L01: Understanding the structure of the television and video industry in the UK

Public and Commercial Ownership 

Publicly owned TV channels

Publicly owned TV channels are channels that are aimed towards and paid by the public, on behalf of the government. The public pays for these services through their television licenses, however, they do sometimes receive government subsidies. The best example of a public serviced company could be the BBC. The BBC, which was created by John Reith in 1929, is a dependent company that is funded by public TV licensing. They have a very wide target audience, therefore they use their own goals to base their programs on. The BBC is constituted by the Royal charter but governed by 12 people who make up the board of governors.

Commercially owned TV channels

Commercially owned TV channels are privately owned by corporate media that gather their income from commercials and advertising. Commercial tv is regulated and governed by the ACMA. An example of a commercially owned network is ITV. ITV is a tv network owned by Ofcom that is paid by advertisements given air time. Ofcom and the show's producer are the ones accountable for the shows.

Let's compare ITV and the BBC. Although ITV is a commercially owned channel and the BBC is a publicly owned channel, they still have some similarities and differences. Some similarities are that they both are free to air, as well as they are both UK broadcasting channels. Some differences would be that ITV is funded by commercial advertisements that receive air time whereas the BBC is paid by the public through tv licenses and it contains no advertisements. Some cons of ITV would be that many adverts are shown throughout each show as well as they do not get funding from other channels. Some pros would be that they can sell their programs to other channels such as the BBC. The pros for the BBC would be that there are no advertisements interrupting your shows. Overall, this impacts ITV's audiences by making them having to wait for advertisements to finish to watch their show, however, they have a big audience. The BBC's audience is impacted in the way that they can watch their shows with no interruptions.

Free to air and subscription-based television packages

Free to air television stations

Free to air stations are television or radio stations that do not require a subscription to listen to or view them. There are 5 main free to view stations. These stations are BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. These stations can be viewed simply by having a satellite signal for the station and having a tv license. Any one person can view these stations as long as they reside in the area the satellite signal is as each station is limited to one area, for eg: Someone is Brazil wouldn't be able to view a British free to air station as the signal is too far away, and as long as they have the right equipment, such as an antenna or satellite dish, for viewing and owning a tv license. Free to air stations are funded in many different ways. These can be through taxpayer funding, sponsorship, advertising revenue and with an enforced license fee. An example of a free to air station would be Channel 4. Channel 4 is number 4 of the 5 main free to air stations. Channel 4 is a commercially owned station, therefore, it makes its funding through air time advertisements, the selling of their programs to different channels and program sponsorship. Channel 4 can be viewed in the UK as long as you have a tv license and a satellite signal.

Free-view channels

Free view channels are extra channels that are given to you with the purchase of a set-top box. A set-top box a box that supplies you with 70  extra channels for viewing, as well as the main 5 channels, BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. These channels can be viewed through the set box as long as you have a tv license and a tv. Audiences might pick free television as it consists of the main 5 channels as well as all the extra stations from other commercial operators, such as Sky and UKTV, that the audience might need without having to pay extra for a subscription.

Subscription packages

A subscription package is when the audience will pay a certain amount to the company in order to have access to their product. This means that the audience will pay a tv company a set amount of money to view their channels. These subscriptions can be paid weekly, monthly, semi-annually and annually. An example would be Sky's box set bundle, where you pay £38 per month and receive 350+ channels, 350+ sky box sets and 4,500+ episodes of kids shows. Pay-per-view differs from a subscription package. Pay-per-view is when the audience will pay for one or a couple of specific channels only, whereas, subscription packages consists of the audience paying for all the channels available, whether they watch them or not. The most popular TV subscription packages in the UK would be Sky's original packages where you pay £22 per month for 310+ channels and Virgins mix TV subscription where you pay £20 per month for 175 channels. If we compare theses, most audiences would pick Sky's original subscription package as it is only £2 more and comes with 125 extra channels, therefore becoming the better deal for a subscription package.

Let's compare TalkTalk's original subscription and NowTV's entertainment subscription packages. TalkYalks' package is £20 per month for 103 channels which come in HD 14 and the setup cost is  £25. Now if we compare this to NowTV's package, which is £25 per month for 115 channels in HD 11 and costs £22 for set up, we can clearly see they differ in price, channel amounts and HD resolutions. TalkTalk's subscription is cheaper for more channels that are a better quality. However, there are some cons and pros. A con for both of them would be that you have to pay to have them set up. This impacts the audience as they will not want to pay large amounts to have them set up. However, TalkTalk's package influences the audience positively as it is cheap for many channels that are in high definition.

Changing Technologies

Analog Technology

Analog technology is taking audio or video signal and translating it into an electronic pulse. This involves the modification, which is usually amplifying the strength of the signal, of a base frequency in order to add information to the frequency. Broadcast has used this for many years. Some advantages of analog technology would be that the technology records waveforms giving a continuous range of information, it is cheap and portable and it can be done in real time. Some disadvantages would be that it is less immune to noise, therefore, having unwanted variations of signal and that they are easily affected, reducing accuracy. Analog TV is no longer used as in early 2009 all televisions were changed to digital TV sets as they are more efficient and easier to use.

Digital Technology

Digital technology is information that is digitized and recorded in binary code, which is code comprised of "bits" or 1's and 0's used to represent images and information. Digital technology allows large amounts of information to be compressed and stored on a small storage device. This also quickens the speed of data transmissions. On 12 June 2009, the DVT, digital television, transitioned all televisions and radio station to digital technology. After digital technology replaced analog technology, television quality improved and TV equipment changed. However, many channels that were being broadcasted before were no longer available. Advantages of digital technology would be that they are free from observational errors as well as it being immune to noise. Some disadvantages would be that it is expensive, not portable and it has a limited set of numbers making it less accurate. Due to the change from analog to digital technology, a wider variety of technology has evolved. Nowadays, we have things such as the internet, on demand and even streaming. This helps us now as we have many platforms that are available for us to use to gather information, watch shows not seen on TV as well as being able to access television online.

Regulation

Self-regulation

Television must be regulated, this is why self-regulation is very important. There are many ways that TV stations can self-regulate but watershed, producer guidelines and parental lock codes are the three main ones. Watershed is the time in which adult programs may be aired. It is used to protect younger children from witnessing adult content while they are watching TV. Watershed usually works by airing shows that consist of adult content over the time of 21:00, as most children too young to see it would have gone or been put to bed by then.
Producer guidlines are the standards that TV companies set in order to give the audience appropriate and good quality TV.  These standards consist of respecting privacy, to be fair, truth and accuracy, impartiality, to avoid offending and to protect audiences from harm.
Parental lock codes are codes that parents can set on channels and shows that their child is not allowed to watch. This means that if the child tries to watch the show they will have to input the code, which only their parents will know. This reduces the chance of children watching age-inappropriate shows.


Broadcasting Act of 1990 

The Broadcasting Act of 1990 is a law that was passed by the British parliament in 1990. It was aimed at changing the structure of British broadcasting television and electronic communications. The act had a strong effect on the audience because, since the passing of the act, television had become more censored and closely monitored. Television and radio companies became the broadcasters instead of the regulators.


Ofcom

Ofcom is the communications regulators. They regulate electronic communications such as TV and radio. Ofcom ensures people in the UK are protected by scams and that they are given the best communications. Ofcom operates under the Communications act of 2003, nothing less or more. Ofcom was created in 2001 but only launched in December of 2003. Ofcom aims and purposes are to protect the audience against harmful images on TV as well as offensive or inappropriate messages across all electronic communications. Ofcom is also the place where TV customers can go and complain if there is something wrong with their TV package. In 2015, many costumers complained about paying an extra £5 for a sports package that they did not want. This was because BT Sports Europe, a sports channel, had changed their pricings from a free package to a £5 package. Ofcom contacted the BT Sports Europe channel who confirmed that the package now cost £5 and that if the costumers had signed up for the package they would have to start paying or downgrade their package if they did not want it. As Ofcom is not responsible for the pricing of packages and channels, they could only make contact with the BT to resolve the problem. However, this helped the customers understand and resolved the issue. 

LO2: Know about the key issues and debates that affect the television and video industry

Issues and Debates

Taste and Decency

Within the film industry, there are still rules against releasing materials that can be offensive to good taste or decency or public feelings. Timing is one of the most important parts of running a successful TV channel. Channels must consider the context as well as the time of release or airing as it can offend audiences if a traumatic event has recently taken place. An example of this would be the release of the movie gone baby gone at the time of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Gone baby gone is amovie in which a small child is taken from her home and the main character must try hunt down her killer in order to find her. This movie can be offensive to the audience as shortly before the release of the movie, a young girl named Madeleine McCann was taken out of her holiday home in Brazil. The movie uses the same topic of a girl being taken which can easily trigger Madeleine's family and friends as well as the public as it is a sensitive topic. The way this was regulated was by postponing the release date of the movie in the UK. The movie was released later after the public had enough time to grieve and come to terms with what had happened. TV channels must retain a level of taste and decency on their channel as it will protect the public as well as reduce controvercy.

Quality and Standards

Each TV channel has the responsibility to supply the audience with the content of good quality and standards. This means that TV channels must broadcast shows that are not just entertaining to watch, but also shows that can inform and be useful. Nowadays, TV channels are known to choose to broadcast popular, mainstream shows instead of shows that are of good quality and standards. An example of this would be channel 4 news and channel 5 news. According to a study conducted into the dumbing down of news, Channel 4 has maintained their content quality and standards, at around 90% of content, whereas Channel 5 has shown a drop of 50% in its content standards. This is because of Channel 4 broadcasts all the news they receive as well as supplying the audience with information on what is going on in the world, whereas Channel 5 chooses what news they include in their broadcast. This means that Channel 5 has been choosing the news that will be popular compared to the news of good quality and standards, therefore dumbing down their broadcasts. To dumb something down is to appeal to an audience of lesser intelligence and education. 

Ratings

Ratings are a way of judging the potential amount of households who tune into one show and channel. This is done via the Nielsen media research system. This is when the number of people watching televisions shows is recorded and turned into data that cable networks can use. They can do this using statistical sampling. This is when they use your TV box to gather information about your TV schedule. They then use the information gathered off of the TV box and combine it with a huge database of shows and channels to gather final data on ratings for the cable companies. A rating war is when two or more TV shows make an effort to gather more viewers. An example of this could be The X-Factor competing against Strictly come dancing in a rating war. Ra ting wars usually take place when shows ratings are dropping. In the rating war between the X Factor and Strictly come dancing, Strictly come dancing won. An investigating into the rating war shows that audiences enjoy the X Factor less as some ridiculous acts are kept over better ones in order to manipulate the audience, however the audience is aware of what is happening. This makes the show less enjoyable, whereas Strictly come dancing is used to create pure entertainment off of actual talent. 

Online Streaming

Online streaming is when and audience can watch shows shown on TV on line instead. In the UK, there are many online streaming options. The main online streamers are Netflix, Amazon prime and Now TV. If we compare Netflix to Amazon Prime, we can see that Netflix has a very wide range of shows for just 6 to 9 pounds a month, depending on the type of streaming wanted, and can be accessed on almost any electronic device, whereas Amazon Prime has a more limited, but still large, variety of shows and costs form 6 pounds a month to 80 pounds a year, this is with a prime membership, and can be used on many devices, however not as much as Netflix. By comparing these two we can see that online streaming can be very different for similar products. Some advantages of online streaming is that it is can be watched as many times as wanted, it protects piracy and can be accessed almost any ware as long as you have internet access. Some disadvantages would be that it can be very expensive, it requires a certain bandwidth (internet speed) and that it is only found online. Online streaming affects many things about shows such as scheduling, censorship and variety. Censorship on online streaming can become a lot more lenient as younger viewers can easily watch higher rating shows as there is no lock on the shows nor is there watershed. Online streaming can also widen the variety of shows compared to seen on TV as shows from all around the world and soon to be released shows can be seen online. Online scheduling also interferes with scheduling as shows that are released on a certain day at a certain time may already be released online.


Influences and Effects

Hypodermic needle theory

The Hypodermic needle theory is a theory that suggests that mass media has a direct and immediate effect on its audience. This means that the media ‘injects’ or ‘implants’ messages that are made to create a desired response from the audience. The hypodermic theory suggests that a message is shown to the audience and it takes an instant effect as if a doctor had ‘injected’ the message into the audience's brain and they can't avoid following the message. This also suggests that audiences are weak and easily influenced by media and television. An example of this would be Orson Well’s radio performance. On 30th October 1938, Halloween’s eve, the radio was cut to a live news bulletin, where the audience could hear the world being invaded by aliens. The audience was not aware that Orson Well was performing the script of G.H.Well’s, War of the Worlds, over the live radio. Little did he know, this would cause an extreme situation of mass hysteria as one million out of the twelve million people believed that the broadcast was real and began preparing for the invasion. This relates to the hypodermic needle theory as it injected the message of the world being invaded into the audience's brain and they believed exactly what he said. There are some flaws to the theory however, audiences can not be judged on their ability to easily believe things as each audience member has their own capacity of naivety. Another flaw would be that audiences interpret media differently, certain things such as beliefs or attitudes can not be observed or measured the way other processes can and that audiences may change their thinking often, therefore, one day they could believe the media and the next they won't, so how can we judge or analyse audiences thought processes when it can change often. Instead of using this theory, we can look at the audience as complex beings who have the ability to change and reform their ideas and opinions on what they see on television. I believe that audiences do sometimes believe what they see and hear on TV, however, many people research into what the heard or saw and their opinions change as well as the people who never believed what they saw in the start.

Uses and gratifications theory

There is also the uses and gratifications theory, which suggests there are only 4 reasons why any one person will consume media. These 4 reasons would be diversion, personal relationships, personal identity, and information. Diversion is used as an escape from everyday life such as school, routines and problems, and for entertainment. This can be demonstrated in any game being played or show being watched. Personal relationships are when someone uses media for social interaction with other people. This can be when a group of people have a discussion on a game or a film. Personal identity is when a person sees himself reflected in a form of media.This can be a person who finds similarities in a character's behavior, appearance or simply the way a character carries themselves. And information is when a person uses media to gather information that can be useful in day to day life. An example of consuming media for personal identity would lie in any non-factual tv show, such as Sherlock. The audience will watch Sherlock to watch the characters as the audience can see themselves in the characters. This allows them to feel what the character is feeling and replace the character by themselves in the situations the character is going through allowing them to develop personal connections. An example of consuming media for information would be the news and weather forecasts such as BBC news. An audience member will consume information from BBC news to gain knowledge into the daily weather as well as what is taking place in other places around the world. If we compare these two reasons for consuming media we can see that personal identity is non-factual whereas the information consumption is factual. This shows the different interest levels seen in media.
An example of diversion would be Emmerdale as audiences watch this to escape their own everyday lives and instead enter a different universe where they don't have stresses of day to day life. And finally, an example of personal relationships would be Luther as the audience will watch the show to engage and entertain the idea of the characters interacting with them personally. If we compare these two ways of consumption, we can see that diversion is used temporarily as an escape, however, personal relationships are used as a personal way of communicating with someone throughout a journey of the series. Although these ways of consuming media are very different, they can be used more than one at a time. For example, some audiences watch shows such as Sherlock or Emmerdale to develop personal relationships as well as using is for personal identity, and sometimes even diversion as well.

Reception theory 

The reception theory is a theory developed to show how people read media. There are 3 stages. Stage 1 would be encoding. This is when a message is produced in a media using codes or sign systems. Stage 2 is the message. This is what messages the film or game produce. And stage 3 which is decoding. Decoding is when the meanings produced are consumed with the codes being communicated to the audience. There are 3 ways of decoding, or reading, media texts. 1 is dominant reading: this is when the viewer recognizes the preferred or offered meaning and broadly agrees with it. Number 2 is negotiating reading. This is when the reader accepts, rejects or refines elements of the program in light of previously held views. And 3, which is o-positional reading. This is when the dominant reading is recognized but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons. As an example we can use the show Sherlock. Younger viewers between the ages of 10 - 16 will most likely be the oppositional reading as they have no characters to relate to, as well as the use of higher education language and phrases that they will not understand. Audiences aged 30 - 40 year olds will be the negotiated reading as they will understand the language and higher educated references younger cant relate to, as well as relating to some characters shown in the series. The dominant reading will be 18 - 28 year olds as they can most closely relate to the situations taking place, as well as being able to relate to the characters and being interested in the crime aspect included in the show. They will also be able to understand the language and references used.

LO3: Applying textual analysis techniques to the study of television and video products

Sherlock

Sherlock is a UK hybrid crime drama TV series. Sherlock was created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat and is based off Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's  Sherlock Holmes detective stories.  It aired on BBC One in early 2010 and is co- produced by the network The BBC. It consists of a detective named Sherlock and his sidekick, John, who investigate and solve murders in London. The show is fiction as it is based of a story that is not true and follows murders that did not actually take place as well as Sherlock bizarre way of thinking to solve the murders. As Sherlock is a crime drama, it consists of weapons and murder as well as relateable situations and themes such as love and anger. This gathers a wide variety of audiences. Sherlocks main audience would consist of a small female audience and a large male audience  aged 18 - 28 years old. This audience will be known as the dominant reading as they can accept and relate to almost to all the aspects the show provides. The male audience will be able to relate to the male characters as well as the enjoyment of crime aspects such as weapons and violence. The female audience will be able to relate to the few female characters as well as the aspects of drama such as love and relateable situations. The secondary audience will be the negotiated reading. This audience consists of 30 - 40 year old males and females. They will relate to the series through the use of higher education language and references as well as a small amount of characters. Both the main and secondary audiences fit into the mainstream phsycographic as the show consists of mainstream aspects and themes such as drama and romance. The oppositional reading audience will be females and males aged 10 - 16 as they will not be able to relate to any characters or situations taking place as well as having a limited understanding of references and education needed and used in the show. Sherlock has a linear as well as a circular strand narrative. The single strand narrative is represented through the situations that happen in Sherlock's personal. Things unravel in his personal life that affect the circular strand narrative. The circular strand narrative is represented by each case that takes place in each episode. Each episodes starts with a death that is resolved by the detective therefore giving it a begging and an end in each episode. However the singular narrative consists throughout each episode up until the end of the series. 

Britain's Got Talent

Britain's got talent is a UK reality TV show created by Simon Cowell. It was released on ITV in June 2007. The shows consists of regular English people who have talents they would like to show to the world. These individuals enter Britain's got talent to show off their talent and have the chance of winning money and potentially becoming famous. This series is a reality TV series as it is not staged nor is it fake instead it is genuine people in their genuine life trying to show the world what they can do, making it reality not fiction. The target audience for Britain's got talent is family audiences therefore being all genders and ages as they can relate to the contestants and their talents as well as the judges. A younger audience such as 7 - 13 year old males are more likely to be the oppositional audience as they will be more interested in cartoons and less in others lives as well as being in bed by the time these shows are broadcast. The negotiational reading will be females and males ranging from 45 - 60 year olds as they might find it amusing as well as relating to the contestants. Therefore making females and males aged 16 - 40 the dominant reading as they will find it most interesting and can relate to the contestants and judges the most. However, all audiences are considered to be in the mainstream psychographics as the show consists of reality and mainstream themes. The show is realist and circular stranded narrative. The realist strand is represented by the fact that it is a reality TV show therefore showing reality. The circular strand narrative weaves in through the structure in each episode.Each episode consists of contestants competing, then some getting accepted and others get cut off the show. This happens throughout every episode up until the end of the show when someone wins.

Planet Earth

Planet earth is a British documentary series created by George Fenton. The show was released on the 5th of March 2006 on BBC One and is produced by BBC's natural history unit. The show consists of the exploration of many places around the earth and investigates what it is inhabited by and how the inhabitants survive. For example, in Planet earths episode on Antarctica they find that penguins and polar bears inhabit it and investigate how they survive in those conditions. As Planet earth is a documentary series it consists of reality and non fiction aspects instead of fictional stories. The dominant audience would be females and males aged 20 - 40 year olds, although it is a family show. This audience is most likely to watch informational shows such as these as well as having the interest in specific places on earth. The negotiated audience would range from 40 - 60 year old male and females as they might enjoy learning about new places, however some might find it boring and seek entertainment instead. The oppositional audience would be female and male children aged 10 - 16 as they will find it boring and be more interested in watching cartoons and fictional stories. All audiences for this show would be succeeders as informational and non fictions shows tend not to be mainstream, therefore making the audience decide whether they want to watch it or not on their own instead of being influenced by society. Planet earth has a realist and circular stranded narrative. The realist strand is represented by the fact that it is a documentary show that consists of the truth about our planet instead of non fictional stories. The circular strand narrative weaves in through the structure in each episode. Each episode consists of an introduction to the place they are exploring, then the inhabitants are found and explored. This created a circular structure as it starts and ends on the same point.