A HISTORY
1920s:
1930s:
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1940s:
1950s:
1960s:
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1990s:
- 1990: Launch of British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) (satellite television broadcaster), and later in the same year Sky and BSB merge to form BSkyB.
- 1 January 1993: New ITV contracts start, including: Carlton Television, Meridian Broadcasting, Westcountry Television and GMTV. Old companies lost in the franchise change include: TV-AM, TVS, TSW and Thames.
- 31 March 1997: Channel 5 begins broadcasting.
- 1 October 1998: BSkyB begins digital TV transmissions from a new generation of satellites as Sky Digital.
2000s:
- 22 October 2002: UK’s Freeview free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) service officially begins.
- 2 February 2004: Merger of Granada Television and Carlton Television is completed. The new company is named ITV plc.
- 27 May 2006: The BBC begins broadcasting in high-definition (HDTV) on their new subscription channel BBC HD.
- 17 October 2007: The gradual switch-off of all analogue terrestrial TV broadcasts begins in Whitehaven. The last regions were switched off in 2012.
- 25 December 2007: The BBC launches iPlayer, an internet service for watching previously aired TV shows.
- January 2008: Warner Home Video announces that it will support only Blu-ray Discs, setting off a chain reaction in favour of the format.
- 6 May 2008: The Freesat satellite service starts, including the first non-subscription HDTV channels.
2010s:
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ANALOGUE TELEVISION
Analogue Television in the UK consists of three main kinds: terrestrial, satellite and cable. Analogue television is the original technology that uses analogue signals that transmit video and audio. However, following the termination of Virgin Media’s (British telecommunications company) analogue cable television service in Milton Keynes (north-west of London) in November of 2013, all television in the UK was broadcast in digital-only. Analogue television was introduced by John Logie Baird in the early 1920s in the United Kingdom. This gave way to developments and advancements in the British television industry, leading to the end of the last analogue television broadcast in January 2012 in Northern Ireland.
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ANALOGUE TERRESTRIAL TELEVISION
Terrestrial television in the United Kingdom was the main way for most people to receive television, it is "a type of television broadcasting in which the television signal is transmitted by radio waves from the terrestrial transmitter of a television station to a TV receiver having an antenna” (Wikipedia). Terrestrial television can be distinguished from the other types of newer technologies of satellite television, also known as direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television, wherein the television signal is transmitted to a receiver from an overhead satellite, and cable television wherein the signal is carried to the receiver via a cable. Terrestrial television holds the record of the first analogue television used to broadcast from the United States (Washington D.C.) in 1927. Although terrestrial television in the United Kingdom was launched in 1939 in a broadcast by the BBS from Alexandra Palace. The first channel that was broadcast on terrestrial television lines was the first of the ITV franchise in 1955, nine years later it was followed by BBC Two in 1964. Terrestrial television continued to develop and evolve as it began to broadcast colour television from BBC Two and it took them a few years to accumulate the attention of BBC One and ITV who soon began to broadcast colour. In the 1970s the first Teletext show was launched: Ceefax and ORACLE. However, as a result of a ten-week long industrial dispute ITV halted nearly all of its broadcast in 1979, and this continued until the ten weeks were up. Since the company didn;t have any original programming on-hand they were forced to show reruns of old shows until eventually they were able to show new, original broadcasts. ITV signed a new contract with TSW, TVS and Westward Television, and as a result a new ITV channel was aired on terrestrial television for breakfast as an early-morning viewing across the UK. Terrestrial television continued to advance and grow for the next twenty years and on the way picked up Channel 4 and Channel 5 in 1997. However, it was phased out and replaced by digital terrestrial television between 2007 and 2012 on a region-by-region basis. Before the switch over in 2012, some people struggled to receive the digital transmissions as power levels were quite low from some transmitters.
DIRECT-TO-HOME
Direct-To-Home satellite broadcasting first came to the UK, there was a competition between Sky Television and BSB (British Satellite Broadcasting) with both using competing technologies. Sky Television utilised the PAL picture format, whereas the BSB used a D-MAC carrier modulation that was designed by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). The BSB advertised its USP: the "Squarial" diamond-shaped flat satellite antenna that was supposedly more aesthetically pleasing to the eye in comparison to the 80cm dishes that were supplied by Sky Television. Therefore, BSB was significantly more expensive than Sky with lower sign-up rates, as only people with greater disposable incomes were able to afford it. However, after 6 months, the two companies merged together to form British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), adopting the cheaper but inferior Astra and PAL system for all customers.
ANALOGUE CABLE TELEVISION
Cable television is “a system in which television programmes are transmitted to the sets of subscribers by cable rather than by a broadcast signal” and it delivers television programming “to paying subscribers via radio frequency signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fiber-optic cables." Cable television also broadcasts using standard (PAL) signals, although these were often scrambled to prevent people from watching the channels without paying a subscription. In most areas where people receive cable TV, customers received a letter from Virgin Media offering a free switch-over to their digital service. Cable television originates from Bristol in 1938, a time when several homes used wires to receive a television signal that could not be picked from the transmissions through the air.
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The company that provided people with these wires was called Rediffusion. The company has been providing wires since the late 1920s, but it wasn’t till the 1950s that cable television began to expand across the United Kingdom until it eventually became one of the most popular ideals of television broadcasting to date. Starting with Gloucestershire, Rediffusion started to provide cable television to most homes in the UK that watched BBC and ITV and by the 1970s, 2.5 million British homes had cable television. In 1982, the Information Technology Advisory Panel proposed a radical liberalization of the law regarding cable television broadcasting in order to promote new broadband cable systems to help lead into a wired society.
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Hence, the government approved the Cable and Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act two years later. This resulted in the liberalization of cable systems, meaning they could now transmit as many channels as they would prefer and also be able to offer customers a functioning telephone service. “To maintain the momentum of the perceived commercial interest in this new investment opportunity, in 1983, the Government itself granted eleven interim franchises for new broadband systems each covering a community of up to around 100,000 homes, but the competitive franchising process was otherwise left to the new regulatory body, the Cable Authority, which took on its powers from January 1, 1985” (Wikipedia). In the 1990s, cable television was bigger than it had ever been and smaller cable companies received their license to broadcast via older cable companies. However, larger companies such as International CableTel, Cable & Wireless and Telewest Communications began to overtake these smaller companies to become the dominant cable companies in the UK. In 1999, digital television was introduced, leading to cable television turning from the original analogue to digital during the 2000s.
Hence, the government approved the Cable and Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act two years later. This resulted in the liberalization of cable systems, meaning they could now transmit as many channels as they would prefer and also be able to offer customers a functioning telephone service. “To maintain the momentum of the perceived commercial interest in this new investment opportunity, in 1983, the Government itself granted eleven interim franchises for new broadband systems each covering a community of up to around 100,000 homes, but the competitive franchising process was otherwise left to the new regulatory body, the Cable Authority, which took on its powers from January 1, 1985” (Wikipedia). In the 1990s, cable television was bigger than it had ever been and smaller cable companies received their license to broadcast via older cable companies. However, larger companies such as International CableTel, Cable & Wireless and Telewest Communications began to overtake these smaller companies to become the dominant cable companies in the UK. In 1999, digital television was introduced, leading to cable television turning from the original analogue to digital during the 2000s.
DIGITAL TELEVISION
Digital television (DTV) is “the transmission of television audiovisual signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analogue television technology which used analogue signals.” (Wikipedia) It is an “innovative advance that represents the first significant evolution in television technology since colour television in the 1950s.” There are four main forms of digital television: terrestrial, satellite, free-to-air satellite and cable. These forms have been built upon the style of the analogue system that existed until 2012.
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DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL TELEVISION
Digital terrestrial television began in 1998 when analogue terrestrial television transferred its transmissions to digital. Digital terrestrial television began to focus upon subscription and payment, which caused starter issues during the launch of digital terrestrial since it had struggled with its financing, causing ONdigital to hit a wall entirely. However, some professionals argue that digital terrestrials failure can be accredited to the government wanting to “sell more television spectrum to launch Channel 5 and ONdigital's use of bandwidth which was said to have used poor signal encoding to optimise their broadcast capacity by cramming too many channels into the bandwidth ONdigital had.”
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In 2002, ONdigital was replaced by Freeview which used higher levels of error correction and a robust, lower-capacity modulation on public multiplexes. In doing so, Freeview was able to outsource its predecessor through the elimination of paid services and replacing them with a free-to-air service including all five existing analogue terrestrial channels alongside twenty new channels that would be added. Later in 2004, digital terrestrial television returned to a contract payment with the release of Top Up TV which was targeted those with lower incomes who couldn’t afford Sky’s expensive subscriptions. In 2005, Ofcom proposed that analogue television should be phased out and replaced by digital television across the UK. In 2006 Top Up TV Anytime began to grow in popularity as it enabled customers to take advantage of the digital video recorder and unlimited channel space that consisted of over a hundred different channels broadcast 24/7. After the shutdown of analogue television in 2012, digital televison (in all forms) and digital terrestrial television grew rapidly alongside the number of channels featured on it.
DIGITAL SATELLITE & FREE-TO-AIR TELEVISION
Digital satellite television and free-to-air satellite television are not too different from on another, and this sub-category can be further divided into three other services that form the satellite broadcast industry: Sky TV, Freesat and Freesat from Sky. Sky TV, a satellite subscription services owned by Sky plc. was launched in 1998 under ‘Sky Digital’. The digital satellite service, unlike analogue television, has an exponentially growing number of channels, widescreen picture and on-demand services; in recent years, Sky has added 3D-TV, high definition picture and recording broadcasts via a digital video recorder, which can be later viewed from another device. Freesat television is a “British free-to-air satellite television service, provided by joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Freesat offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on digital terrestrial television, with a broadly similar selection of channels available without subscription for users purchasing a receiver.” (Wikipedia) As of latest (October 2018), Freesat offers a selection 17 HD channels by making good use of the additional capacity available on satellite broadcasting and unlike Sky, does not require a viewing card. Although, like Sky, Freesat offers users a high-quality picture, on-demand videos and the ability of digital recording. Ever since its release a few years after its launch the digital satellite broadcasting service has shown viewers multiple encrypted channels without requiring payment or a subscription. In contrast, Freesat’s competitor Freesat from Sky is offered up as a compromise for those who do not wish to continue their subscription with Sky. When a customer cancels their payment, they are offered a Free-To-View viewing card that gives them access to the Freesat from Sky service. This service does not offer access to digital recordings or videos on-demand, although it does give customers access to more channels than Freesat alone, giving Freesat from Sky a better edge over Freesat. Freesat has approximately 200 channels, while Freesat from Sky has over 240 to access for free. All transitions of digital satellite signals come from microwaves and digital MMDS (Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service).
DIGITAL CABLE
Digital cable, according to Wikipedia, is “the distribution of cable television using digital video compression for distribution. The technology was developed by General Instrument, which was succeeded by Motorola and subsequently by ARRIS Group.” Cable companies converted to digital during the 2000s, converting broadcast television into the digital HDTV standard (digital compression) which was incompatible with existing analogue cable systems. Moreover, digital cable systems provided higher resolution HD videos, pay-pre0view programming, cable internet access and cable telephone services, reducing the incidence of cable theft in analogue systems. Digital cable was first introduced in 1990 and in the same year cable providers began to take interest in the new technology that was advertised in order to expand the number of channels and provide subscribers and non-subscribers with services. Cable companies took a new direction towards broadcasting with digital direct-broadcast satellite services like DirecTV, PrimeStar and Dish Network. Cable companies began to supply the rising demand among consumers subscribing to get more channels with demand services, telephone services, high-speed internet services and an interactive television service. By the 2000s, several cable companies used Quadrate Amplitude Modulation (QAM) for their video services and the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) for standard data services.
A HISTORY: BBC VS ITV
The BBC (British Broadcasting Company) is the world’s oldest broadcaster and is funded primarily by an annual television licence fee set by the British government. Its first broadcast was made from a small studio in London as a radio broadcast in November of 1922. The BBC received its ‘first break’ during a general strike that went underway for newspaper companies, causing the nation to tune in to listen to the BBC for their news stories. At the time, Winston Churchill appealed to put the BBC in-charge of its output but this was denied by John Reith, the general manager of the BBC. Therefore, the BBC continued to function as an independent company until it received the royal charter in 1927, changing its name to the British Broadcasting Cooperation. In 1932, the BBC acquired their first official ‘purpose-built building’ in London, becoming the first television service in London after John Logie Baird’s broadcasting services. During WW2, the BBC introduced the radio station ‘Home Service’ since television broadcasts had been shut down. Despite its far reach, the station was deemed ‘too boring’ since it featured too many public announcements. Thus, the BBC introduced a radio show called ‘It’s That Man Again’ as a form of some light entertainment, collecting 16 million listeners per week. In a post-war Britain, the BBC peaked in regards to its radio shows, but it was in 1953 that television history was made as the Queen’s coronation garnered 22 million viewers, urging the UK to buy more TV sets. Henceforth, after this historical broadcast, television gained just as much importance as radio and the sales of television sets rose, bringing in more revenue to the BBC and allowing them to create more diverse and elaborate programmes. However, the launch of ITV in 1955 saw the BBC’s viewing rates drop by 28%, which lasted until 1957 when Panorama, Blue Peter and Jukebox became big hits.
In the early 1960s, another building was created for the BBC, which later became its main studio headquarters which launched BBC Two in 1964. BBC Two became the first channel to broadcast colour television in 1969, making the BBC viewing rate and revenue income peak again. Nonetheless, ITV responded by also incorporating colour television in the same year, and the 1970s came to be known as the 'Golden Age of Television.' As the company’s income grew with the license fees coming in so did the number for cinematic documentaries produced and broadcast by the company. The BBC saw great success throughout the 70s until towards the end of the decade when it saw challenges from the government about the overall output and quality of their programmes, stating that the BBC had “lost its nerve”.
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This initiated the birth of Channel 4 in the early 80s. This decade saw more televised channels and radio shows than ever, making it harder for the BBC and ITV to compete. The biggest political controversy the BBC faced was when the company went on strike due to the ‘supposed damage to their political independence’ caused when Home Secretary Leon Brittan asked the governors of the BBC not to broadcast the extremists in Northern Ireland edition of Real Lives. Throughout the during of the 1980s, ITV launched numerous sub-channels, such as the children's channel and breakfast channels (morning television/talk shows) as well as the majority of ITV channels broadcasting throughout certain hours of the night. During the 1990s, digital technology and the internet became the front runners of the industry, and so the BBC launched BBC Online (bbc.co.uk) and became one of the most trusted websites on the internet from 1997 onwards. The early 1990s saw the launch of Radio 5 and Radio 4. Later the BBC had to come up with a way to secure a place in the new charter, so it released programmes that they knew the commercial broadcasters could not, such as: One Foot In The Grave, Absolutely Fabulous and Have I Got News For You. These shows had a lot of ‘edgy comedy’. On the other hand, ITV launched ITV2, GMTV and ITV News (previously named ITN News). The new technological era pushed the BBC to produce shows to target certain TV audience demographics and audiences with niche interests and needs regarding ethnic, religious, children’s television, education and documentaries. Even though ITV did the same, it stopped broadcasting in new millennial due to lower viewing rates. The BBC then launched Freeview across the UK. It featured a larger variety of channels, 'the red button' and services with the normal television aerial. In time, the BBC introduced 1 Xtra, 5Live and BBC7 over the radio service provided with Freeview. In 2007, the BBC trust replaced the board of governors. Today the homes across the UK have access to on-demand live television, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and other services and broadcaster online that can be accessed remotely via most electronic devices.
INTERNET & ON-DEMAND VIEWING
In recent years other companies such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime have gained popularity as the British public turned to the internet to fulfil its need for entertainment and information. Some of these online services provide the option of mobility and remote access from anywhere in the world, thus making them more appealing to customers.
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ADVERTISEMENTS
Since the BBC gets its funding via a license fee paid by taxpayers in the UK, it does not feature advertisements. Although this differs on commercial channels. The UK broadcast regulator Ofcom allows channels airtime of seven minutes per hour for advertisements. The first-ever advertisement to air on ITV in 1955 was for S.R. Toothpaste. From 2000 onwards, TV broadcasters required advertisements to the delivered on a widescreen and in 2008, Ofcom announced a change to the Rules on the Amount of Distribution of Advertising (RADA) which would regulate the duration, frequency and restriction of adverts that can be shown on television. Advertisements are typically featured during commercial breaks that take place between the TV show, linking the scheduled adverts with the programme.
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On average, many television commercials (aka TVC) are broadcasted during the 2-5 mins commercial break between the programs being broadcast at the time, although this may depend on the TV channel or company the adverts are being broadcast on. Good examples of this are the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon that typically advertise toys, games and other products that might appeal to young audiences ranging from ages of 5-16+, in order to engage their viewers. In contrast, M&S advertise their food items during prime time on networks such as ITV during programs like I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in order to engage with an older demographic who would have enough income to shop at M&S Food. Advertisers regulate and monitor the duration, frequency and restriction of adverts broadcast on TV. The Super Bowl in 2015 broke the title of having the most expensive television advertising slots in the world as advertisers spent an average of £2.98 million for a 30-second slot during the show. With a US audience of 111 million and more global viewers brands such as Budweiser, Dove, PepsiCo, BMW and Northrop Grumman were among the advertisers paying for the privilege of appearing during the showdown between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. In 2010 Britain’s Got Talent broke records in UK television history for having the most expensive TV slots at £250,000.
PRODUCT PLACEMENT
Product placement, aka embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references towards certain brands and/or products are “incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent.” In the UK Ofcom is responsible for managing and monitoring product placement on television, and TV programs are allowed PP as long as they abide by OfCom’s regulations, which also apply to programmes outside and inside the UK, BBC UK broadcasting services under the licence fee. Ofcom rules deal with what type of the product is placed in the program, when PP is allowed and how said products can be featured. PP is allowed in films, TV series, entertainment shows and sports programs, and banned in the news, children’s programmes and cannot be placed within religious, current affairs and consumer advice programs created for UK audiences. The following products are prohibited from being advertised on TV:
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In order for a product to be advertised on air, it must conform to “editorial justification”, meaning that the product must in some way be relevant to the program it is placed in, and the contents of said program must not be distorted or created simply to feature the placed product. Programs are also not allowed to promote placed products or give them too much prominence, which includes making claims about how good the product is and references to its promotion. Programs must feature a special PP logo to alert viewers of the placement. This logo must be shown at the beginning of the programme, after any advertising break throughout its duration, and at the end of the programme. However, TV channels are not required by law to feature the PP logo in their programs if they were originally set to broadcast outside the UK (eg: an American TV series broadcast in the UK). Therefore, any programs created under an Ofcom licence (including those broadcast outside the UK) must feature the PP logo. Although Ofcom has since raised this ban and enabled advertisers to pay for their products to be shown on British television.