Transcript Media of the United Kingdom

Media of the United Kingdom
Brian Lee, Andrew Stanley,
Michael Ardizzone
DCMS
Department for Culture, Media, and Sports
What does the DCMS do?
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Responsible for Government policy on the arts, sport, the National Lottery,
tourism, libraries, museums and galleries, broadcasting, film, the music
industry, press freedom and regulation, licensing, gambling and the historic
environment.
Economic contributions
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27.7 million visitors to the UK spent around £13 billion in 2004.
Full switchover from analogue to digital television will benefit the UK in the
region of £2 billion.
Creative industries grew by an average of 6% per year between 1997-2002,
compared to 3% for the whole economy: advertising, architecture, the art
and antiques market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film and video,
interactive leisure software, music, the performing arts, publishing, software
and computer games, television and radio.
Television
History
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First British television channel (1932) – The BBC Television Service
BBC television broadcasting monopoly until 1955 (when ITV was
launched)
Analog Television
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Chartered Public Broadcasting Companies (Government funded)
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BBC
Channel 4 (S4C)
Franchise Commercial Television Stations (Advertising revenue)
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ITV
Five
Television – Licensing Fees
BBC is funded by public money
Television license = Fee gathered from all UK households with a television set
(£110)
Revenues – The 2005 Annual report gave revenue sources in millions of:
 £2,940.3m license fees collected from consumers.
 £624.3m from BBC Commercial Businesses.
 £247.2m from the World Service, of which £225.1m is from grants (primarily
funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), £16.7m from subscriptions,
and £5.4m from other sources.
 £23.5m from other income, such as providing content to overseas broadcasters
and concert ticket sales.
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In total, the BBC's group income is estimated at £3835.3m for 2005.
Licence fee expenditure
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The BBC gives the following figures for expenditure of licence fee income:
50% - BBC One and BBC Two
15% - local TV and radio
12% - network radio
10% - digital (BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News 24, BBC Parliament, CBBC,
CBeebies)
10% - transmission costs and licence fee collection
3% - BBC Online, Ceefax, and Interactive Content (including bbc.co.uk and BBCi)
Digital Television
Digital television:
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Increased choice of channels
Interactive services (home shopping, banking, e-mail, internet
access)
Improved picture and quality
Switch from analog to digital television:
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Benefit to UK economy in terms of manufacturing and employment
Digital Television Action Plan (December 2001)
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Series of actions to ensure switchover from analog to digital
Could start to happen as early as 2006 and completed by 2010
Ofcom
Ofcom (Office of Communications)
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Designed to be a “super regulator”, required in an age where many
media platforms are converging.
Initially established in the Office of Communications Act 2002, but
received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003. On
December 29, 2003, Ofcom inherited the duties that had previously
been the responsibility of five regulatory bodies:
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Broadcasting Standards Commission
Independent Television Commission
Office of Telecommunications
Radio Authority
Radiocommunications Agency
Program Standards
Government has created regulators to ensure standards are
maintained on public broadcasts
The regulatory bodies are: Ofcom, The Governors of the BBC,
and the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority (S4C)
Bodies are appointed by government but operate independently
The regulations are set by the Codes of Practice
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Codes of Practice set the rules on content and nature of programs
and advertisements
Media Ownership
Communications Act simplifies media ownership roles
The Act also sets limits on the ownership of media assets
The Act deregulates, whenever possible, programs and
advertising in order to promote competition and attract new
investments
The aim of the Act is to have a balanced of different media
viewpoints
The Act includes the Competition Law which encourages
dispersed ownership and the engagement of new players in
media
BBC Charter
The Royal Charter sets out what the BBC does and how it does
it
Every 10 years the public reviews the BBC to determine its
effectiveness and consider its future
The reviews are initiated by the Secretary of State
The current review began on December 11, 2003
They are expected to pass the current review
BBC Programming
In the UK the BBC has 8 channels:
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BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC Parliament, BBC
News 24, CBBC Channel, Cbeebies
BBC One competes with ITV1 as the most viewed channel in the
UK
BBC One is more mainstream than BBC Two and generally gets
higher ratings
BBC Two caters to the wealthier citizens, and often has
“prestige” drama productions
A show might start out on BBC Two, but move to BBC One once
it becomes popular
BBC and Public Broadcasting
The government encourages strong public service broadcasting
to ensure that all consumers have access to varied
programming
The main public broadcasters are:
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The BBC, funded mainly by television license fees
Channel 4, self-funded by advertising revenues
S4C, funded grant-in-aid from the government and advertising
revenue
ITV, Channel 5, and Teletext
BBC Programming
CBBC provides programs for younger viewers
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It also shows film premiers and documentaries
BBC Parliament broadcasts coverage of the British House of
Commons and Lords, the Scottish Parliament, and Welsh
Assembly
BBC News is the largest news gathering operation in the world
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It produces 165 hours of news output every hour
The Six O’Clock News is followed by a half-hour of regional news
shows
BBC…Public or Commercial?
The BBC provides domestic public service broadcasting to
educate and entertain free of commercial advertising because
government regulation controls its funding
However, the BBC engages in commercial advertising in its
newspapers and some radio broadcasts
Income from commercial enterprises has substantially increases
over recent years
Its annual budget is approximately 3.7 billion pounds
BBC Worldwide is the only BBC subsidiary that is completely
commercially owned
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It broadcasts television stations throughout the world, such as BBC
Prime, BBC America, and BBC Canada
Political Influence
In theory, the BBC is free from both political and commercial
influence
However, the Board of Governors is a group of 12 who regulate
the BBC and represent the interest of the public
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The Government appoints the Board
Governors are nominally appointed by the monarch on the advice
of Ministers
The idea that the BBC is regulated by government appointees
undeniable demonstrates governmental influence
Political influence manifests in the form of government
controlled license fees
The Government can threaten to lower license fees
Sources
Department for Culture, Media, and Sport –
www.culture.gov.uk
The Economist – www.economist.com
Wikipedia – www.wikipedia.org
Encyclopedia Britannica – www.britannica.com