Understand the structure of the Television and Video Industry in the UK

You will write up a report (or make a presentation to the class) answering the questions in
the Tasks below. The word count should give you an indication of what you must do to
satisfactorily complete the Tasks. You may go slightly over the word count but try and keep
to the total. Always give examples in your answers where possible.

Task 1 Organization and Income Generation

Name a Public Service Broadcaster - The BBC, or British Broadcasting Cooperation

What is PSB? (200 Words) - A Public Service broadcaster, or PSB, is a service that could be
distributed through many media platforms, such as television, radio, and other electronic media
outlets. A Public Service Broadcaster is made to convey relevant information that would benefit the
public in ways other than for strictly commercial benefit. A large portion of funding for public service
broadcasters comes from the government itself, be it from annual fees charged to people subscribed
to the service, or from other sources. Such as having funding coming from foundations and
businesses ranging in size. Public service broadcasters could end up conveying biased information
this way however, with the main funders abusing their financial superiority to push the station to
broadcast content that in biased in opinions that adhere to them and people likeminded to them. This
is why a lot of broadcasters want the funding to come from the public, as then it would reflect the
public’s interest.

What are the debates on whether PSB is relevant today? (100 Words) - There is some
controversy on whether or not PSB’s are relevant today due to the accessibility of
news outlets on other platforms. As less and less people are sitting down to watch the news
that public service broadcasters provide, opting to find out on their own via different outlets on
their phones or laptops on various social media platforms. This posed the question of whether PSB’s
will continue to be relevant and needed in the years to come, with younger generations not being so
reliant on one major news outlet. I feel like PSB’s have their pros and cons, for one, they’re providing
information to a very large audience, however they are just one news source, and the large scale of a
PSB might disillusion some impressionable people into thinking what they say is always right,
this could stop people from reaching out and forming their own personal opinion on a matter.

Identify 3 Commercial Broadcasters. How do they obtain their revenue compared to the BBC?
What debates recently have there been about Product Placement on Commercial Television?
(100 Words) -
- Sky
- ITV
- Channel 4
Commercial broadcasters provide media content to be able to engage a large audience, the
general public is the goal. Unlike the BBC, which is funded by the government, Commercial
broadcasters usually get their revenue via advertisements, advertising revenue is got by showing
advertisements for various companies and products after shows or in between parts, or through
product placement in the shows that are shown on the channel. Product placement is a fine art and
has to be done correctly in order for it to be fully effective and liner, it not being done correctly has led
to many debates in whether or not it is a good thing to implement into TV shows and movies in recent
years, however in my opinion, if done correctly, product placement can be used to the benefit of both
the broadcaster and the brand that wants their products showcased.

Bullet point the key benefits of Sky1 e.g. franchising, merchandising and spin offs. –
Franchising: Sky is able to branch out and produce different products and vastly improve
their availability and visibility in other areas of their market and expand their demographic and
outreach
Merchandising: Merchandising goes hand in hand with franchising and allows Sky to
create merchandise. An example of this is how sky blew up the minion franchise (from despicable me)
and created a massive market for merchandising products that are minion related.

Spinoffs: Sky offers coverage and release of spinoffs that would not be shown in the UK
otherwise, and keeps their audience up to date on spinoffs they think their demographic would be
interested in.

What is a Multi-national Media Conglomerate and give 4 examples? Name 5 well known
organizations/companies that they own. (100 Words) - A multi-national media conglomerate owns
numerous smaller companies that are involved heavily in producing media in mass for a large
audience, usually trying to make media that would be appealing to the general public, and therefore
increasing their revenue. These conglomerates produce media in many different areas, be this in
television, radio, film, music or internet among other things. Media conglomerates became
commonplace in the 1950s with over 50 companies owning a majority of the media output in the US,
however now there are only six big companies in the US, Comcast being the biggest. Comcast:
Which owns Universal Studios, NBC, NBCUniversal Cable and NBCUniversal News Group. - Walt
Disney: Which owns Walt Disney Studios, UTV Pictures, ABC Studios, Disney Television Animation,
and Marvel Television. - Sony: Which owns Sony Pictures, Sony Pictures Television, Sony Music
Entertainment, PlayStation Network.

What is the difference between a Monopoly and an Oligopoly with examples? (100 Words) –
A monopoly is where one seller or cooperation vastly upsells and dominates any other competition in
the market, thus giving it a monopoly over the other competitors in their market. A good example of
this would be Microsoft, who utilises bundles such as selling PowerPoint, Excel and Word together,
this is done to make it harder for other competitors to enter their market.

An oligopoly, in comparison is a much more open example of a market, with a few cooperation’s and
firms dominating the market, however it also possible for smaller firms to operate successfully in
the same market, a good example of this would be the media industry for music and film, as it serves
as a highly competitive market, but there is still an audience and support for smaller firms and
cooperation’s within the market.

What is the difference between Vertical and Horizontal integration, with examples? (100
Words) - A horizontal integration is when a company (Usually a cooperation that has a monopoly, or
an upcoming monopoly over the market it’s already in) buys a similar company which is also in their
market, such Porsche acquiring the Volkswagen brand. This strategy vastly increases production
and services within the same area of the market, and if done right can rocket up their earnings.

Vertical Integration is where a company or cooperation expands its operation in the same production
market, but in different areas, either before or after the company in the distribution line. An example of
this would be in 2015 when Ikea bought Romanian Baltic Forests in order to control its raw materials
used in its products.

What is an Independent Production Company and give 3 examples? Name 4 TV programs that
they make. (100 Words) - An independent production company produces films and productions
completely separate from the main conglomerate production companies. This offers a lot more
freedom in the creation of content, and lets other independent agencies contribute during the
marketing and distribution, thus, helping each other thrive in the industry. - Warner Independent
Pictures have made multiple productions, such as A Scanner Darkly, Snow Angels, December Boys
and Chaos Theory. - Hat Trick Productions have made multiple shows such as Derry Girls, Father
Ted, Fake News, and Game On. - Roughcut TV have made productions such as People Just Do
Nothing, Cuckoo, Trollied, and Delete Delete Delete
Task 2 Technologies

Explain what is meant by Channel Proliferation and Multi-Channel TV? (50 Words) – Channel
Proliferation is a result of Channels wanting to provide a better service to their customers and
expanding, this led to their channels proliferating in order to become more specialised
and customised, meaning their customers had a bigger selection of channels to choose from,
and therefore resulting in multi-channel options.

Identify when and how Multi Channel TV came about (research the 1990 and 1996
Broadcasting Act). (50 Words) - Multi-channel TV is a direct result of the 1990 Broadcasting Act, the
broadcasting act was passed in order to create a legal framework on electronic communication and
thus allowed more channels to be created, such as Channel 5. The act was passed with the
assumption that it would result in more consumer choice, leading to a wider variety of options for the
consumers to choose from and therefore increasing the overall revenue for film and TV in general,
creating less stringent regulations for independent television and allowed various other broadcasters
to have an increased revenues as well.

How is the Internet now being used to broadcast television programs? Give examples (100
Words) - As social media is becoming more and more predominant in today’s society, the film and
television industry is having to rethink and keep up with the times in order to best advertise and
promote their product, something that social media does impeccably due to the wide variety of apps
and platforms that could be used for promotions and advertising. In light of people choosing to
use online services in comparison to other services, the film and television industry has adapted
and made various streaming website such as Netflix and Amazon to meet the consumers demands.
As well as this, TV broadcasters themselves have also adapted to a multi-media platform,
both broadcasting shows on television and streaming them on online services, such as BBC with
BBC iPlayer, and Channel 4 with Channel 4 on demand

What is the difference between satellite, digital and cable? (50 Words) -
- Satellite television is broadcasted via satellite signals
- Digital television is broadcasted via a digital device that is primarily in or attached to the television
- Cable television is broadcasted through radio signals

Task 3 Regulation

What do the terms ‘regulation’ and ‘de-regulation’ mean? (50 Words) - Regulation is mainly
dictated and reinforced by the government in order to control and therefore ‘regulate’ the media that is
produced and shown in mass to the public. In comparison to this, de-regulation is the opposite, and
means that the media being shown has no rules and regulations to stick to.

What does ‘desensitization’ mean? (50 Words) - Desensitization is a big topic of interest in the
media nowadays, with violent video games, films and explicit material more easily assessable than
ever. Desensitization is where typically ‘violent’ or obscene content becomes normalised to the viewer
on the screen and therefore dulls their immediate reaction entirely if faced with that same obscene or
upsetting image in real life, meaning that they don’t react with the empathy or concern that they
should in that situation

How has the concept of the Watershed become blurred? (50 Words) - The watershed is the time
where programs that include nsfw adult content or explicit language are allowed to be shown and
broadcasted, this is typically around 9pm, the main reason that the watershed has been blurred today
is societies shifting standards of what is and isn’t considered explicit today in comparison to what
used to be seen as explicit in previous years. This has put broadcasters under fire however, as
parents and concerned adults are concerned about the younger generation being exposed to such
content, and want content to be more stringent with the correct code and conduct when it comes to
what media is appropriate to show at what time
What are the main roles of Ofcom and briefly the ASA? (250 words) - Ofcom, or the Office Of
Communications, are the communications regulator for the UK, and make sure that the TV, Radio,
and other services are properly regulated. Ofcom, or the Office Of Communications, are the
communications regulator for the UK, and make sure that the TV, Radio, and other services are
properly regulated. The ASA generally investigates complaints that were made in regard
to advertisements and sales promotions etc, their job is to respond to these complaints and make
sure that there is no violation of regulations in regard to discrimination or audience protection, as well
as other things