Media of the United Kingdom

Brian Lee, Andrew Stanley, Michael Ardizzone

DCMS

Department for Culture, Media, and SportsWhat does the DCMS do?

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 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 First British television channel (1932) – The BBC Television

Service BBC television broadcasting monopoly until 1955 (when ITV

was launched)

Analog Television Chartered Public Broadcasting Companies (Government

funded) BBC Channel 4 (S4C)

Franchise Commercial Television Stations (Advertising revenue) ITV Five

Television – Licensing FeesBBC 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.

In total, the BBC's group income is estimated at £3835.3m for 2005.

Licence fee expenditure 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: Increased choice of channels Interactive services (home shopping, banking, e-mail,

internet access) Improved picture and quality

Switch from analog to digital television: Benefit to UK economy in terms of manufacturing and

employment Digital Television Action Plan (December 2001)

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) 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:

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 broadcastsThe regulatory bodies are: Ofcom, The Governors of the BBC, and the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority (S4C)Bodies are appointed by government but operate independentlyThe regulations are set by the Codes of Practice Codes of Practice set the rules on content and nature of

programs and advertisements

Media Ownership

Communications Act simplifies media ownership rolesThe Act also sets limits on the ownership of media assetsThe Act deregulates, whenever possible, programs and advertising in order to promote competition and attract new investmentsThe aim of the Act is to have a balanced of different media viewpointsThe 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 itEvery 10 years the public reviews the BBC to determine its effectiveness and consider its futureThe reviews are initiated by the Secretary of StateThe current review began on December 11, 2003They are expected to pass the current review

BBC Programming

In the UK the BBC has 8 channels: 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 UKBBC One is more mainstream than BBC Two and generally gets higher ratings BBC Two caters to the wealthier citizens, and often has “prestige” drama productionsA 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 programmingThe main public broadcasters are: 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 It also shows film premiers and documentaries

BBC Parliament broadcasts coverage of the British House of Commons and Lords, the Scottish Parliament, and Welsh AssemblyBBC News is the largest news gathering operation in the world 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 fundingHowever, the BBC engages in commercial advertising in its newspapers and some radio broadcastsIncome from commercial enterprises has substantially increases over recent yearsIts annual budget is approximately 3.7 billion poundsBBC Worldwide is the only BBC subsidiary that is completely commercially owned 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 influenceHowever, the Board of Governors is a group of 12 who regulate the BBC and represent the interest of the public 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 feesThe 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