UK Broadcasting 1980s - 1990s

1980s - Microchip and Video technology cheapens (localises?) production

Distribution goes global - increasingly concentrated in few large corporate hands

BSB - cross-media ownership (Pearson)

Regulating international cross-media ownership

Satellite tech inherently international - regulatory/accountability problems

1908s - UK - Thatcher govt - little appetite for regulation - pro free market

Peacock Cttee

Explore ad funding for BBC

1^st parl. Cttee. To treat PSB as secondary consideration

Peacock - PSB - satisfying minority needs - paid for by taxpayers not consumers

Otherwise consumer sovereignty approach - consumers should determine make-up of broadcasting

Peacock - market could not supply PSB - BBC retains licence subject to RPI pegging.

Ultimately BBC to lose licence - rely on subscription

Cable

Implies narrowcasting

Only available in high pop. Density areas

Reception excellent

Vast capacity

Offers two-way communications

Offer convergence possibilities

Thus cable companies not broadcasters - more carriers also offering other information services

Cable underdeveloped in UK vis-à-vis US (topographic differences)

End '70s - Broadband cable (fibre optics) - interactive potential - national cable infrastructure policy

Launched '83 - slow take-up because:

1. Existing free channels

2. Satellite more flexible

3. VCR

1990 Broadcasting Act - Cable operators allowed offer telephony - boost to industry

Satellite

Eras:

1. Element within terrestrial broadcasts

2. 1984 - Sat. b'casters originate programming, distributed via cable operators

3. 1989 - Direct Broadcasting by Satellite (DBS)

1981 - Satellite trials in Europe

1982 - Relaunched as Sky

1983 - News International buys Sky

1982 - BBC licenced for DBS - too costly

1986 - IBA licences BSB as DBS licensee

Feb '89 - Sky re-launched as DBS service via Astra Satellite

Sky vs BSB - latter hampered by regulatory obligations

April 1991 - BskyB

IBA seeks to stop BSB - fails

Implications

Govt reluctant to tightly regulate - would discourage operators from massive investment required for satellite start-up

Thus satellite companies adopt formatting programming style

1990 Broadcasting Act

IBA becomes Radio Authority and Independent Television Commission

ITC (contrast with IBA) not a broadcaster - purely a regulator

ITV franchises now tendered for by cash bid ('quality threshold' afterthought)

Post-'93: ITV faces competition for advertising from cable & Satellite, and C4 & Channel Five (national rather than regional broadcaster)

ITN forced to become profit-making

BBC - relatively unscathed (charter extended till '96)

BBC, ITV contractors and C5 - 25% output indy-sourced

1990s

BBC - leaner, meaner?

Producer Choice

PSB - no longer safe in a world of plenty

Survival plan?

PPV/Subscription/Programme Sales

Sell-off facilities

Commercial Partnerships

Flextech - UK Gold and Discovery

Digital Subscription Services

ITV - consolidation

Ad revenue squeezed.

Concentration of ownership - Carlton-Granada

Channel 5 - launched '97. Difficulty finding audiences

Channel 4 - goes populist (Soap and US Drama/Comedy)

Safety Net agreement - 14% of total ad income for terrestrial television

Sky - End of free-to-air

Conditional Access Technology

BSkyB success - grab big movies/sports

1993 BSkyB turns first profit