Ownership

Public Service Broadcasting

 

All British broadcasting started in the 1920s with radio but America already had a broadcasting service. Britain looked at it and didn't like what they saw because it was to commercial. They arid 'soap opras' which were like what we have to day but was described as mindless dribble. A brief was made by Lord Reith about what out broadcasting channel should entail, here are the notes

 

● Educate, inform and entertain;
● Lead public taste, not pander to it;
● Act as a cultural, moral and educative force;
● Present the best of human knowledge, endeavour and achievement;
● Preserve a high moral tone, avoiding the vulgar and the hurtful;
● Bring the nation together ‘as one man’, by ensuring universal access;
● Act as a social cement to create a national identity and an enlightened democracy;
● Remain free from commercial and government pressures.

Notice what the priorities are for the broadcaster, to Educate, inform and entertain,, in that order. This was because Reith thought the British would prefer this to anything else.

America's Broadcasting was Commercial which meant they sold their advertising space to company's. Reith didn't like this because there were more important things to be aired. He also didn't want it to be Government funded because the station would be accused of being a propaganda. His answer to the funding was to create a licence fee to be paid every year. Each house hold will pay a set fee to consume the media offered. This worked and is still happening today.

 

They argument is that is it still necessary. With satalight telly and cable telly where you have to pay subscription fees, people are complaining that they don't need to pay the licence fee because they are not watching the channel that they are paying for. This brings into argument if the BBC should be a subscription channel so they get their money from the people that want to watch their programs.

 

 

 Commercial Broadcasting

 

ITV was the first Commercial Broadcasting station in Brittan. A commercial broadcasting starting sells the space imbetween their programs but in reality, what they do is sell their audience to the advertising companies.

 

Although being a separate company to the PBS, ITV were made to follow the same values of the PBS. For example, they were made to show a certain amount of Religious programs and Documentaries over a weeks of programing. Religious programs had to be shown for 7 hours a week. ITV responded by putting it all on Sunday making Sunday broadcasting dull for the majority.

Nowadays, the restrictions are less but still there. Thankfully, Religious programing is down to just 1 hour a week.

 

Channel 4 was the next commercial broadcasting channel but with a difference. The idea for this channel was to target the minorities with niche Broadcasting. The problem was they had to be funded commercially. This was a problem because of their target audience, not many people would be watching so the advertising space wouldn't sell for much.

The solution was to get ITV to pay a fee to channel 4 and in return they would be able to sell their advertising space. 

 

 

Corporate / Private Ownership

 

Corporate ownership is where you set up a company where the individuals do not own the company but still make money from it. For example, News Corporation, Rupert Murdock owns it but if it was to go under, he wont have to sell everything to pay off his debts.

 

Private ownership is where a company isn't owned by the government.

 

Global Media Companies

 

Most of the  worlds media is owned by a few companies which are named the big six;

• Viacom -  Total Assets of $22.96 Billion - Owns MTV, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon
•  News Corporation - Total Assets of $54.384 Billion - Owns Fox, The Times, The New York Post
• TimeWarner - Total Assets of $66.524 Billion - Owns HBO, New Line Cinema, DC Comics
• The Walt Disney Company - Total Assets of $69.206 bullion - Owns Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, ESPN
• Sony - Total Assets of 137.7 Billion - Owns Sony Pictures Classics, Play Station, Columbia Pictures
• General Electric - 751.216 Billion - Owns NBC, The History Channel, USA Network

Vertical / Horizontal Integration

 



 Vertical Intergraion is a type of management control. Usually, The company will have one owner and they will  have a supply chain where each part of the chain will have a different product. All of these products combine to create something for common interest.

 

Horizotal intergration is simerlar to the vertical in where the one owner will be incontrol of the company but each one of the companys that they own will do almost the same thing. For example, News Corp. own the Sunday times but they also own the daily times and other papers.

 

 

Monopoly

 

A monopoly is where one company owns all the companies in one area. For example, a media company could own every single peice of media that goes out to Britian. There are laws against this as it doesn't give anyone any choise. 



 

Sources of Funding for Broadcasting and Film in the UK

 

The licence fee - This is where a household pays a set price of 145.50. This goes straight to the BBC so they can continue broadcasting without adverts

 

One off payments - This is if you were to go to the shop and buy a CD or go to the Movies and pay for the ticket. It is a one off price that the public would pay for Media goods

 

Pay per View - This is becoming popular in satellite TV where you can pay a fee to watch a film or a TV seriers.

 

Sponsership - Usually, companies will sponser programs that a channel puts on to advertise thier product to a certial audience. For example, Motorola used to sponser The X Factor

 

Advertising - You could advertise your show or media anywhere. One way is Spot Ads where a company will pay for a billbord to be set up with some advertisement for a new show or magerzene ext.

 

Product Placement -  You see this a lot in films. It is where a company pays the film makers to put thier product in the film. A good example is James Bond, Austin Martin puts thier cars in all the time.

 

Private Capital - This is where Rich Indeviduals Invest there spare money into films.

 

Finacial aid and development Funds - BFI is a good example of a development fund, This companys lend thier money to Film makers or media owners to have enough for different projects.