Media UK

An introduction to UK television

The BBC networks

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) broadcasts eight public service television channels in the UK. BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC News 24 and BBC Parliament. They are all available on every digital platform (cable, satellite and terrestrial(Freeview)) free to air. In addition, BBC One and BBC Two are available on the analogue platform until switchoff. These eight television channels, like the BBC's radio services, carry no advertising or sponsorship. They are publicly funded through the mandatory television licence. In November 2006 this cost around £11 per month per household although it is free to the elderly.

In the eleven BBC "English Regions" BBC One broadcasts local programming incuding daily local news and a weekly documentary. In Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales (what the BBC terms "the nations") there is additional news, current affairs, drama, sport and local language programming on both BBC One and BBC Two.

Outside the UK, the BBC also broadcasts a growing number of commercial television services. BBC World, BBC Food and BBC Prime are available in many places around the world while channels like BBC America and BBC Japan are targeted at consumers in those particular countries. No BBC-branded commercial channels are distributed in the UK although BBC World can be received from the Hotbird satellite.

In Britain, the BBC holds a 50% interest in the commercial television provider UKTV which broacasts ten channels on the UK digital platforms. Much of the programme content is drawn from the BBC’s programme archive for which UKTV pays a licence fee to the BBC. This money supplements the licence fee and is reinvested in the BBC's public services.

The commercial networks

There are three commercial television national networks - ITV (referred to by Ofcom as "Channel 3"), Channel 4 and Channel 5 (branded simply as 'five'). Although commercially-funded, each of these services has an obligation to provide some programming which is deemed to be "Public Service". Each one of these channels is available on every digital platform (although not always free to view) and also on analogue terrestrial.

ITV stands for independent television, a throw-back to the days when there was only one ‘independent’ television channel. ITV1 is licensed regionally so each each regional company could broadcast a mix of national and local programmes. In reality, a wave of consolidation has left just one company, ITV plc, holding the vast majority of these licences and the schedule is largely identical around the country except in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Even the branding has consolidated with many well known regional channel brands like Yorkshire Television, London Weekend, Meridian and Granada being replaced by the generic ITV1 label. STV in Scotland and UTV in Northern Ireland retain their own identities. Channel Television broadcasts to the Crown dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey and also remains independent although uses the ITV1 on-screen identity.

If all this it wasn’t confusing enough, a separate licence is issued to GMTV to provide breakfast programming on the ITV network between 0600 and 0930 daily.

Channel 4 launched in 1982 and has a strong public service brief in its licence. Known for cutting-edge drama, its own film commissions, youth programming, Countdown and more recently Big Brother, it is run by a publicly owned company.

The Welsh language channel S4C - Sianel Pedwar Cymru is carried on analogue in most parts of Wales instead of Channel 4 (though some Channel 4 programmes are used on S4C). On digital platforms however, viewers in Wales can see both Channel 4 and S4C Digidol, a part-time digital version of S4C which carries more Welsh-language programming and no Channel 4 programmes.

five (known at launch as Channel 5) is the most recent addition to the analogue terrestrial bouquet and only just manages to squeeze itself into the spectrum. In many parts of the country the service is not available on analogue television although it is carried on every digital platform. It has less of a public service remit than ITV and Channel 4 and has tried several programming formats since its launch. After chasing downmarket ratings with shock reality programming and a spurt of soft porn, it is now aiming more upmarket with documentaries, films and wildlife programming. It carries advertising and is profitable.

Cable

Cable television has yet to expand into many homes in the UK. There are consequently few cable-specific channels.

The major player in the UK cable TV industry is NTL:Telewest, formed in a merger on 4 March 2006. This company also owns Virgin.net and Virgin Mobile, and will rebrand as a Virgin company in 2007. NTL:Telewest currently serves 2.8 million households, and is the first to offer what they call 'quad-play' - home phone, mobile phone, broadband and TV. High Definition television is currently available to some ex-Telewest customers.

Other players in the market include WightCable (on the Isle of Wight and in the Borders region of Scotland/England), and the first IPTV service to be generally available in the UK, HomeChoice.

Digital

Digital Satellite Television (DSAT) was launched in October 1998, on a platform provided by Sky, part of BSkyB. It is estimated that 1,500,000 people had access to Sky's digital transmissions a year later, in October 1999; by 2006, Sky was in seven million households. Pricing for subscription DSAT ranges from £17.99 (€24) to considerably more. Digital satellite receivers are available free, subject to a small installation charge and to keeping the box connected to a telephone line for the interactive Sky Active service.

Most analogue services are also avalable on DSAT as free-to-air channels without the requirement to purchase a card or subscription.

High Definition television launched on Sky in May 2006. By September 2006, Sky had nearly 100,000 HD customers.

Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) launched in mid-November 1998 as a part free, part subscription model, under the name of ONdigital (which later re-branded to ITV Digital). Unfortunately, the lack of channels, combined with losses due to piracy and a slightly unwise investment into league football, meant that the service went into liquidation in early 2002. It was replaced by Freeview, a consortium including the BBC, BSkyB and broadcast transmission specialists Crown Castle Communications, and offers around 30 entirely free channels. DTT receivers cost a one-off fee of around £40. The frequencies used are in the same band as for analogue television, which means that digital television is currently not available in certain areas, and that older aerials sometimes need to be changed for designs offering greater bandwidth.

High Definition trials are occuring in London on DTT for the commercial broadcasters.

Teletext and interactive services

Most televisions sold in the UK have teletext, an information service broadcast with an analogue television picture signal, consisting of around 3,000 pages and close-caption subtitling. All analogue stations carry some information on teletext; the larger stations also carry live news, weather, travel and a variety of other information and programming sources. Teletext adds about £30 (€42) to the cost of buying a television.

Digital television brings more interactive services: digital teletext (the successor to the analogue service above), and interactive shopping services. SkyDigital’s platform offers “Sky Active", a feature-rich service offering shopping, e-mail, games and information, using the bandwidth available to it - limited interactivity is also available on digital terrestrial. Cable has the capability of the best interactive programming and services.

Regulation

All non-BBC television stations follow guidelines laid down by Ofcom, which oversees programme content and quality, and makes sure that advertisers follow a specific and stringent code of conduct. The BBC is currently self-regulating, to a degree, although Ofcom's influence and power over the BBC is seen to be growing.