BROADCASTING
IN THE UK
In this unit, you are going to study the present-day situation in British mass communication. It is composed of several texts followed by questions to check your understanding of given information. After these texts, you will find a set of follow-up exercises based on the unit vocabulary.
When reading, pay special attention to collocations and sentences in blue and green ink: they are to be studied, translated, learnt and used in follow-up exercises and class discussions.
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PART 1. CURRENT SITUATION
Programme standards & obligations
Broadcasting is a powerful medium. It has the potential to offend or mislead, as well as entertain and inform. So the independence enjoyed by broadcasters carries with it certain obligations over programme content.
Overall, programmes are expected to display a proper balance and cover a wide range of subject matter; they should be impartial in their handling of political or controversial issues; they should be accurate in their news coverage; and they should not offend against good taste and decency.
These obligations are reflected in the quality thresholds laid down for the award of broadcasting licences. Broadcasters have to comply with legislation relating to obscenity and incitement to racial hatred. They must also reflect the principles set out in the Ofcom codes on standards and fairness. These codes concentrate on reasonable audience expectations given the channel and the timing of a programme's broadcast. Particular care is required during hours when children are likely to be watching. By convention, programmes broadcast before the 21.00 hours 'watershed' are expected to be suitable for a general audience, including children. After that, progressively more challenging material may be shown, although with clear signposting for viewers. Ofcom applies detailed codes of practice on broadcasting content, which must reflect the general principles set out in the Ofcom codes of guidance. Broadcasting producers must work to strict guidelines in dealing with sexual matters, violence, strong language, and in addressing family audiences. If viewers and listeners think programmes have fallen short of the given standards, they can complain to the regulator. The codes are updated periodically to reflect changing public attitudes and requirements.
The UK has implemented two important European agreements on cross-border broadcasting – the Council of Europe Convention on Transfrontier Television and the European Community Directive on Broadcasting. These lay down minimum standards on advertising, sponsorship, taste and decency, and the portrayal of sex and violence on television that broadcasters are required to observe. The Government can proscribe unacceptable foreign satellite services receivable in the UK, and anyone in the UK supporting such a service can be prosecuted.
| The Government regulates broadcasting by law. Regulations are set down in Acts of Parliament, which are then given to independent regulatory bodies to enforce. (Presently, Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services. This body produces its own codes for broadcasters to follow.) The authorities have the power to censure broadcasters for breaking these codes and in extreme cases can suspend the broadcaster's licence, effectively closing them down. |
Questions:
Analogue switch-off
Throughout the last decade, broadcasting in the UK has been undergoing dramatic change. Although successive governments have remained committed to the system's traditional public service element, they have recognised that it must accommodate the dynamic forces of technology and competition.
Satellite, cable and microwave transmissions, together with the availability of more radio frequencies, have already made a greater number of local, national and international services possible. But it is the development of digital technology that is transforming the broadcasting and communications landscape.
Digital broadcasting is a new, more effective way of transmitting radio and television services, which first became commercially available in the UK during 1999. It allows more information than before to be transmitted, and can offer many more channels, extra services, interactivity and higher quality picture and sound to viewers and listeners willing to invest in receiving equipment and/or monthly subscriptions. Already several millions of UK households have signed up to digital services offered by the sector's major television broadcasters. The radio industry is also investing significant sums in digital services.
With digital transmission, sound and pictures are processed electronically and converted into binary digits (bits), a series of noughts and ones. This code is then transmitted as a bitstream and reconverted by appropriate receivers or set-top boxes into radio and television programmes. Video compression allows the transmitter to send only the data needed to pass on the difference between each picture frame, cutting out a lot of repetitive information and enabling several digital programme services to be transmitted within the same frequency. Digital broadcasting uses much less spectrum than the existing analogue process.
In response to this potential, the Government legislated in 1996 to set out a flexible regulatory regime for the introduction of digital terrestrial broadcasting, a goal that has now been achieved. It also paved the way for more broadly-based competitive UK media groups.
| In drawing up that and further Acts’ provisions, the Government set such key objectives: - to safeguard plurality of media ownership and diversity of viewpoint; - to preserve the UK's unique tradition of public service broadcasting; - to support the competitiveness of the UK broadcasting industry and give the UK the opportunity to lead the world in the exploitation of digital technology; - to ensure broadcasters maintain appropriate standards of impartiality, taste and decency. These objectives are at the heart of the Government's communications philosophy, which is principally designed to protect consumers. The UK Communications Acts ensure universal access to a choice of diverse services of the highest quality. |
There is a clear commitment to preventing the emergence of a digital underclass, unable to afford the equipment required to access new services. In particular, the Government wants to ensure public service TV channels are available to everyone, free at the point of consumption. In addition, public service channels are guaranteed prominence on devices such as electronic programme guides, which have taken on great significance in the way viewers choose programmes. Ofcom has the power to ensure that this commitment is upheld.
Eventually, the Government wants to encourage all broadcasting and telecommunications services to move to digital means of transmission. Part of the rationale for this is to release the frequencies currently employed by analogue transmission for other uses. The Government originally suggested that analogue switch-off was likely to occur between 2006 and 2010. But recent comments from Ministers suggest that it will be later than this. The key to switch-off is the speed at which consumers take up digital equipment. There is little likelihood of such a change until the vast majority of viewers and listeners have digital equipment. That said, satellite television operator British Sky Broadcasting has switched off its analogue service and is broadcasting exclusively on digital.
Mark the statements as true or false, then correct the false items:
__1. The development of digital technologies causes dramatic changes to broadcasting industry.
__2. Digital broadcast services appeared on the UK market at the end of last century.
__3. No special convertors are needed to watch or listen to digital broadcasts.
__4. With the advent of digital technologies UK broadcasting system abandoned its public service tradition for the sake of total commercialisation.
__5. Great Britain wants to be a world leader in digital broadcasting.
__6. The Government does not support this analogue-to-digital switch in broadcasting.
Find English equivalents to the following word combinations in the texts of this unit, then make your own sentences using these collocations:
· вимоги до якості, визначені як необхідні для отримання ліцензії
· відповідати законодавству
· підходити широкій аудиторії, в тому числі й дітям
· з чітким позначенням для глядачів
· чітко дотримуватись сурових правил
· відображати зміни у ставленні та вимогах публіки
· призупинити дію ліцензії мовця
· з’явилися на ринку
· гарантувати численність форм власності ЗМІ та розмаїття поглядів
· безкоштовні для користувачів
· перейти на цифрові засоби передачі
· значна більшість глядачів і слухачів
· веде трансляцію виключно в цифровому форматі
Translate the following sentences using as much vocabulary of the unit as possible (consult the texts if necessary):
1. В цілому, програми мають бути збалансовані як слід та охоплювати широкий спектр тем; вони мають бути неупередженими при розгляді політичних і суперечливих питань, точними в освітленні новин і не ображати людську гідність та гарний смак.
2. If viewers and listeners think programmes have fallen short of the given standards, they can complain to the regulator.
3. Уряд може заборонити неприйнятні зарубіжні супутникові канали, технічно доступні у Сполученому Королівстві.
4. But it is the development of digital technology that is transforming the broadcasting and communications landscape.
5. Помітивши такий потенціал, у 1996 році уряд прийняв закон про встановлення гнучкого режиму контролю впровадження цифрового наземного мовлення – і цієї мети вже досягли.
PART 2. RADIO
on the air – radio
Ninety per cent of the population regularly listen to the radio and this figure is steadily growing. Practically every UK home has a radio, and widespread ownership of portable sets (including personal stereos) and car radios means people can listen all day – and right through the night.
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of local and national radio stations, with a wide choice of programmes on offer. UK domestic radio services are broadcast principally across two wavebands – FM (or VHF) and Medium Wave (often referred to as AM, although that term also includes Long and Short Waves). With the expansion in the number of services set to continue as a result of digital and internet-based platforms, radio is now the most competitive area of the broadcasting marketplace.
BBC Network Radio
BBC Network Radio, broadcasting to the whole of the UK, serves an audience of over 30 million each week, transmitting innumerable hours of programmes on its five analogue* and five more digital** networks.
Radio usage over the internet is proving to be a popular service too. The BBC's network websites attract millions of visits a month. All of them offer live streaming, webcams, and a catch-up service for people who miss programmes.
* The five national analogue BBC radio networks (also available on DAB) are these famous ones:
- BBC Radio 1 is a leading contemporary music station (24 hours a day), reaching over 50 per cent of 15- to 24-year-olds. It plays top-selling, new and specialist music, covers live performances, and broadcasts music documentaries and news programmes.
- BBC Radio 2 is a round-the-clock music and speech station that has broadened its output in recent years to attract younger audiences. As a result, it is now the most listened to radio station in the UK, reaching 11.7 million listeners a week who, on average, stay with Radio 2 for 13 hours a week. In addition to a staple diet of folk, country, gospel and rhythm & blues, the network now airs pop, reggae and punk music.
- BBC Radio 3 offers a wide repertoire of classical music and jazz. Like Radio 2, it has broadened its appeal, adding a programme called Late Junction that offers an esoteric range of music not traditionally associated with the network. More than half of the network's musical output is performed live or is specially recorded. This is complemented by drama, documentaries, discussion and children's programmes to make up a 24 hours a day service listened to by 2 million people each week.
- BBC Radio 4 's schedule has undergone the most radical changes of all the BBC's national networks in the pursuit of larger audiences – and now attracts a total of 9.2 million listeners a week. Nevertheless, it has retained its commitment to news and current affairs, complemented by drama, comedy, science, the arts, religion, natural history, medicine, finance and gardening. In 2001, Radio 4 devoted an entire day to the reading of JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone – a scheduling decision that attracted 3.4 million listeners, of which 1.5 million were children. Radio 4 also carries a range of programming, including its popular Test Match cricket coverage on the LW frequency.
- Radio 5 Live has been in existence since 1994. It has news and sports coverage 24 hours a day, and reaches 5.4 million listeners a week. It broadcasts live English Premier League football and Formula One motor racing as well as hard-hitting journalism on serious topical issues such as homelessness and race.
** The five national digital BBC radio networks are:
- BBC 1xtra playing the latest in ‘black music’ (forms of music originating in what can be termed black culture – hip hop, RnB, garage, drum & bass and dancehall as well as other styles like house and soca).
- 5 live sports extra set up by the team behind 5 live to bring listeners more sporting action. The station offers additional commentaries from the FA Barclays Premiership, Coca Cola League, Scottish Premier League and cup football – plus cricket, rugby, Formula One, tennis and golf.
- BBC 6 Music playing what they describe as ‘stuff that's credible, influential and has longevity’ or ‘the music that matters from the last 30 years to the present day’ (as they say, you are as likely to hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers as a red hot band discovered by Steve Lamacq yesterday).
- BBC 7 offering a mix of the best of the BBC's archive and contemporary comedy, drama and readings as well as four hours of children's programmes each day.
- BBC Asian Network geared towards playing the best in new British Asian music and covering British Asian issues.
BBC Regional and Local Radio
There are 39 BBC Local Radio services serving England and the Channel Islands, and national regional radio services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including Welsh and Gaelic language stations.
The national regions provide radio services on Radio Wales, Radio Cymru (the Welsh language service), Radio Scotland and Radio Ulster. Radio Nan Caidheal is a Gaelic language service in Scotland. English local radio transmits over 200 thousand hours of programmes, with a weekly audience of about 8 million.
BBC Local Radio – predominantly speech rather than music-based – supplies a comprehensive service of local news and information (including frequent traffic reports and details of local events), sport, documentaries and phone-ins. Some local stations, like BBC GLR in London, transmit programmes specifically for Afro-Caribbean or Asian listeners.
In November 1996, the BBC launched the Asian Network: the first full-time BBC domestic service specifically dedicated to minority ethnic listeners. The Asian Network started life as a Midlands service in 1996, but later expanded to other counties and is now offered as a nationwide digital radio service. It offers news, features, music, entertainment, religious and cultural programming for people of Asian background.
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service broadcasts by radio in 43 languages (including English) worldwide. It has a global weekly audience of over 150 million listeners – bigger than any other international radio broadcaster – and this excludes an estimate for listeners in countries where it is difficult to survey audiences. In addition, the BBC's investment in the internet means that the World Service website now gets over 100 million page impressions a month.
The World Service's core programming of news, current affairs, business and sport is complemented by a range of cultural programmes, including drama, literature and music. BBC World Service programmes in English and many other languages are made available by satellite for rebroadcasting by agreement with local or national radio stations, networks and cable operators. Programmes in all languages are available online, through www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice, with 35 fully multimedia sites in 33 languages.
The international media monitoring arm of BBC World Service – BBC Monitoring – provides transcripts of radio and television broadcasts from over 140 countries. As well as providing a vital source of daily information to the BBC, this service is also used by other media organisations, government departments, the commercial sector and academic institutions.
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