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30 Nov 2021 | TEL130 Backdrop | Case Study | 1968 words
Public service broadcasting: a favoured tradition and the foundations of television in the UK, but with the progression of technology and internet-based services, is it still relevant in today’s society?This essay will investigate the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), public service media in the UK and how this is currently perceived in today’s society.
In terms of television specifically, ‘public service broadcasting’ refers to media intended to ‘inform, educate and entertain’ in ways that encourage betterment for the population (Bignell 2013: 68). It is the policy of delivering truthful information (including impartial news) for the benefit of society, anticipated as ‘giving the public what it needs rather than what it wants’. The UK adopted these policies in the 1920s, when the BBC (formerly, the British Broadcasting Company) began radio transmissions (Crisell 2002). Since the 1950s, television has been a well-loved form of entertainment for many domestic households across the world. As technology has rapidly advanced over the last three decades, are the BBC’s original values really still relevant when public service media can now be accessed from more platforms than ever before?
Since 1946, the TV license has been a requirement for anyone who wishes to access BBC services, as well as any live television broadcast in the United Kingdom. The BBC was the UK’s first provider of public service broadcasting, and the license was introduced to ensure this was adequately funded. In addition, the BBC was put under a royal charter by the government and therefore had the official responsibility to provide accurate, unbiased information to the population. Enforcing a system where each household paid the same amount for the same services was a perfectly viable mode of funding and after all, this was for the benefit of the public.However, the BBC is still being funded exclusively by the license fee, even though other companies are also covering the same content without public funding and could perhaps even be exceeding the BBC in terms of views and programme quality. The argument here is whether the BBC should even be funded by a license anymore. According to TV Licensing, 95% of the fee is spent on delivering public service content, with the other 5% towards the actual license fee collection. Andrew Crisell talks about the fee being introduced for a purpose but also as a hypothecated tax (Crisell 2002: 19); a TV licence is required even if the viewer does not wish to access public service programming. Additionally, since the introduction of the internet and online ‘catch-up’, the BBC have further widened the circumstances in which an individual would need a license.
In comparison, other companies like ITV and Channel 4 are commercially funded by sponsorships and advertising revenue. ITV also claims they generate revenue directly from ‘consumers who are willing to pay and engage with ITV brands and content’ (ITV 2021) which shows that their audience are actively choosing to pay for ITV services. ITV is known as the secondary public service broadcaster in the UK and was the first alternative to the BBC (Freedman and Goblot 2018: 125). From the viewing figures, it is sensible to suggest that being funded privately has been just as effective (if not, more) as being funded publicly through an imposed regulation. For example, significant events such as royal weddings and the Olympics are broadcast simultaneously on both BBC and ITV channels. ITV is also shareholder owned which means that they are privately owned and can raise funds through shares and sell advert time slots to generate income. Furthermore, subscription-based services like Sky and Netflix are global companies and receive substantial amounts money from paying customers all over the world rather than just from the UK.
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In 2020, for each household, the license fee was £13.13 per month (BBC 2021a: 46). According to the BBC Annual Report for 2020 and 2021, only £6.42 of this is actually spent on television, meaning that over 50% is spent on other services such as BBC World and the radio. Even if a household does not wish to access these other services, the full fee is still required. Although, the price could absolutely be seen as great value is the viewer does use all BBC services. As mentioned, Sky is a subscription-based broadcaster and offers personalised plans based on what kinds of programming the customer wishes to receive. For instance, if a customer wanted Sky Sports but didn’t care for Sky Movies, then they would not need to pay for Sky Movies. Also, a TV license would still be required to watch live TV, even if the household is also paying a Sky subscription.Both the BBC and ITV expressed interest in Peter Morgan’s The Crown, but the show was eventually passed to internet-based service Netflix, costing £100 million to produce (BBC 2014). Neither the BBC or ITV would have had the budget for this and consequently would have produced a lower-quality programme.
This leads on to private companies and how they can be a lot more lenient with their political views. Netflix is an internet-based global subscription service and does not occupy a digital terrestrial television channel in the UK. The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has no say in what Netflix are allowed to offer. In more recent times, the BBC has actually reported that Netflix has ‘no plans for fiction warning’ on their original series, The Crown. Oliver Dowden, the government culture secretary suggests that viewers may believe that the fictional storylines are true, and they may treat the series more as a documentary (BBC 2020) but there is nothing they can do as Netflix is a global, private company and their political views cannot be regulated in the same way as broadcasting in the UK.
The BBC was created to be an unbiased broadcaster, but it is questionable as to whether it really is not biased when it is under the royal charter and therefore leans the same way as the government? As mentioned previously, the BBC is under a Royal Charter which means the BBC has a specific set of responsibilities as a public service - to inform, educate, entertain and to ‘support the creative economy across the UK’ (Ofcom 2020). This is reminiscent of founder Lord Reith’s original values from the BBC’s earlier times. Due to the Royal Charter, the BBC are required to broadcast impartial news and information but also any information the current government wishes them to.
A 2018 poll by BMG Research of 1,004 British adults found that just 37% of people think the BBC provides impartial information, with both ITV and Channel 4 ranking higher. There have also been numerous occasions where the BBC has been accused of leaning to specific sides of the political spectrum - for instance, it was highlighted that Chris Patten was both a Conservative Cabinet Minister and Chairman of the BBC Trust at the same time (Politics.co.uk 2021). These statistics imply that the majority of people paying the license fee are not happy with the service they are receiving. ITV has consumers willingly making choices to support it financially, so the fact that they ranked higher than the BBC is solid evidence that private funding is perhaps the better way forward. Moreover, ITV has even ‘adopted’ programs originally broadcast by the BBC due to the company having significantly more funding. The Voice UK, for example, was originally commissioned for and was aired on BBC One but later began broadcasting on ITV after the rights were purchased for £355 million.
In terms of public service, it is reasonable to suggest that our definition of ‘the public’ has altered and is different to what it was in the 1950s, due to social change over time. Since the internet became mainstream in the 1990s, broadcasting companies now have a much wider range of digital platforms for delivering content to their audiences – however, this did come with challenges. Back when television first became mainstream, the TV license fee only applied to television sets and live broadcasting. Nowadays, this includes a whole range of modern devices like computers, smartphones and tables. ‘Catch-up’ television streaming was also another big factor in establishing new licensing regulations. In the BBC’s defence, technology is constantly evolving, and it is difficult for many companies to keep up with these rapid changes, particularly when the BBC is still operating with the original Reithian values it was exercising during World War II. With the internet came additional divisions like BBC Bitesize, an educational resource catered specifically to the national curriculum. The BBC (and many other companies) began expanding their online presence with official social media accounts and platforms. These are used to communicate further with their audiences, perhaps directed more at younger generations who use the internet more frequently. On the other hand, we are now able to access a wider range of news and entertainment through these internet-based mediums, covering more than just stories from the UK. We can now access content from anywhere in the world, published by other trusted entities from other countries. The BBC is a relatively small organisation in proportion to the rest of the world.
A survey conducted from 2010 to 2018 shows the age distribution of BBC iPlayer users in the UK. The results show that people over the age of 55 are much less likely to use online services like iPlayer, even with the percentage of this group increasing from 18% to 30% between 2016 and 2018 (Stoll 2021a). These statistics show that the older generation are more likely to watch live broadcasts on actual televisions rather than using internet-based subscription services or watching TV on modern devices like smartphones and laptops. To support this further, it was reported that only 2% of Netflix users in 2018’s first quarter were over 65 years old - the majority of users were aged 25-34 (Stoll 2021b).
As time goes on, the BBC may become less and less popular with the ever-increasing popularity of online streaming services. Eventually in years to come, the older generation will be entirely comfortable with the use of the internet and children will have grown up perhaps without watching any live TV at all - younger generations are already being brought up with ‘on demand’ internet-based TV so the idea of ‘tuning in’ to a programme and not being able to pause it will quite frankly seem absurd to them.
In conclusion, the underlying issue here is whether the licensing fee will continue to be a sustainable mode of funding for the BBC in the future. So far, imposing a national fee for viewers has been a reliable source of income but this may falter as internet-based streaming becomes more popular. Widening the license regulations to include current platforms like smartphones and laptops has been effective but again, may falter if the BBC loses revenue and the quality of their content hinders. Netflix, for example, is creating content worthy of millions of views as their budget comes from paying customers all over the world, not just the UK. The BBC are still imposing the original values they established during the war so it would be reasonable to suggest they adapt these values to fit the present day, rather than the past. It is evident from recent polls that the majority of viewers do not believe that they are providing impartial information - which was one of Lord Reith’s original values - and if viewers aren’t receiving this, is it fair that they are paying the mandatory fee?
Regardless of where we are in terms of technology, we do of course need some kind of ‘official’ source of impartial information for the benefit of society. The BBC still have the duty to provide a public service and are actively adapting their modes of delivery to the modern platforms we have now.
Bibliography
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Images
Figure 1: BBC. 2021b. Licence Fee Spend [Online Image]. BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21. Available at: https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/annualreport/2020-21.pdf [accessed 22 Oct 2021].
Author: Bethan Radford
Module: TEL130 Backdrop
Assessment: Research
Classification: 1st / 76%
Degree: BA (Hons) Television
Submission: 30th November 2021
Words: 1968