Televisions Industries: Ownership

LO: To explore the history of ownership in two key channels.

Public Service Broadcasting:
In the UK the term 'public service broadcasting' refers to broadcasting which is intended for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial concerns.
In the UK, the BBC is the main PSB channel.
Lord Reith- first Director General of the BBC (1927-38) said: 'TV should not give people what they want but what they ought to have.'
The BBC, funded by the licence fee, initially had a monopoly over broadcasting in the UK.

Because they are funded by the public, the BBC have to meet the PSB REMIT in terms of the genre variety, audiences, representation and quality of programmes they produced.

In January 1927 the BBC was established by Royal Charter as the British Broadcasting Corporation and Sir John Reith became the first Director-General. The Charter defined the BBCs objectives, powers and obligations.

When it returned in the late 1940s the elements of children's TV, news and weather were introduced to schedules.

In 1953 the live broadcast of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II saw massive increases in TV sales, and in 1955 the launch of commercial TV in the UK brought the BBCs first ever broadcast rival.