The Politics of Children's Television in the Context of BBC Charter Renewal

Steemers, Jeanette

Jeanette Steemers (Communications and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), University of Westminster) argues that ‘there needs to be a better understanding of the children’s media landscape beyond narrow issues of funding and the future of children’s television production, that also considers the degree to which commercial providers in the online sphere should also be subject to regulation when it comes to children.’

Jeanette Steemers

Children and Public Service Broadcasting

Livingstone, Sonia

‘No public service broadcaster in the UK offers systematic programming across the full age range of children (0 – 17)’ according to Sonia Livingstone and Claire Local (Media Policy Project, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science). While children engage with all kinds of content on variety of devices, television set remains to be one of the most popular ways of engaging with public service content.

Sonia Livingstone and Claire Local

The Balance of Payments Between TV Platforms and PSB

Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF) 1

In considering the balance of payment between television platforms and public service television, the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF) argues that the supply of platforms which operate in the public interest is essential and the removal of must offer/must carry provision would limit the audience experience, undermine access and ‘provide a further incentive for commercial PSB operators to call for less regulation’.

The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom

Public Service Broadcasting and the Independent Sector

Cox, Natasha

According to some recent studies, international revenues of UK indie sector has trebled in the past decade, but Natasha Cox (television and documentary producer) observes how increased competition as well as growing focus on international sales stunt creative freedoms within the sector. According to Cox, building new structures between public service broadcasters and independent sector is essential to enable fairer competition between independent TV companies, and would enable delivering a broader range of public service television content.

Natasha Cox

'Public service television must be defined better, sold better - and be better'

Tryhorn, Chris

Chris Tryhorn (freelance journalist and researcher) asks whether we should perhaps define public service television less generally; ‘should we be calling ITV and Channel 5 ‘public service broadcasters’ when this is far from a sufficient description for them? According to Tryhorn, ‘the renewal of the BBC’s royal charter provides an opportunity for a tighter definition, which could then feed into the discussions around Channel 4’s remit and any future regulatory burden imposed on ITV or Channel 5.’

Chris Tryhorn