A guide to the nature, purpose, and place of public service television within a multi-platform, multichannel ecology. Television is on the verge of both decline and rebirth. Vast technological change has brought about financial uncertainty as well as new creative possibilities for producers, distributors, and viewers. This volume from Goldsmiths Press examines not only the unexpected resilience of TV as cultural pastime and aesthetic practice but also the prospects for public service television in a digital, multichannel ecology. The proliferation of platforms from Amazon and Netflix to YouTube and the vlogosphere means intense competition for audiences traditionally dominated by legacy broadcasters. Public service broadcasters—whether the BBC, the German ARD, or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation—are particularly vulnerable to this volatility. Born in the more stable political and cultural conditions of the twentieth century, they face a range of pressures on their revenue, their remits, and indeed their very futures. This book reflects on the issues raised in Lord Puttnam's 2016 Public Service TV Inquiry Report, with contributions from leading broadcasters, academics, and regulators. With resonance for students, professionals, and consumers with a stake in British media, it serves both as historical record and as a look at the future of television in an on-demand age. Contributors include Tess Alps, Patrick Barwise, James Bennett, Georgie Born, Natasha Cox, Gunn Enli, Des Freedman, Vana Goblot, David Hendy, Jennifer Holt, Amanda D. Lotz, Sarita Malik, Matthew Powers, Lord Puttnam, Trine Syvertsen, Jon Thoday, Mark Thompson

Questions the future of public service broadcasting.

Public service media are going through dramatic transformations as a result of technological developments, policy changes, market pressures and changes in media consumption. A significant part of this transformation is connected to the enhanced and novel roles of audience initiative to use and generate content. The scale and significance of the changes are still contested and the future of the provisions remains unclear. This book synthesises current debates on public service media and provides analysis of the key issues from an international perspective. It brings together leading researchers in the field and offers case studies from different countries. The book explores two main areas: legacy public service broadcasters in the digital age and new forms of public service media. Chapters in this collection address such fundamental questions about the future of public service media as: are the public ready to take on genuinely participatory roles? Do public service media organisations and professionals seriously consider shifting to a radically more demand-oriented production? How would changes in public service media impact political discourses and landscapes?

Once regarded as a system in decline, public service broadcasters have acquired renewed legitimacy in the digital environment, as drivers of digital take-up, innovators and trusted brands. Exploring this remarkable transformation through six case studies, Reinventing Public Service Television for the Digital Future engages with the new opportunities and challenges facing public service media, outlining the ways in which interactive technologies are now expanding the delivery of diverse goals and enhancing public accountability. Drawing on fifty interviews with media industry and academic specialists from four countries, Debrett analyses the constraints and possibilities of the public service system and its prospects for continued survival in the age of on-demand media. --Book Jacket.

This discussion paper analyses how technological trends affect the economic rationale for Public Service Broadcasting in Europe. Eight possible market failures from the specific economic characteristics of information are derived. The conclusion is that the public service broadcasting for the digital age should be light in the sense that it has a much smaller mandate.

Challenging the opinion that public service broadcasting is a thing of the past, David Hendy explains its importance in the present – and in the future. Written by a leading expert in the field, this book explores the development of public service broadcasting, outlining the key debates and issues, while situating them within wider cultural contexts. Hendy uses media history to consider the outlook for broadcasters such as the BBC, and other networks and stations around the world. He analyzes how these institutions shape society, culture, and politics, focusing on how key ethical and cultural values - such as enlightenment, impartiality, service, choice, and trust – have been constantly reinvented to ensure that broadcasting can carry on being a public 'good' as well as a commercial product. Clear, concise, and contemporary, Public Service Broadcasting is invaluable reading for all students of media and broadcasting, and for anyone interested in a strand of media that has had - and continues to have - an enormous social and cultural impact, not only in Britain, but across the globe.

The BBC has been financed by a hypothecated tax levied on the use of television sets since 1946. For most of the subsequent period, there has been substantial governmental control of both broadcast content and platforms. The economic arguments for different types of intervention in public service broadcasting were discussed in the 1986 Peacock Report, which proposed radical change. This article uses a similar methodology to that of the Peacock Committee and concludes that the case for government support for public service broadcasting has been undermined by technological developments which the Committee anticipated. It is further argued that the BBC should be financed largely by subscription and should adopt a mutual governance structure.