Television

RADIO

British broadcasting has traditionally been based on the principle that it is a public service accountable to the people through Parliament. Following 1990 legislation, it is also embracing the principles of competition and choice. Three public bodies are responsible for television and radio services throughout Britain. They are:

the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcasts television and radio services;

the Independent Television Commission (ГГС) licenses and regulates non-BBC television services, including cable and satellite services, and;

the Radio Authority licenses and regulates all non-BBC radio services. From 1926 radio was entrusted to the BBC, which still has a board of governors appointed by the government.

The BBC has five national radio channels for listeners in the United Kingdom. Radio (channel) 1 provides mainly a programme of rock and pop music. Radio 2 broadcasts lights music and entertainment, comedy as well as being the principal channel for the coverage of sport. Radio 3 provides mainly classical music as well as drama, poetry and short stories, documentaries, talks on ancient and modern plays and some education programmes. Radio 4 is the main speech network providing the principals news and current affairs service, as well as drama, comedy, documentaries and panel games. It also carries parliamentary and major public events. BBC 5 (on medium wave only), which is devoted chiefly to sport, education and programmes for young people. The BBC has over 30 local radio stations and about 50 commercial independent stations distributed throughout Britain. To provide high-quality and wide-ranging programmes that inform, educate and entertain, to provide also greater choice and competition the government encourages the growth of additional radio services run on commercial lines.

Besides these domestic programmes, the BBC broadcasts in England and in over 40 other languages to every part of the world. It is the World Service of the BBC. Its broadcasts are intended to provide a link of culture, information and entertainment between the peoples of the United Kingdom and those in other parts of the world. The main part of the World Service programme is formed by news bulletins, current affairs, political commentaries, as well as sports, music, drama, etc. In general, the BBC World Service reflects British opinion and the British way of life. The BBC news bulletins and other programmes are re-broadcasted by the radio services of many countries.

The BBC World Service broadcasts by radio worldwide, using English and 37 other languages, for 820 hours a week. The main objectives are to give unbiased news, reflect British opinion and project British life, culture and developments in science and industry. News bulletins, current affairs programmes, political commentaries and topical programmes form the main part of the output. These are supplemented by a sports service, music, drama and general entertainment.

TELEVISION

Since the 1970s 98% of British households have had television sets able to receive four channels, two put out by the BBC, two by commercial companies. Commercial satellite and cable TV began to grow significantly in 1989 - 1990, and by 1991 the two main companies operating in Britain had joined together as British Sky Broadcasting. By 1991 about one household in ten had the equipment to receive this material. Every household with TV must by law pay for a license, which costs about the same for a year as a popular newspaper every day. Unlike the press, mass broadcasting has been subject to some state control from its early days. One agreed purpose has been to ensure that news, comment and discussion should be balanced and impartial, free of influence by government or advertisers.

The BBC’s monopoly was ended in 1954, when an independent board was appointed by the Home Secretary to give licenses to broadcast (" franchises") to commercial TV companies financed by advertising, and called in general independent television (ITV). These franchises have been given only for a few years at a time, then renewed subject to various conditions.

In 1990 Parliament passed a long and complex newBroadcasting Act which made big changes in the arrangements for commercial radio.The old Independent Broadcasting Authority, which had given franchises to the existing radio company, was abolished. In its place, for TV alone, a new Independent Television Commission was set up in 1991, with the task of awarding future franchises, early in the 1990s, either to the existing companies or to new rivals which were prepared to pay a higher price. The Commission also took over responsibility for licensing cable programme services, including those satellite TV channels which are carried on cable networks. The new law did not change the status of the BBC, but it did have the purpose of increasing competition, both among broadcasters and among producers. It envisaged that a new commercial TV channel, TV5, would start in the early 1990s.

The general nature of the four TV channels functioning in 1991, seems likely to continue, with BBC1 and ITV producing a broadly similar mixture of programmes in competition with each other. ITV has a complex structure. Its main news is run by one company, Independent Television News, its early morning TV - a.m. by another. There are about a dozen regional companies which broadcast in their regions for most each day, with up to ten minutes of advertisements in each hour, between programmes or as interruptions at intervals of twenty or thirty minutes. These regional companies produce some programmes of local interest and some which they sell to other regions, so that for much of each day the same material is put out all through the country. Some of BBCl's progarmmes are similarly produced by its regional stations. BBC2 and the independent Channel 4 (which has its own company) are both used partly for special interest programmes and for such things as complete operas.

The organization and style of the television should be singled out. In terms of the size of audience, the television has long since taken over form of broadcasting in Britain. Its independence from government interference is largely a matter of fact agreement. There have been occasions when the government has successfully persuaded the BBC not to show something. But there have also been occasions, when the BBC has refused to bow to government pressure. Most resent cases have involved Northern Ireland.

There is no advertising on the BBC. But Independent Television (ITV), which started in 1954, gets its money from the advertisements it screens. It consists of a number of privately owned companies, each of which is responsible for programming in different parts of the country on the single channel given to it. In practice, these companies cannot afford to make all their own programmes, and so they generally share those they make. As a result, it's common for exactly the same programme to be showing on the ITV channel throughout the country.

Of particular importance in the rating war is the performance of the channels' various soap operas. The two most popular and long-running of these, which are shown at least twice a week, are not glamorous American productions showing rich and powerful people(although series such as DALLAS and DYNASTY are sometimes shown). They are ITV's CORONATION STREET, which is set in a working-class area near Manchester, and BBCl's EASTENDERS, which is set in a working -class area of London. They, and other British-made soaps and popular comedies, certainly do not an idealized picture of life. Nor are they very sensational or dramatic. They depict (relatively) ordinary lives in relatively ordinary circumstances. So why are they popular? The answer seems to be that their viewers can see themselves and other people they know in the characters and, even more so, in the things that happen to these characters. The British prefer this kind of pseudo—realism in their soaps. In the early 1990-s, the BBC spent a lot of money filming a new soap calledELDORADO, set in a small Spanish village which was home to a large number of expatriate British people. Although the BBC used its most successful soapproducers and directors, it was a complete failure. Viewers found the complicated storylines and the Spanish accents too difficult to follow, and could not identify with the situations in which the characters found themselves. It was all just too glamorous for them. It was abandoned after only a year.

It became obvious in the early 1960-s that the popularity of soap operas and lights entertainment shows meant that there was less room for programmes which lived up to the original educational aims of television. Britain now has two other channels (BBC2 and Channel4) which act as the main promoters of learning and 'culture’. Both have been successful in presenting programmes on serious and weighty topics which are nevertheless attractive to quite large audience. BBC2 is famous for its highly acclaimed dramatizations of great works of literature and for certain documentary series that have become world-famous 'classics' (the art history series CIVILIZATION and the natural history series LIFE ON EARTH are examples). Another thing that these channel do well, particularly, Channel 4, is to show a wide variety of programmes catering to minority interests -including, even, subtitled foreign soap operas.

Television viewing is Britain's most popular leisure pastime: 95 per cent of households have a colour television set and 68 per cent have a video recorder. There are four television channels, and five national and over 100 local radio stations.

A lot of air time is devoted to political, social and economic affairs. Although politicians often face tough questioning, particularly during election campaigns, broadcasters are expected to be impartial in their treatment of political controversies. Some programmes especially radio, allow members of the public to challenge politicians and other public figures on major issues.

The Government is not responsible for programming content or the day-to- day conduct of the business of broadcasting. Broadcasters are free to air programs with the only limitation on their independence being the requirement that they not offend good taste.