Summerising booklet & PSB, funding etc

Television audiences:

Television audiences in the 2010s are much more segmented than those in the 1960s. While BBC and ITV remain mass audience channels, the size of these mass audiences are getting smaller. Both the BBC and ITV offer channels that target specific audiences e.g. CBeebies, CBBC, BBC4, as well as mass audience channels.
Audiences in the 2010s have a variety of means of accessing television-live on television, recorded on PVRs and streaming online. This means that audiences have increasing choice and control over their viewing and scheduling is losing its previously all powerful grip over television viewing. The Wednesday 8pm scheduling for Cuffs, was still significant, which meant that Cuffs needed to try to offer a diverse audience a range of characters in hope that they could identify with some of them. It also meant that the darker context expected of a police drama had to be balanced with lighter, family-friendly fare.
Changes in social and cultural contexts mean that television audiences expect diverse representations in their television programmes. In multicultural and post-feminist Britain, it would seem unusual to have a solo white male ensemble cast, whereas in the 1960s, any deviation from this would have been noticed. The presence of a gay character who is not defined by his sexuality in Cuffs, for example, reflects the BBC's assumption that audiences would not find this representation unsettling. By contrast, a sympathetic 1960s documentary in gay life felt it necessary to warn the viewers that many would find 'disgusting' some innocuous shots of gay men dancing in a room.

Uses And Gratification:

Personal Identity:

Television series with ensemble casts, such as cuffs, do not offer simple hero and villain roles that enable identification with role models. However, audiences might identify with the values celebrated by the programme, such as public order, professional teamwork, comradeship, and dedication to duty in the face of public indifference, or might choose favourites as role models from among the ensemble cast.

Social Interaction And Integration:

Television series with ensemble casts, such as Cuffs, offer audiences a team, or substitute family, towards whom they can adopt a 'mother role'-forgiving the character's weaknesses, admiring their achievements, and hoping for the best for them. This offers particular pleasures for those who use television as a substitute for real life interaction. Family-friendly shows allow those families that still watch television together to do so.

Entertainment:

Programs that represent a self-contained fictional world offer escapism to viewers-either social realist or fantastic worlds both work well in this respect. Cuffs offers the fictional world of a coherent police team and their disparate off-duty activities. In addition, the show offers: comedy, suspense and action, some elements of spectacle and attractive actors.

Surveillance:

The information function of television is carried primarily by documentaries and current affairs programming but social realist drama such as Cuffs offer a sense of informing the viewer about aspects of society with which they are not familiar, such as police work.

Active Audiences/Audience Response And Interpretation:

Television audiences, though still relatively passive, are more active than in the 1960s. Apart from the readiness to switch channels, the phenomenon of 'second screening'-commenting on social media while watching linear television-allows far greater audience feedback and interactivity. This is considered a major factor in the survival of scheduling on linear television channels in the age of video on demand. Second screening, together with the success of programming such as sport and talent shows relying on audience votes, encourages 'live' viewing.
One example of different interpretations and audience activity is the fact that a pension to save Cuffs on change.org gained about 12,000 supporters, with comments such as: 'CUFFS IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN ON TV! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! I ACTUALLY CRIED WHEN IT ENDED!' This was after the second series was cancelled following average viewing figures and some less than positive reviews. The fan campaign following the cancellation trended on Twitter.

PSB:

Public service broadcasters generally transmit programming that aims to improve society by informing viewers.

The BBC is a good example of a public service broadcaster.

Remit- The responsibility of a programme.

BBC remit- To enrich people’s lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.

‘To reflect the UK, its culture and values to the world.’

Funding:

75% of the BBC’s funding comes from the licence fee (currently costs £147 for a colour and £49.50 for a black and white TV licence.)

The remaining comes from commercial activities such as:

·      Worldwide sales of its programmes

·      Publications such as Radio Times, Top Gear, Good Food, etc

Channel 4:

Channel 4 was set up after a 1977 government report argued that television was not meeting the needs of a diverse society.

 Channel 4 thus has a legal duty to:

·      Inform, educate and entertain

·      Appeal to tastes not catered for by ITV

·      Encourages diversity and originality

·      Be distinctive

Channel 4 is thus both commercial and PSB.

Channel 4 is both a commercial channel and has a public service broadcasting (PSB) duty. It is therefore funded through:

·      Advertising

·      Some government funding (a small part of the licence fee.)

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dCommercial Television:

The aim of commercial stations (ITV, 5 and SKY) is to provide popular shows that attract an audience- therefore leading to higher prices when advertising is sold.

All commercial terrestrial stations (ITV, 5) are funded by advertising.

Terrestrial stations- television signal is transmitted by radio waves from the terrestrial using an antenna.

Satellite stations such as SKY are funded through:

·      Advertising

·      Subscriptions charges

Funding issues:

The future of the licence fee is under attack in today’s competitive market.

The BBC has launched digital stations such as BBC News 24, BBC3 and BBC4 but these are not universally available.

In 2005, Channel 4 lost £28 million, the first loss in its history.

PSB-key arguments:

Arguments against:

·      Outdated

·      Irrelevant

·      Restricting competition which could bring increased choice and ‘quality.’

Arguments for:

·      Maintain the principle of an ‘enlightened democracy’

·      Maintain the high standards of broadcasting

·      Judge success by ‘quality’ rather than ratings

·      Continue the idea of a shared experience

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