Discuss the significance of changes over the last 20 years in television associated with distribution. PDF

Preview

Summary

1603931 Discuss the significance of changes over the last 20 years in television associated with distribution. For a very long time TV was heavily dominated by the BBC and had a limited number of channels that could be accessed. It is also important to note that in the UK a public service broadcasti...

Description

1603931

Discuss the significance of changes over the last 20 years in television associated with distribution. For a very long time TV was heavily dominated by the BBC and had a limited number of channels that could be accessed. It is also important to note that in the UK a public service broadcasting system is run where the public pay a license fee to fund TV, primarily the BBC. Even at present the BBC still play a large part in television broadcasting today, with national events such as royal weddings and the Proms being broadcast to this date (Scannell, 1990). Over the last twenty years the way that television has been distributed has significantly changed with the emergence of new TV channels and new ways to watch TV other than the conventional way of sitting in the living room watching a TV set. In this essay I will be looking at these changes and how significant they have been to society. Despite the first 5 TV channels (BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV 1, Channel 4 and Channel 5) still being the most watched with a 51.1% audience share in 2013 (Ofcom, 2013), TV is being distributed on a number of different platforms broadcasting hundreds of different channels. Television has been distributed via cable in the UK since the 1980s but has never been very popular with it only being able to reach 55% of UK households to this day. However, in 1998 the introduction of digital and satellite TV meant a larger amount of UK households were able to access a wider variety of channels that weren’t distributed through analogue signal. The digital TV provider Freeview launched in 2002 and provided households with a larger number of channels without having to pay a subscription fee unlike cable and satellite, all viewers would have to pay a one off cost to buy a set top box to attach to their TV set. Freeview allowed viewers to watch a larger variety of TV such as music videos and children’s programmes that would not have been distributed via analogue signal. At present Freeview has over 70 standard channels and 15 HD channels, and claims to have 90% of the UK’s top TV available (Freeview.co.uk, 2016). In 2008 the digital switchover in the UK began, which saw terrestrial TV fully converted to digital. This meant that all analogue transmitter sites were turned off and TV was no longer distributed through an analogue signal. Prior to the digital switchover in 2008 only 0.3% of homes had access to digital TV but by the end of 2012 all households in the UK had switched to digital (Digital TV Switchover 2008-2012 - Final Report, 2012). Satellite television is much like digital TV but with added channels and services. The main provider of satellite TV in the UK is Sky, which is a monthly subscription service that allows you to pick what channels or ‘packages’ you want to pay for. These packages include the likes of sport, movies and kids. Viewers can also access satellite TV without a subscription through Freesat. Freesat includes all of the channels from digital TV but also a few added channels that only broadcast through satellite signal that don’t require a subscription to watch. Not only has the way in which TV has been broadcast changed over the last 20 years but also the format the programme has been recorded in has changed. In the current system, high definition and standard definition programmes need to be copied to different tapes once recorded. Both of these formats derive from the Betamax format, even though VHS became popular in the home video market Betamax was commonly used for broadcasting. Some TV channels are looking at transporting programmes via digital file but due to the large amount of programmes that each channel broadcasts, this has become a slow process. In order to distribute, each channel or organisation will have multiplexes that condenses the size of the programme making it suitable for transmission. For example, the BBC has six satellite multiplexes with two HD and four SD. These multiplexes are sent to the various platform transmitters (bbc.co.uk, n.d.). The recent emergence of high definition channels has allowed for channels to broadcast their programmes at a much higher resolution which suits the larger televisions that people are now having in their homes.

1603931 In the more recent years, high speed broadband connections have become a necessity in most homes. This has meant that TV programmes distributed via video streaming sites have become popular. However, this idea of watching videos online is not that new with YouTube being around since 2005. It has just taken TV organisations like The BBC and ITV a longer time to catch up on the popularity of online streaming. These online services allow viewers to watch TV programmes they missed (catch-up) and to also watch live TV, which sometimes requires a TV licence depending on what channel is being watched. Networks such as Channel 4 will include adverts, often much shorter than aired on TV, in the programmes offered for catch-up on their All4 website. Some companies believe that consumers will only watch the programmes online, where there are less expensive adverts, making it difficult for the network to profit. Online only streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Video include a library of box sets and films from other companies as well as their own content (Netflix and Amazon originals). These companies charge users a monthly subscription fee in order for them to watch as much of these programmes as they want. These online streaming services tend not to pay licence fees for the programmes, for example Hulu pays the programme owners a percentage of the revenues they get from advertisement (Turrow, 2014). The way that these streaming sites work can often be compared to off-network syndication. This is where the distributor takes a programme that has already been shown on their own network and rents out episodes or series to another company or channel. An example of this would be NCIS that first aired on CBS in the USA but reruns are often broadcast on the Channel 5 portfolio channel, 5USA. This is common with a lot of USA TV programmes in order for them to reach a larger audience/following in the UK among other countries. Furthermore, many large TV networks distribute different versions of a programme to different areas of the country. The BBC has 12 regional channels that are responsible for local television services. For example, BBC East covers Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and northern Buckinghamshire. These regional channels mainly consist of local news programmes (Look East) and some topical magazine shows (Inside Out). The news programmes tend to be a short 5 to 30-minute programme after the national news or as a segment within the new programme (regional news broadcasts at 30 minute intervals during BBC Breakfast). In the UK the only other network that distributes regional TV is ITV. This is very similar to the BBC with different regional channels that broadcast a local news programme. However, ITV has 13 different regional channels and does not broadcast non-news regional programmes other than a monthly political programme. Up until recently, viewers would only be able to view the regional channel that was their area. However, with the emergence of satellite and cable TV, viewers are now able to choose from all 12 (BBC) or 13 (ITV) regions. As well as large TV networks distributing different versions of a programme to different regions there are also region specific channels. An example of this would be Mustard TV that is based in Norwich, Norfolk and broadcasts to most of Norfolk as well as northern parts of Suffolk. These regional channels tend to broadcast local current affairs as well as programmes about local life and sport. The majority of these regional channels are new (Mustard TV launched in 2014) and often were not common in the past as there was not space for them on analogue television. To conclude, there have been many changes over the last 20 years involving television and the distribution or channels, networks and programmes. The formats in which television has been broadcast has changed significantly with the introduction of satellite and digital TV as well as online streaming. The increase in channels has meant that we in the UK are able to receive a larger variety of TV shows from all over the world, especially from the USA. In the future I believe that the way in which TV will be distributed will continue to change and online streaming will play an even bigger

1603931 role in how we watch TV, allowing TV programmes from all over the world to be distributed to everyone.

Bibliography Digital TV Switchover 2008-2012 - Final Report. (2012). 1st ed. [ebook] Digital UK, p.8. Available at: http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/82324/DigitalUK_Switchoverfinal_report_N ov2012.pdf [Accessed 24 Nov. 2016]. Scannell, P. (1990). Public Service Broadcasting: The History of a Concept. 1st ed. Routledge, pp.1126. Turrow, J. (2014). The Television Industry. 5th ed. New York: Routledge. Freeview.co.uk. (2016). What is Freeview? | Freeview. [online] Available at: https://www.freeview.co.uk/why-freeview [Accessed 24 Nov. 2016]. bbc.co.uk. (n.d.). BBC Academy - Technology - TV distribution. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/technology/article/art20130807112930249 [Accessed 28 Nov. 2016].

Summary of Reading – Chapter 8: Producing audiences Long, P. and Wall, T. (2012). Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context. 2nd ed. Pearson, pp.291-316. An audience can be an object of research from media scholars as well as by a whole range of other groups such as, politicians and other audience members. It is often obvious that you are part of an audience when watching TV, or even more if you’re at the cinema due to the presenter using personal pronouns to interact (you). You become excluded when you can’t relate to the message presented. When consuming media each audience member interprets it in a different way, meaning we could be excluded in a range of ways (e.g. financial). It can be easy to identify an audience when collected at a concert whereas, a more diverse audience (YouTube) may be more difficult to locate as they are all watching at different times and from different locations. In order for a company to thrive they need to ‘enter into relations with them’. However, an audience is never seen as the individuals and purely as a product, there for the commercial needs. Media scholars often over simplified audiences when people first became interested in studying media. These early works often theory or research based that looked at how people’s behaviour changed when exposed to media. The second section in this chapter is about how propaganda manipulates audiences. The most popular use of propaganda is from the two great wars, used mostly to recruit soldiers. Many scholars have different definitions of propaganda but most say something along the lines of it being there to shape events or to manipulate a certain group of people. Propaganda is not a common medium in today’s world except for in more controlled countries such as, China. Propaganda can also refer to the censorship of the ideas portrayed in the media, this was especially present in the USSR. The power of propaganda can be shown through the vast rallies and demonstrations by thousands of people in the name of Hitler. Just because it appeared that propaganda produced its intended effects does not mean this was due to the propaganda itself, you have to consider the other mechanisms (violence, fear etc) that were instated. There can be a variety of ways that the media affects us as an audience, however the media tends to focus on the negative effects. Some studies suggest that viewers can become frustrated as they are not able to live the lives of those presented on TV for example. Whereas, other studies say that

1603931 viewers are using media to provide catharsis and to let off steam. Moral panics are the main way in which the media (the news) showcases media texts in a negative light. Examples of moral panics include the heavy coverage of the Mods and Rockers Brighton riot and the blame on Child’s play 3 for the murder of James Bulger. The media often exaggerate these events in order to gain a following. It is believed to be the case that in this generation, media research is all about the effects. These media effects in turn produce audiences. In the past media has been blamed for numerous things such as, encouraging anti-social behaviour and undermining social values. From looking at it, most media research is very similar and deals with ideas....