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Competition for Higher Quality is a Public Good

Phillips, Angela

According to Angela Phillips (Goldsmiths, University of London), competition for higher quality is a public good that is absent in discussions about the future of Channel Four. A strong BBC is essential to upholding high quality of public service provision, Phillips argues: ‘if the BBC is allowed to wither any further, there is no reason to assume that it will be able to uphold the standards the public expects of it’.

Angela Phillips

Ensuring the Future of Public Service Television for the Benefit of Citizens

Voice of the Listener and Viewer (VLV)

Some of the key threats to the future of high quality public service television in the UK, according to Voice of the Listener and Viewer (VLV), are in underestimating ‘the value and impact of public service broadcasting’s contribution to diversity, democracy, education, culture and citizenship in a market where success is too often measured on the basis of a commercial model which focuses on profit and market share.’

VLV

Non PSB Investment in UK Content Continues to Grow

Commercial Broadcasters Association (COBA)

According to the Commercial Broadcasters Association (COBA), there has been ‘a dramatic increase in investment in original content from non PSB broadcasters, who have increased spending on first-run UK programming by 43% since 2008’, making the investment by non PSBs in first run UK content nearly £600m a year.

COBA

Tunnel Vision: Public Service TV, Impartiality and News Coverage

Merrill, Gary

Using the case study of the BBC economic and business news, Gary Merrill (Goldsmiths, University of London) takes a critical look at the impartiality of the BBC journalism. He observes that journalistic practices tend to ‘follow elite opinion an exclude other credible perspectives’, and calls for the need to include broader sources of opinion, beyond confines of Westminster and the City of London.

Gary Merrill

'Public service provision for children is in severe decline'

Children’s Media Foundation

The submission by the Children’s Media Foundation (www.thechildrensmediafoundation.org) reveals that the public service provision for children is in severe decline. The BBC spent on children’s content and services in 2014 accounts for nearly 97% of total PSB spend in the genre, compared to ITV and Channel 5 who commission almost nothing. The international channels, including Netflix and Amazon commission very little content that focuses on the UK.

The Childrens Media Foundation