Public Service Television Policy In Britain Since 1979

Public service television has been operating in Britain since 1930s, with BBC One being the first channel. The family of public service television was enlarged with the birth of the first commercial television Independent Television (ITV) in 1955. which undertook public service obligations. Channel 4 established in 1982 came with public service obligations of protecting the interests of the minorities and innovation. Channel 5 established in 1997 was also part of PSB. These public service television channels, including all BBC channels, Channel 3,Channel 4, S4C and Channel 5. competed with the pure commercial television like BskyB. Before 1979, BBC and ITV competed in the provision of television services and public service television has developed well. In the 1980s, the free-market ideology of the Thatcher government dominated public service television. During this period, competition and consumer sovereignty reined. The 1997 New Labor juxtaposed the protection of the citizen interests and consumer interests, but the free-market ideology was still a thread that went through the design of public service television. The Coalition government since 2000 sought to use the licence fee to reduce the deficit. The Cameron government of 2015 promises to apply licence fee to those who use BBC television online as a way of recognizing the contribution of BBC to fund the non-BBC programs and the licence fee of the over-75s.This thesis traces the evolution of public service television policies and analyzes the reasons that contribute to the changes of public service television policy. The author contends that the public service television policy of the UK government, which is manifested in concrete policy of legislation, regulation and subsidy, was moving towards marketisation since 1979. However, the tradition of public service television has survived under successive governments. Therefore, public service television is still alive in Britain, in spite of the influence of the political, economic, social-cultural and technological changes.