Television: Industry Contexts - Public Service Broadcasting

1) What is the BBC's mission statement?

The BBC's mission statement is to inform, educate and entertain. This means: to provide information; to support learning for people of all ages; to produce creative output; to have diverse content, and to reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and value to the world. They seek to act in the public interest through providing high-quality content and services.

2) How is the BBC funded?

The BBC is funded by the TV licence fee. Currently, the licence fee is currently £174.50 (subject to change) a year, which is around £15 a month. This fee must be paid by any household that wants to watch live broadcast TV or iPlayer. This pays for BBC TV, radio, website and iPlayer. A TV licence is unnecessary for Netflix or other international streaming services. They also gain some income from their commercial services: BBC Studios and BBC Studioworks.

3) What must the BBC do to meet its public service broadcasting responsibilities? (Look at the five bullet points in the notes above).

To meet its public service broadcasting responsibilities, the BBC (according to its Royal Charter), must: provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them; support learning for people of all ages; show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services; reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions and, in doing so, support the creative economy across the United Kingdom, and reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world. Their Royal Charter consistently reiterates that they must act in the interest of the public instead of competing in the market.

4) Who is the regulator for TV and Radio in the UK? You can find details on this in the notes above.

In the UK, TV and Radio is regulated by Ofcom (the Office of Communications).

5) How is TV and Radio regulated by Ofcom?

Ofcom regulates TV and Radio by overseeing all broadcasting channels and producing a broadcasting code, that every broadcaster must follow or face large fines and / or have their licence revoked. For example, in 2022, Ofcom removed RT (Russia Today) 's licence for continually broadcasting propaganda that favoured the Russian Government, breaking the rules that Ofcom have with impartiality. Ofcom also regulate TV to ensure that rules are followed and inappropriate content is not broadcast to audiences. The BBC is regulated by Ofcom.

6) How do Doctor Who and His Dark Materials help the BBC to meet the BBC's remit to inform, educate and entertain? Answer this question in at least 150 words.

Doctor Who (specifically the 1963 CSP version) successfully follows two aspects of the BBC's mission statement, particularly to entertain and educate. As Doctor Who is a TV show, it inevitably entertains audiences by giving them a sense of diversion, allowing them to escape from their everyday problems by watching it. The episode An Unearthly Child presents this through its usage of the TARDIS, which helps audiences escape reality as the TARDIS defies laws of physics by being bigger on the inside than the outside. An Unearthly Child is also useful for educating audiences as its main premise is that the characters travel to different worlds and time periods through the TARDIS. In doing so, the show teaches audiences about different eras and worlds, through teaching different aspects of history, culture, etc. The 1963 version, however, may have some aspects in the episode that make it less effective at following the BBC's remit. For instance, in the episode, the Doctor states that the "Red Indian's savage mind" was "blown" when being presented with technology. This line may have normalised or caused audiences at the time to be accepting of racist behaviour, counteracting the educational aspect of the BBC's mission statement.

His Dark Materials essentially only follows the entertainment aspect of the mission statement. This is accomplished through its complicated, fantasy-genre narrative following Lyra exploring different worlds, and its large, epic settings that allow audiences to escape from reality. It utilises CGI through the daemon, Pan, and multiple scenes, such as the scene of the witches flying, which create a sense of diversion as these aspects are impossible in reality. The show is less effective at educating and informing audiences as it explores fictional cities and stories, however, it may be good at educating audiences in representation. His Dark Materials subverts many stereotypes, such as stereotypes of race, through the Black witch, Ruta Skadi, and stereotypes of gender through the opposing scenes of Will cooking and Lyra failing to cook. As a result, audiences can be taught not to use stereotypes to identify people and also to not feel as if they have to adhere to stereotypes themselves.

Grade 8/9 extension questions

Read this Wired feature on how the BBC is adapting to take on Netflix. What does the article suggest the BBC needs to do to remain relevant in a streaming TV age?

To maintain relevant in the era of streaming, the article suggests that the BBC must refrain from using BBC iPlayer as a 'catch-up service; a streaming service where audiences can revisit what they missed on live TV. Most suggestions were to do with featuring shows that haven't been aired recently and that people will want to watch. There were also suggestions for audience personalisation, meaning that if a person opened BBC iPlayer, they would be presented with shows they would want to watch instead of shows they wouldn't have an interest in.

How does His Dark Materials help the BBC to take on the big streaming rivals like Netflix and Amazon?

His Dark Materials helps the BBC take on streaming competitors as it's a very high-quality, modern TV show, with a very large budget as provided by HBO. The show is very similar in quality to shows on Netflix, Disney+, etc, and hence, helps attract audiences. It stars famous actors like Ruth Wilson and Lin-Manuel Miranda and helps to attract a much wider audience. This contrasts many other BBC programmes that only appeal to certain, niche groups of people, that are only aired by the BBC as they don't need to turn a profit (as a public service broadcaster) and, as a part of their key purpose, must have diverse content. 

Do you think the TV Licence is good value for money? Why?

The TV licence isn't great value for money when compared to subscription-based services like Netflix and Disney+. As the TV licence costs £174.50 annually, it equates to around £15 a month, while other streaming services average at around £10 a month. While a TV license allows someone to access BBC iPlayer (that can be accessed without a licence regardless) and live TV, live TV has become too unpopular for it to be worth the money. Now, streaming services are exponentially more popular, and most young people don't even watch live TV anyway. Furthermore, the BBC offers much more niche programmes that are far less popular in comparison to most shows on Netflix and Disney+, so there's more of a deterrent against people purchasing the TV licence as there's a higher chance that they would prefer the shows on more popular streaming services rather than the shows on the BBC. Overall, there's much less incentive for people to purchase a TV licence rather than a subscription to a streaming service, as the shows are less mainstream and the price is slightly higher.