BTEC Level 3 Creative Media Production:

Understand the structure of the Television

and Video Industry in the UK

Organisation And Income Generation

1; BBC

2; Public service broadcasting is the term used to

describe the organisations that broadcast content
through radio or television that is not just for the
entertainment of the public, but is instead for their
benefit. An example of what this content can be are
things like the news for when there is a major event
that the public should know about like a change in
government, threats of attack and other important
international news. Things that wouldnt be considered
public service broadcasting would be things like talk
shows since they almost always discuss more celebrity
and media oriented topics with their guests. Another
thing that would be leaning towards just entertainment
and not essential or important content would be reality
shows or game shows since neither ever have any
impact beyond those who are in the show themselves.
There are also other types of news shows that only talk
about things based around celebrity gossip but these
are never considered a public service broadcast since
none of the information is essential. The biggest
example of a public service broadcasting in the UK
would be BBC news, since that is the reason that
organisation was created in the first place, so that the
public could be made aware about important events.
3; There is debate over how relevant public service
broadcasting still is today. The purpose of public
service broadcasting is to make the public aware of
major events going on in the country or world. But
recently through the internet and social media, less
people are getting their news from TV anymore, with
many getting their information on social media or
somewhere else on the internet. This is likely because
when something happens it will most likely be put
somewhere on social media almost instantly and since
people spend a lot of time on social media, this is
where they will first see the news. There is also the
fact that with their phones they can see the news story
where ever they are and can probably get multiple
different articles about it online. Whereas with the
news on TV you may have to wait until the news comes
on so you can get the story.

4; ITV, channel 5 and E4 are all commercial

broadcasters, which means that they do not get their
money through the public like public service
broadcasters, however channel 5 and others can still at
times broadcast important information. So instead
commercial broadcasters try and make a profit through
advertising. This is when a channel allows a brand to
pay for a brief commercial to play in between their
programme. This is why when watching the BBC there
is never any ad breaks since it is a public service
broadcaster and so makes its money through the
licence fee.
Another way for a commercial broadcaster to make a
profit is to have a competition based show where the
audience can phone in to vote on who should win, with
them keeping most of the money the phone call cost.
They can also sell their programmes to other
broadcasters to air in different countries which dont
have access to the original channels content, and so
this is another way for their content to reach more
people and make more money. The programme can do
product placement to make more of a profit, which is by
having other companies pay to have their product
featured in a positive way in the show, which works as
a kind of advertising for the company.

5; Merchandising: Many shows sell merchandise

relating to the show since many television shows have
fans who would like to have things relating to the show,
which means more money from people buying the
merchandise. It can also help with free advertising if
you have people walking around wearing things like T-
shirts with the shows name on it which may make
others want to check it out for themselves.
Franchising: By owning multiple different channels SKY1
has made it so that they can make a larger profit since
there ae more channels creating and airing more
programmes.
Spinoffs: This is when a show creates another show that
exists in the same world as the original, usually with
one of the shows most popular characters. For
example, breaking bad has had a spinoff/prequel called
Better call Saul which follows how Saul Goodman
became a lawyer and how he got to where he was.
Another example would be the CWs Arrow which has
had a spinoff called The Flash which has now shared
a spinoff called Legends of tomorrow in which side
characters from both show combined to get their own.
So it is both Arrows second spinoff and The Flashs
first.

6; A media conglomerate is a company that owns

multiple other different types media related companies
such as movies, radio and news and because of this
they may often own companies in other countries
making them a multi-national media conglomerate.
Examples of multi-national media conglomerates would
be Disney, Sony, 21st Century Fox and Time Warner.
The first example of one of the companys subsidiaries
would be Pixar which is owned by Disney and is an
animation studio that makes animated films. A
subsidiary of Sony would be Sony Picture Group which
is a production studio that finances and produce films.
The subsidiary for 21st Century Fox would be Fox TV is a
broadcasting company that produces multiple
television shows. Time Warner owns Warner Bros,
which is a production studio and they also own DC
comics which create and publish comic books and
graphic novels.

7; The difference between a monopoly and oligopoly. A

monopoly is when one company or organisation
controls an entire industry by either having a large
influence over it or owning all of the other companies
that also work in that industry. An oligopoly is when
there is competition in the same industry between
multiple companies. An example of a monopoly would
in the media industry would be the BBC before the
introduction of the Independent Television channel in
1954 since there was no other television broadcasters.
Meaning the BBC had no competition and so complete
control over the industry. An example of an oligopoly
would be the film industry since there are many
different production companies that makes films.

8; The difference between a horizontal and vertical

integration. Horizontal integration is when one
company buys or merges with another similar
company, for example, a production studio buying
another production studio. Vertical integration is when
a company buys another company that is in the same
industry but handles a different stage of the products
production, for example, a movie studio buying a
production company.

9; An independent production company is a company

that produces its own TV shows separately and then
sells the series to another company like BBC for
example to air and distribute it. Examples of
independent production companies would be CELADOR,
All3Media and Hat Trick. CELADOR is the production
company that produces the game show who wants to
be a millionaire?. All3Media has made such shows as
homes under the hammer and horrible histories.
And the production company hat trick produced the
four-part drama series The Secret.