1954 Television Act - Est. ITA to:

- own/operate transmitters

- allocate franchises to contractors

ITA requires contractors to PSB

Nature/duration of ads controlled by ITA.

No sponsorship

Original model - competition between BBC and between contractors.

Insufficient frequency spectrum results in:

Networking begins - competition reduced to ITV vs. BBC.

ITV initially does poorly:

- Viewers need special set

- Limited to 50 hours output per week

- ITA rental charge considerable -

- Expensive programmes

ITV populist programmes - quizes, variety, soaps, US series.

Mid 1956 - success begins.

Sept '56 1.5m homes equipped to receive ITV (from 188,000 in Sept '55).

1956 sees:

- 50,000 per week viewer increase

- networking reducing production costs

- demand for advertising exceed supply

1957 60% of viewers with choice watching ITV.

BBC scheduling a problem -retains Reithian approach.

Electronically scanned TV handled film badly - hence TV primarily live.

1950s - TV increasingly looks to Hollywood for content - movies and television programmes (Highway Patrol, Dragnet, Cheyenne, Rawhide)

Mid 1950s Telerecording - changes TV aesthetics and economics.

Major ITV formal advance occurred in news via ITN

BBC news very bland and anti-visual

ITN sought to make news more interesting, comprehensible and acceptable. Used unprecedented quantity of film/ informed comment.

BBC reaction - 1956 end toddler's truce - compete for 6-7pm audience. (Tonight)

In other genres impact of competition varied:

Drama - Emergency Ward 10 ('57), Coronation Street ('60), Armchair Theatre.

Comedy - Sunday Night at the London Palladium, Hancock's Half Hour.

Quiz Shows - Almost exclusively Province of ITV

Pop Music - Cool for Cats ('56-'59), Six-Five Special, Juke Box Jury.

Innovation in genres almost exclusively with BBC - Arts magazine programmes (monitor), nature series (Zoo Quest), Face to Face.

However such was the range of programming offered that the govt decided to offer BBC/ITV increase in transmission hours from 50 to 60 hours per week - which gave ITV increased revenue-earning time but only increased BBC expense.

Ads met with public ambivalence

ITV creative and production staff unsure how to cope

Tech staff also faced a challenge - ads had to distinguished from the programmes.

1958 ITV ad income greater than that of the entire press industry.

Success of ITV brought problems. Profits came from "wiggle dances, give-aways, panels and light entertainment."

Opinion formers - concerned about cultural standards and ITV lack of a PSB ethos.

1960 Tory Govt est. Pilkington Cttee to appraise BBC/ITV and to consider future of b'casting. (Third channel.)

Sir Hugh Greene (BBC DG) -skillful propagandist.

ITA assumed that winning the ratings war meant winning the war of words

The BBC couched their argument in PSB terms:

1. The Reithian - serving the whole person.

2. Focus on majority interest lead to second definition - PSB served the majority interest.

3. Minority groups targeted

Dilemma of the BBC (and other PSBs). Popular successes and over-obscure programmes criticised by critics

BBC success with Pilkington owed much to equivocating between PSB meanings

June '62 report vindicated the BBC/castigated the ITA

Pilkington suggest starting ITV all over again:

- ITA would plan all programming and sell ad time

- ITA would buy programmes from contractors to fit ITA-planned schedules

- Give-away show prizes would be reduced

- 3rd channel to go to BBC

Report attacked as "nannying" in press.

Most Cttee recommendations re: organising ITV ignored.

Nonetheless Pilkington did shape future of UK television.

By insisting on ITV PSB responsibilities Pilkington strengthened non-competitive aspect of UK TV system.

60s and 70s - duopoly emerges, competition eased

Convergence in programming - ITV: This Week and World in Action, BBC: game shows and US imports

Extent of competition and duopoly clear from different genres