Week 1.
In this week’s lecture, we discussed television and public service broadcasting and the history of the BBC, which first began broadcasting in 1936. Long P’s reading highlights that the increasing popularity of people and channels meant that ‘TV cannons’ (Long P, 2012) were created. The BBC started with a just a few hundred viewers, however Creeber’s reading discusses the development of the BBC by introducing the methods of commercial broadcasting and public service broadcasting. ‘Britain’s first experiment with commercial broadcasting (was) in 1955’ (Creeber, 2003). The idea of commercial broadcasting became of great success for the BBC, it engaged the audience and raised brand awareness. Also, the use of commercial breaks benefited the BBC because an increase in the channel’s rating started to occur. However, post- war meant that the BBC changed their broadcasting method because of audience engagement becoming more challenging due to the creation of more channels, like ITV.
Furthermore, Creeber focuses on public service broadcasting and the effect television without advertisements had on the BBC and their audience. Viewers ‘felt that public service broadcasting provided a standard of broadcasting that all should aspire to’ (2003). The reading argues that the new method of public service broadcasting increased the BBC’s popularity and meant that they were widely respected amongst the public because of the certainty that television shows on the BBC were no longer going to be interrupted by interfering advertisements. Another advantage of public service broadcasting was the availability of more choice and variation for consumers.
In contrast to Creeber’s reading which concentrates on the advantages of public service broadcasting, in an article I found on ‘The Guardian’ by Jane Martinson, she argues that the success of it inevitably has it’s disadvantages because of the social changes in Britain and the fact that it is now an industrial society. ‘The Guardian’ suggests that once people would ‘watch the XFactor on a Saturday night’, and then goes on to emphasise that people now ‘constantly scroll through Instagram and youtube on phones that appear to have been grafted on to their fingers’ (Martinson, 2015). The author suggests that society in the 19th century wasn’t as developed as current society in the 21st century. Britain is now more advanced in technology and other forms of media have gained the interest of most people, including social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. In addition, the article conveys that our mobile phones are ‘the biggest threat to public service television is there, live and kicking, in my front room’ (Creeber, 2015). This provides me the information that phones give users the ability to access TV shows and news through the devices. This distracts people from watching TV, because there are other advanced ways for people to consume media texts that aren’t through watching them at scheduled TV times.
From this, a topic I would like to research further is how audiences consume their media texts since the development of technology. This interests me because monthly subscriptions have become a huge part of popular culture, this includes Netflix and other monthly subscription packages that have become widely available to the public.
References
Creeber, G. (2003) The Origins of Public Service Broadcasting (British Television Before the War) in Michele Hilmes (ed.) (2003) The Television History Book. London: BFI. Pp.22-26
Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Media Histories’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 448 – 481
In this week’s lecture, we discussed television and public service broadcasting and the history of the BBC, which first began broadcasting in 1936. Long P’s reading highlights that the increasing popularity of people and channels meant that ‘TV cannons’ (Long P, 2012) were created. The BBC started with a just a few hundred viewers, however Creeber’s reading discusses the development of the BBC by introducing the methods of commercial broadcasting and public service broadcasting. ‘Britain’s first experiment with commercial broadcasting (was) in 1955’ (Creeber, 2003). The idea of commercial broadcasting became of great success for the BBC, it engaged the audience and raised brand awareness. Also, the use of commercial breaks benefited the BBC because an increase in the channel’s rating started to occur. However, post- war meant that the BBC changed their broadcasting method because of audience engagement becoming more challenging due to the creation of more channels, like ITV.
Furthermore, Creeber focuses on public service broadcasting and the effect television without advertisements had on the BBC and their audience. Viewers ‘felt that public service broadcasting provided a standard of broadcasting that all should aspire to’ (2003). The reading argues that the new method of public service broadcasting increased the BBC’s popularity and meant that they were widely respected amongst the public because of the certainty that television shows on the BBC were no longer going to be interrupted by interfering advertisements. Another advantage of public service broadcasting was the availability of more choice and variation for consumers.
In contrast to Creeber’s reading which concentrates on the advantages of public service broadcasting, in an article I found on ‘The Guardian’ by Jane Martinson, she argues that the success of it inevitably has it’s disadvantages because of the social changes in Britain and the fact that it is now an industrial society. ‘The Guardian’ suggests that once people would ‘watch the XFactor on a Saturday night’, and then goes on to emphasise that people now ‘constantly scroll through Instagram and youtube on phones that appear to have been grafted on to their fingers’ (Martinson, 2015). The author suggests that society in the 19th century wasn’t as developed as current society in the 21st century. Britain is now more advanced in technology and other forms of media have gained the interest of most people, including social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. In addition, the article conveys that our mobile phones are ‘the biggest threat to public service television is there, live and kicking, in my front room’ (Creeber, 2015). This provides me the information that phones give users the ability to access TV shows and news through the devices. This distracts people from watching TV, because there are other advanced ways for people to consume media texts that aren’t through watching them at scheduled TV times.
From this, a topic I would like to research further is how audiences consume their media texts since the development of technology. This interests me because monthly subscriptions have become a huge part of popular culture, this includes Netflix and other monthly subscription packages that have become widely available to the public.
References
Creeber, G. (2003) The Origins of Public Service Broadcasting (British Television Before the War) in Michele Hilmes (ed.) (2003) The Television History Book. London: BFI. Pp.22-26
Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Media Histories’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 448 – 481
Martinson, J. (2015) What is the future of public service television? Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/25/public-service-television-ofcom-bbc-channel-4
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