summerising booklet pg 3-7

Part 1: 1960s Television

Background to television in the mid-1960s

Television in mid-1960s Britain was scarce. Only three channels were available: BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. Televisions were expensive, small, unreliable and black and white. All television channels would shut down to play the national anthem. Channel surfing was not used much so people were more loyal to the channels that they watched.

ITV started in 1955, designed to compete against BBC by being the first channel to allow advertising on TV. It gained large audiences by introducing game shows. ITV was financially secure because it made its money from advertising.

Ownership, finding and regulation

Television in the 1960s Britain was provided by the BBC and ITV.  These companies were not allowed to merge and their British ownership was controlled by their regulator, the Independent Television Authority (ITA). ITV was highly profitable and could afford larger budgets than the BBC. This allowed the ITA to insist on strict public service broadcasting (PSB). The schedules regularly include PSB fare such as: single dramas, educational programmes, children’s programmes, Arts programmes, news and many more. The BBC was self-regulating.

Global TV

World television markets were dominated by US programmes, which could be sold abroad for much less than the cost of producing original programmes. British television programmes were protected by the rules of PSB that limited the proportion of foreign content.

British television competed on the world market, with productions such as the Avengers being sold to many countries overseas. A lucrative deal with the American Broadcasting Company ($2 million) required the fourth series of the Avengers to be shot on film. The fifth series of the Avengers in 1966 was filmed in colour, even though the programme could only be shown in monochrome on ITV. The budget for series 4 of the Avengers was reported £56,000 per show.

Reaching different audiences

Channel loyalty tended to split on class lines, with ITV seen as the more working class channel- at a time when it was ‘cool’ to be working class; the BBC was seen as more middle class. ITV’s series the Avengers appeared much more daring, youthful, irreverent and sexy.

The BBC remained very London-centric, whereas ITV spread out more. ABC studios shot the Avengers in Borehamwood.

Targeting audiences

Both BBC1 and ITV were aimed at mass audiences. Broadcast flow was important: audiences should be led through a series of genres and formats to provide a rounded evening’s viewing. BBC2 was the exception to this television rule. It addressed a series of different audiences across one evening’s schedule.

Narratives that resolved every episode were well suited to a channel-loyal audience with no recording facilities.

The watershed at 9pm, introduced in 1964, allowed for more adult programmes to be shown such as the Avengers. ITV shut down at midnight because they assumed that everyone would be in bed by that time.

The mid 1960s was a time of rapid social change. This meant that programmes had to change and focus on social and artistic boundaries of their time. The audience found that this met their uses and gratifications.

Uses and Gratifications:

Personal identity

Television audiences in the 1960s were much more loyal to particular channels and used this loyalty to construct a sense of social identity. BBC viewers called themselves more ‘cultured’ and better educated. ITV viewers called themselves more down to earth and less stuck-up than a BBC viewer.

Social interaction and integration

Television was more important in the 1960s because of its very scarcity. There would only be at most one screen in the house, which meant the whole house would watch together or not at all. Some audiences used television as a substitute for real-life social interaction.

Entertainment

Audiences were much more naïve about television in the 1960s. Escapism was most evident in game shows and talent contests, but dramas like the Avengers also offered escapism.

Surveillance

The information function of television was carried primarily by documentaries and current affairs programming and perhaps social realist dramas.

Audience response and interpretation

Much contemporary response to 1960s television drama may be influenced by the cult status that has accrued to programmes such as the Avengers. The way the programme reflects its time in terms of both media language and representation may create an alienating effect for modern audiences.

The Avengers and Cuffs compare in terms of audience because both in the 1960s and the 2010s, BBC and ITV were aimed at mass audiences. In The Avengers, each episode was resolved at the end, so if people missed an episode, it wouldn’t matter; however, in Cuffs, each episode linked to one another. This meant that if someone missed an episode, they wouldn’t understand the next. This led to people recording the show so they could watch it whenever they want.