Public Service Broadcasting

‘As the broadcasting landscape in the UK changes in the digital age, the roles and processes of broadcasters, regulators and key industry personnel have to adapt with it. Does the philosophy of public service broadcasting have a role to play in the future of British broadcasting?’

Public service broadcasting is a broadcast model that serves the populous at large. Funding is drawn in whole or part from various different means including T.V licensing, donations, or indirect sources such as taxes, which is how the BBC’s world service gains some of its funding. The system of Public service broadcasting is used all over the world but was pioneered here in the U.K by the BBC.

The ethos of Public service broadcasting is for many best described using the “Reithian” principles set out by the main protagonist of the system, the BBC’s first director general, John Reith. Reith’s views were fairly right wing. Described by the New York Times as "the single most dominating influence on British broadcasting," John Reith was born the fifth son of a Scottish minister and trained in Glasgow as an engineer . After various jobs and serving a term in the army during the in WWI he was made general manager of the newly formed British Broadcasting Company. The doctrine and principles Reith developed were thus: to inform, through news programmes and announcements. To educate, through documentaries and factual programmes and to entertain, which I’m sure most people don’t have a problem with!

When asked whether he would give people what they wanted Reith replied “ No, Something better than that, we’ll carry into the greatest number of homes everything that is best in every department of human knowledge, endeavour and achievement” .
These principles were first formulated in the 1920’s and were considered by critics of the BBC to be paternalistic and overtly patronising to the consumer because of the way in which the BBC delivered their service, deciding what we should watch on our televisions. This was demonstrated during the general strike of 1922 When Reith, who viewed the BBC as an instrument of parliament, broadcast views that were not sympathetic to the strikers cause and then refused to broadcast their views, thus presenting a biased view on the situation.

Mark Armstrong of University College London outlined his views on public service broadcasting in this quote from his paper, public service broadcasting in the digital world. “ The aim of public service broadcasting would appear to encompass two main strands: that television should give people the programmes they want to watch, and that it should also satisfy the wider social purposes such as education and citizenship”.

In aspiring to this aim all public service broadcasting follows a similar philosophy. First, to show a wide variety of material from popular programming, such as soaps and quiz shows and to fulfil its wider social obligations, the less popular cultural and educationally stimulating genres such as science, art and religion. Second, to have a significant percentage of its content produced in the host country thus fostering development of the broadcast industry. Channel 4 is a great example of how a broadcast organization can help develop the media production industry. “The Channel Four Television Corporation is a publicly-owned, not-for-profit broadcaster that provides vital competition to the BBC in the provision of public service TV As a publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 does not produce its own material but commissions it from more than 300 independent production companies across the UK each year. It works very closely with the independent production sector, and invests heavily in training and talent development throughout the industry” - Company overview, an extract taken from channel 4’s recent paper on new media and the creative industries.

The third point is public service broadcasting’s responsibility to consumer sensibility. That is, not to offend through views expressed or visual content that goes to air i.e. Violent, racist or sexually explicit programming. Helen Weeds of Essex University stated her views on paternalism and media responsibility in a recent paper on public service broadcasting, “ Some viewers do not necessarily choose what is in their best interests to watch” . This statement seems to justify the constraints placed on the broadcast of harmful content, especially to protect minors.

John Reith’s model for public service broadcasting was developed during the analogue era but is it still a relevant system and how will it fair as we move deeper and deeper into the age of the binary digit?
ITV’s Richard Eyre believes that this philosophy is outdated and the ideals of Public Service broadcasting unrealistic, “PSB will soon be dead. It will soon be dead because it relies on an active broadcaster and a passive viewer. Once upon a time, viewers (and listeners) could reasonably be expected to eat what they were given because we, the broadcasters, knew it was good for them”.

We can relate this statement to the link between technologies and how the public consumes media; and that, is changing forever. We are no longer passive viewers who watch whatever is shown to us. Not only can we choose from a myriad of TV channels; many of us spend more time on the Internet, which is a heavily interactive medium with people able to network and create their own program content. Some believe web sites like youtube.com could be the final nail in the coffin for traditional broadcasting systems like PSB . These views are typified in the following extract from a Blog entitled “The Future Of TV” started by D. Weinberger.

“We like amateur pod casts and video casts from websites like youtube.com in part because they are amateur. Sure, I like big budget movies and top-notch TV like The Sopranos, and I don't imagine that that's going to come from the grassroots for a while. But I don't feel like I'm in a two-tiered system in which there's the professional programming from the networks and then homemade programming. First, the tiers are already healing, as grassroots content is getting more professional. Second, and more important, the broadcasters think it's obvious that the quality is on the professional side. The notion that quality is on the side of the broadcasters confuses three- camera setups with creativity and humanity” .
This would suggest that even though we are changing our consumer habits there is still a place for quality television, although PSB would do well to pay mind to comments from people such as D Weinberger.
Whatever the future holds it is very important that Public service broadcasting anticipate the coming changes in the digital era or it risks being left behind. Channel four’s Andy Duncan spoke of the difficulties surrounding the digital age in his 2006 keynote at the oxford media convention,” We only have to look to the music industry to see what happens if you don’t prepare for this kind of revolutionary change. Companies who thought they were ‘in the record business’ and failed to take account of how music downloads were transforming their industry, are now a shadow of their former selves. Television companies face a similar fate unless they can make the transition from being single focus broadcast businesses to multi dimensional media organizations”.

Channel four is not alone in identifying this challenge . The BBC recognizes the need for change and have embraced this new digital era with services like BBC online and their ever-expanding portfolio of digital TV and radio stations.
The technology industries that public service broadcasting was built on are going through huge changes due to the advent of digital technology. One of the drawbacks of analogue is that each channel needs its own dedicated frequency. Digital broadcasting means much more choice as it does not suffer the same difficulties as analogue. Many channels may occupy the signal as they take up less bandwidth due to sophisticated compression techniques, and can be decoded using a receiver in the form of a set top box or PVR or personal video recorder.

This equipment changes the way we as viewers can consume television. Now we can pause, rewind or record a whole series by pushing just one button. We are no longer bound by traditional linear viewing choosing what we want to watch, when we want to watch it, thus becoming truly non-linear in our consumption of television. PVR presents a particular problem to Public service broadcasters who draw their revenue not from a licence fee but from sale of advertising either between programmes or during in the form of sponsorship. When we consider that unlike radio, which has one of the lowest ad avoidance levels at 16%, compare it to that of TV, which has an ad avoidance level 44% and you can see there’s potential for massive loss of revenue. For public service broadcasting to go continue into the digital age, it must find other means of generating more revenue, it needs to adapt and innovate.

Going one step further than PVR, in the 4th business quarter of 2006 channel four launched its break though service “VOD” video on demand. Available at the point of launch only though the Internet with a PC the service is expected to be rolled out to TV though broadband connections sometime in 2007. The opportunities VOD presents are huge. TV companies will be able to target consumers with specific program’s based on their previous purchases much like Apple iTunes, When you buy material of a certain genre you will receive other recommendations based on that choice. Of course the legalities and copyright surrounding VOD are complex and it’s not appropriate for me to go into detail here, but perhaps we will see a similar system to that employed by iTunes whereby content is copy protected and can only be played on authorized equipment.

The UK has always been a market leader in broadcasting and this statement has never been more true that in the advent of digital technology. The British government has championed the transition to digital with an aim to completing the transition to digital by 2010. These views are echoed in the following statement.
“At its best, our TV is the envy of the world ”
Tessa Jowell, Secretary of state for Culture,
Media and Sport (BTDA 2004)

This quote sums up my feelings on the future of public service broadcasting. I believe John Reith’s principles that were described earlier in this essay still hold water in the digital age of broadcasting, especially as the ethnic make up of Britain changes, promoting education, Citizenship, and society. Of course the Technology and viewing habits that I have discussed in this paper dictate that Public Service must change. To stay in the game PSB must change but I believe it can and will and that it does have a place in the digital age.


References

Media rights and intellectual property, Richard Haynes, Edinburgh press, 2006
Mcnae’s Essential law for journalists
http://www.channel4.com/about4/consultations/speeches_html
What is channel 4, accessed on Jan 8,2007
http://channel4.com/about4_andyduncanlecture_oxfordmedia.indd.pdf Andy Duncan’s oxford media convention keynote, accessed on Jan 10,2007
http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/the_future_of_tv.html Joho the Blog_The future of TV. PDF
Helen Weeds and Mark Armstrong-Public service broadcasting in the digital world.
http://www.rab.co.uk/rab2006/publicationDocs/adavoidance.pdf Media advertising avoidance, Accessed on Jan 10, 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=john_reith%2C_1st_baron_reith 1st baron Reith, accessed on Jan 4,2007.
www.teletronic.co.uk/bair#EC3E0. The history of John Reith, accessed on Jan 7,2007.