On public service broadcasting: against the tide

This article is a defense of the concept of public service broadcasting and a polemic against its critics

Crisis or renewal: the origins, evolution and future of public service broadcasting 1922 to 1996

In the 1980s the future of public service broadcasting in Britain was called into doubt. Technological developments in cable, satellite and digital technologies were, it was argued, poised to end the condition known as 'spectrum scarcity'; while the emergence of a neo-liberal Conservative government, pledged to rolling back the frontiers of the state', was of the opinion that the current system of public service broadcasting provision was no longer necessary given the number of broadcasting channels now available; broadcasting, in its view, would increasingly be able to mirror the publishing industry in its structure and future regulation. Critics however, were loathe to accept the argument that technological considerations alone ought to drive broadcasting policy; and two key questions emerged. Firstly, how was public service broadcasting to be defended in a climate increasingly hostile to public service ideals and institutions in general; and secondly, and as a result of the first question, how was public service broadcasting to be understood? This thesis seeks to answer both these questions and argues that in the process of clarifying the nature of public service broadcasting in the past, that solutions for its defence in the future will be found. Public service broadcasting, was not, it will be argued, simply about institutions like the BBC, but evidence of a much broader and widely shared (across the political divides) understanding of the proper role of broadcasting in a democratic society (at least until the 1980s). In short, public service broadcasting in the past was never simply a response to a set of technological conditions; instead it was forged from a set of political, economic, Administrative and cultural ideas about the nature of society and broadcasting's role in it; and hence its ability to respond to the new conditions of the 1990s and beyond

Irish Public Service Broadcasting - A Contingent Valuation Analysis

Irish public service broadcasting faces enhanced domestic and international competition and increasingly the Irish public service broadcaster (RTÉ) is being called upon to justify the scale of the television licence fee, its major source of funding. This paper describes the first nationwide valuation of RTÉ’s services. In analysing the determinants of respondents’ willingness to pay for RTÉ’s services, the importance of domestic and international competing services and the relationships between willingness to pay for, usage of, and satisfaction with, RTÉ’s services are analysed. In addition, this paper highlights the importance of distinguishing between household, and individual, willingness to pay.

With the Support of Listeners Like You : Lessons from U.S. Public Radio

This chapter provides an assessment of public broadcasting in the United States. It asserts that European public service broadcasting (PSB) could learn from U.S. practices that may prove to be particularly relevant in the current PSB climate

The Educational Character of Public Service Broadcasting: from cultural enrichment to knowledge society

A gradual erosion of the general principles of public service broadcasting has left a system increasingly susceptible to economic and political interests in the neoliberal marketplace. Education has a vital, but often overlooked, role to play in the maintenance of public communication as this casestudy of Irish broadcasting reveals. Education is located on the cusp of tensions between the social and political objectives of public service broadcasting and the economic reality in which it finds itself operating. Documentary and qualitative interviews reveals how education seeks to resolve these tensions, and the ambivalent consequences for public service broadcasting

WRVA\u27s public service broadcasting from 1925 through World War II

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze WRVA\u27s public service broadcasting from 1925 through 1945. The four criteria used in making selections from archival material at the University of Virginia and from other sources include: historical significance, importance of authorship, relationship to World War II, and broad topical significance emphasizing WRVA\u27s public service broadcasting. WRVA\u27s public service broadcasting is defined as unsponored programming. Often produced at WRVA\u27s expense, it readily separates into six subject areas: political and legislative, community service, religious, educational, agricultural, and war-related programming, and three program classifications: public service announcements, special one-time programs, and regular ongoing programs. WRVA\u27s public service broadcasting, in keeping with the station\u27s motto Service, was good business and an extension of the establishment which supported the Byrd Organization in Virginia. A discussion of WRVA\u27s historical background, financial sacrifices, problems, complications, and controversial issues reveals that WRVA was a station with a heart

Regulating advertising in the presence of public service broadcasting

Television advertising levels in Europe are regulated according to the Audiovisual Service Media Directive where member states of the European Union usually impose stricter regulation on their Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) channels. The present model evaluates the effects of symmetric and asymmetric regulation of ad levels on competition for viewers and advertisers in a duopoly framework where a public and a private broadcaster compete. If both broadcasters face the same advertising cap, regulation can be profit-increasing for both channels. If the public broadcaster is more strictly regulated, this may benefit the commercial rival if higher revenues in the advertising market outweigh the loss in viewership. --media markets,two-sided markets

The role of the public service broadcasting in the european countries

Broadcasting in particular has seen remarkable change from the days of single-channel public broadcasting systems. The audiovisual “explosion” is a cultural, social and economic phenomenon of global dimension. The audiovisual sector forms an essential part of Europe’s economic and cultural influence in the world. The fundamental principle of the Union’s audiovisual policy is to provide for the free circulation of reception of trans frontier broadcasts. So the European audiovisual industry is likely to become a stronger and more competitive player on the global scene. The future of public service broadcasting in Europe is increasingly challenged by unfavorable external factors, such as intensifying competition from commercial media, media concentrations, political and economic interests adversary to independent media, and by internal difficulties, such as cost ineffectiveness.European Audiovisual Policy, public service broadcasting, audience market share, cultural obligations, license fee