Unit 7: Understanding the TV & Film Industries

There are 3 main ways in which to watch television in today’s society.

Terrestrial

Digital

Online

Analogue Terrestrial Television

This is a type of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission. It was the first way of receiving television in the UK. There are 5 main channels with this type of television; BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV 3, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Out of the 5 channels, Channel 5 is the one which does not have as a great coverage as the others. Channel 5 only has 70% coverage whereas the other four channels have 99%. Analogue television is eventually going to be completely phased out by digital television in the UK by 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogue_terrestrial_television_in_the_United_Kingdom

Digital Terrestrial Television

This is made up of 50 free-to-air channels including the 5 analogue television channels. Digital television provides more channels than analogue as well as a higher quality picture and a newer version of teletext. The switchover from analogue to digital is starting to take place now after several months of organising and will eventually be completed by 2012, when digital will take over analogue for good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_terrestrial_television_in_the_United_Kingdom

Online TV

Thanks to the great high-tech equipment we have today, it is now possible to watch television through your internet on your computer. There are different websites such as ‘YouTube’ that allow you to search a topic/genre of something you want to watch and then allows you to watch it. As well as this there’s the ‘BBC iPlayer’. This is an easy to use service which allows the viewer to a seven day catch up of any television or radio streams they have missed. The BBC is looking to offer the BBC iPlayer not only to online viewers but to cable and mobile phones.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/channels/iplayer.shtml

How have advances in technology effected the TV industry and how have audiences changed as a result?

Technologies

When people purchase a television set today they automatically receive the following channels; BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. These are all analogue channels. Analogue television is a type of broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission. It was the first way of receiving television in the UK. Out of the 5 channels, Channel 5 is the one which does not have as a great coverage as the others. Channel 5 only has 70% coverage whereas the other four channels have 99%. Analogue television is eventually going to be completely phased out by digital television in the UK by 2012.

Not only is analogue free but due to these changes ‘freeview’ is also becoming free with television set. It was first founded in 2002 and is an operator that provides free digital television. Analogue television is now on the decrease as digital television is soon to take over. Digital television is made up of 50 free-to-air channels including the 5 analogue television channels. Digital television provides more channels than analogue as well as a higher quality picture and a newer version of teletext. The switchover from analogue to digital is starting to take place now after several months of organising and will eventually be completed by 2012, when digital will take over analogue for good. The latest type of technology to have an effect on the TV industry is things such as ‘Sky +’ and ‘TiVo’. allows the user to record, pause and rewind live TV. Satellite television is extremely popular in households today as 85% of the UK’s population all has satellite television. Satellite television is broadcast by communications satellites. A receptor such as a digibox or sky dish must be purchased to receive a satellite signal.

TiVo is the latest digital video recorder which started in the USA and is now available in Mexico, Taiwan, Canada and Australia. This allows people to have total control over their viewing experience as they are able to record their favourite programmes without the adverts. This is seen as a big threat to broadcasters, as without these adverts broadcasters don’t receive any funding, therefore will face financial problems. TiVo also allows viewers to take advantage of features such as ‘Season Pass’ recordings which ensures users don’t miss out on an episode of a particular programme and ‘Wish List Searches’ which records programmes that match the viewer’s interests.

People are able to interact with television thanks to technology more and more today such as the ‘red button’, shopping channels, music channels and reality TV shows. Today’s television is full of reality TV shows such as ‘Big Brother, X Factor, I’m A Celebrity…,’ etc. Each of these allowing the audience to have total control over the outcome of the show in ways such as voting who is voted out of ‘Big Brother’ each week and who wins ‘X Factor’ by phone-ins or online voting. This is getting the audience more involved as it makes it more personal to them and if they know they have control over what happens then they are more likely to watch these programmes therefore these channels making more money through the amount of viewings and the money made from people ringing in. Not only this, but we have the choice in how we watch a programme. This is mainly in sports programmes such as tennis. By simply pressing ‘The Red Button’ if you’re a digital viewer, we’re able to choose which angle we watch from, as well as been able to watch different games at the same time by setting the screen to show multiple games. Internet also plays a big part in how we watch television today. Television has now been able to be broadcasted straight to the internet so people are able to watch something live instead of a recording the day after due to the latest electronic communications and technology we have. But what’s next? Well there are a range of phones that offer television via the internet on these particular phones but in the future this option will be available to most people with a wider variety of phones and a much clearer picture than to what is available now. There are different websites such as ‘YouTube’ that allow you to search a topic/genre of something you want to watch and then allows you to watch it. As well as this there’s the ‘BBC iPlayer’. This is an easy to use service which allows the viewer to a seven day catch up of any television or radio streams they have missed. The BBC is looking to offer the BBC iPlayer not only to online viewers but to cable and mobile phones. Most online television is free although some sites do charge as you can subscribe to a particular programme and have it regularly sent to you. Television audiences were once mass viewing. This is because with only 5 channels available, this is all they could watch so the population was divided by 5. Now, due to the increase in different channels that are available to all, this ‘mass viewing’ has become more fragmented. This means that there are smaller audiences watching the wide variety of channels available. This has had an effect on the advertising industry. Advertisers now have to target a much wider range of target markets in new and different ways. This is seen as an advantage to the advertisers as they are able to advertise more to different audiences therefore making more money in the long run. On the other hand, more advertising means more staff which means more money, which may be a loss as they may not gain this money back in the advertising process.

How does ‘Channel 4’ use technology at the moment and how is it looking to use technology in the future?

Case Study

Channel 4 is one of many different channels that are now using modern technology in a number of ways to attract its viewers. At the moment Channel 4 transmits across the whole of the UK, except some parts of Wales. Channel 4 is available on terrestrial, satellite and cable transmitters allowing a wide range of people to view it. As well as this they offer a number of other services such the free-to-air digital TV channels E4, More4 and Film4, and a vast growing range of online activities at channel4.com, including the broadband service FourDocs and Channel 4's very own video-on-demand; 4oD (4 on Demand). At this stage, Channel 4 are said to be doing very well.

In June 2007 Andy Duncan, CEO, Channel 4 Television announced that Channel 4 had embarked on a major review of its role and purposes as a public service broadcaster for the digital age.

Channel 4 has a growing popularity which they aim to succeed in pleasing their viewers. To do this they need to stay in touch with what their viewers’ needs and wants are and to keep an eye on their competition. This means they need to look to the future to see what will keep their viewing rates high up with the other well known broadcasters.

Channel 4’s Future Priorities:

*They will make sure that there is more space for new programmes, talent and voices.

*They will search for, train and develop the different range of talent.

*They will find new ways to deliver educational and school content along with a new creative output targeting older children.

*They will create a pilot fund (4iP - 4 Innovation for the Public) which will support public service content in media.

References

http://thetvandfilmindustry.blogspot.com//http://%22/

http://www.channel4.com/about4/overview.html

How is the TV industry funded and how does this effect programming?

Funding

Most television channels are funded by advertising. This involves a business producing an advert and paying the television broadcaster which best suits what it is their advertising and whether their target market will be watching this channel. The advert is played in between and during breaks in programmes. The BBC, on the other hand is funded solely by the ‘TV license’. This allows the BBC to run shows without having breaks in between to televise different adverts. It also pays for the radio. The ‘TV License’ originally started as a ‘radio license’ but soon became known as the ‘TV License’ with the arrival of televisions and some of the funding for the radio going to the cost of the TV broadcasting as well. The ‘TV License’ is a type of tax that funds public broadcasting, allowing them to transmit programmes without funding from television commercials. Public service broadcasting (PSB) is broadcasting for the publics benefit instead of companies trying to make money by selling themselves through adverts. Ofcom (communications regulator) states that certain television and radio broadcasters follow and fulfil certain requirements as part of their broadcasting license. The BBC is one of the biggest PSB’s, which has to fulfil the ‘inform, educate and entertain’ requirement. The Public Service Broadcast partly funds certain TV, radio and other types of media. They pay for the radio and the BBC worldwide.

‘It's not a simple goal to achieve but we believe the future of PSB can be secured with an ambitious new vision for delivering and funding public service content’. – Peter Philips - Ofcom's strategy and market development partner.

Another form of funding which is very popular today is subscription. A subscription means you pay for a weekly/monthly etc product/service. In this case you pay monthly to receive particular channels on a television service. For e.g. ‘Sky’ offer a subscription where you receive 200 TV channels, some free others you have to pay for separately as a ‘pay-per-view’ as well as interactive features by pressing the red button and radio stations. All of this costs from £16 for a min of 12 months plus a one off charge of £30 to install. With this you get a free dish and box for new customers. Sky, Virgin and Cable are 3 major companies that try to persuade people to subscribe to their service. They also offer other types of subscription once you have signed up to use their television service such as using their internet or telephone lines as well as subscribing to channels that you don’t receive automatically in their package like movies or sports.

Pay-Per-View is another way television is funded. This is when television viewers pay to watch a particular event/programme, which is then privately broadcasted to their home. These types of pay-per-view events are often featured films, sports or pornographic movies. HBO (Home Box Office) is the world’s biggest pay-per-view broadcaster, broadcasting into 150 countries worldwide. The HBO was one of the first pay-per-view broadcasters and were the first to show soft porn movies. People were unable to complain about this as it could only be viewed if people paid for it; therefore it is their choice to watch it.

Mr Jackson – Class Notes

Many programmes today are sponsored by various businesses/products. To sponsor something is to support a person/event/activity etc. A sponsor is the person offering the support. In this case, products/services sponsor particular programmes that fit in with their image, or programmes that are broadcasted on channels that are most likely to have a the majority of their demographic.

A few examples of television sponsorship:

*Airwick sponsors Emmerdale.

*Extra Chewing Gum sponsors Hollyoaks.

*Harvey’s Furniture sponsors Coronation Street.

*Foxy Bingo sponsors Jeremy Kyle.

*Appletizer sponsors Sex and the City.

Many sponsors choose to sponsor programmes that best fit their image/product. For e.g. Appletizer sponsor Sex and the City. Sex and the City is a very classy, feminine programme so Appletizer fits in well with this image as it is a sweet, classy drink. Sponsorship is a way of advertising as the audience see this sponsor clip before; during and after the programme therefore they are showing their product over and over again.

Advertising is probably this biggest way that television is funded. Advertising is a type of communication that persuades potential customers to purchase the product/service been advertised. Advertising is probably less effective today than what it was as now there are so many channels to advertise on, which makes channels and audiences more targeted, allowing advertisers to target their product more specifically, but this makes audiences smaller so less people are responding to the adverts. These small audiences are known as niche audiences. Niche audiences are attractive because it allows advertisers to aim their advert more specifically. For e.g. people who like sport are going to mainly watch sports channels, therefore advertisers who advertise sports clothing/other programmes etc will advertise on these types of channels as they will be targeting their main demographic.

Lastly; product placement. This is a type of advertisement, also known as embedded marketing. It allows a company to advertise their product via films, television series, books, music videos etc. They do this by showing the logo of a product in a particular shot or by mentioning the product in a particular scene. Product placement is been used much more today particularly in movie and television (most common form). A very popular product that uses this is ‘Apple’. Lot of films/television series will have ‘Apple Laptops’ which advertises their product widely. The United Kingdom is one of the main countries that do not permit product placement; however this could be changed as there are talks of product placement been introduced from as early as 2010.

The most popular country to use it is the USA. Product Placement is ever on the increase to advertise a particular product via different films/television programmes due to new technology such as ‘TiVo’.

This is a clip from from ‘Spider Man’. As you can see there is a close up shot of the ‘Dr Pepper’ can which therefore advertises this brand to the viewers of this programme. This helps them to reach their target market as this will be watched my many young children and teenagers who are most likely to drink this fizzy drink.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_license

http://www.bbc.co.uk/digital/tv/tv_subs.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay-per-view

http://%22/sor_(commercial)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2455696/Product-placement-could-be-introduced-in-the-UK.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_placement

Below is my powerpoint on the different ownerships in the industry today.