 What effect did the Legislation/Statutes/Acts (the Broadcasting Acts) have on British broadcasting?

 What has happened to British broadcasting in recent years (since 1990)?

 For both these questions, you will need to consider the issues listed below. There’s much more about this in my big notes doc, in the section on ‘What’s happened to TV?. For the first, you will need to be ready to look in detail about how the Acts changed thinks. Please look at my BLOG notes on these.

• – Deregulation / (re-regulation) – free market thinking
• – cross-media ownership
• – media ownership in fewer hands
• – commercialisation, efficiency, competitiveness
• – impact on PSB and threats to the BBC
• – effects in terms of programme content (dumbing down?)
• – pressure on advertising in multi-channel age (radio & TV)
• – globalisation (foreign ownership)
• – TV & New Media Technologies…new platforms
• – Interactive television

 You should also be prepared to respond to the question:

What does the present and future of Public Service Broadcasting look like?

Please refer to my large set of notes on this. http://adamrobbins.edublogs.org/13-public-service-broadcasting-british-tv/