British television broadcasting started in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are up to 600 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most viewing. There are 27,000 hours of domestic content produced a year at a cost of £2.6 billion. Analogue terrestrial transmissions are currently being switched off and this is due to be completed in 2012.
Television providers
Free and subscription providers are available, with differences in the number of channels, capabilities such as the programme guide (EPG),
video on demandVideo on Demand or Audio Video on Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand....
(VOD),
high-definitionHigh-definition television is a digital television broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems...
(HD),
interactive televisionInteractive television describes a number of techniques that allow viewers to interact with television content as they view it.-Definitions of interactive television:...
via the
red buttonRed Button is a button on the remote control for certain digital television set top boxes in the UK, Australia, Belgium and Malaysia. It is for interactive television services such as BBC Red Button and Astro...
, and coverage across the UK.
Set-top boxA set-top box or set-top unit is a device that connects to a television and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen.- History :...
es are generally used to receive these services; however
Integrated Digital TelevisionAn Integrated Digital Television set is a television set with a built in digital tuner, be it for DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-C, DMB-T/H, ATSC or ISDB. Most of them also allow reception of analogue signals . They do away with the need for a set top box for converting those signals for reception on a...
s (IDTVs) can also be used to receive Freeview or
FreesatFreesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was marketed from 6 May 2008 and offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on digital terrestrial television, with a selection of channels available...
. Top Up TV and BT Vision utilise hybrid boxes which receive Freeview as well as additional subscription services. Households viewing TV from the internet (YouTube, Joost, downloads etc) are not tracked by Ofcom. The UK's five most watched channels,
BBC One
,
BBC Two
,
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
,
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
and Five, are available from all providers (although in many areas, including almost the whole of Wales, Five is not receivable on analogue terrestrial television).
| Provider | Years | Free or pay | No. broadcast channels | VOD Video on Demand or Audio Video on Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand....
| HDHigh-definition television is a digital television broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems...
| Red button Red Button is a button on the remote control for certain digital television set top boxes in the UK, Australia, Belgium and Malaysia. It is for interactive television services such as BBC Red Button and Astro...
|
|---|
| Households | Transmission |
|---|
| Analogue terrestrial Analogue terrestrial television in the United Kingdom is, traditionally, the method most people in the UK, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man used to receive television...
|
1964-2013 |
| Up to 6 |
|
|
|
2,700,000 |
Analogue Analog television encodes television picture and sound information and transmits it as an analog signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
terrestrialTerrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which do not involve satellite transmission or via underground cables—typically through the atmosphere from a transmitting antenna....
|
FreesatFreesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was marketed from 6 May 2008 and offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on digital terrestrial television, with a selection of channels available...
|
2007- |
| 79 (TV), 36 (radio) |
|
|
|
350,000[Freesat sales figures, as quoted in §3.13 of Ofcom report] |
Digital satelliteSatellite television is television delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by a satellite dish and set-top box. In many areas of the world it provides a wide range of channels and services, often to areas that are not serviced by terrestrial or cable providers.-History:The...
|
| Freesat from Sky Freesat from Sky is a British satellite television service from BSkyB which gives viewers access to over 200 free-to-air channels, some free-to-view encrypted channels, an electronic programme guide and Sky Active interactive data service....
|
1998- |
PPV Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast of that event to their homes. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
|
Over 240 |
|
|
|
153,000[Derived from total free satellite households (figure 12) and Freesat sales figures (§3.13) in Ofcom report] |
Digital satellite |
| Freeview |
1998- |
| Up to 44 (TV), 24 (radio) |
|
|
|
9,700,000 |
Digital terrestrialDigital Terrestrial Television is the technological evolution and advance from analogue terrestrial television, which broadcasts land based signals...
|
FreewireFreewire is an internet based television service originally specifically targeted at students through University portals and networks. Freewire Television now reaches around 40,000 students at a variety of locations in the country, and in the process became the largest IPTV service ahead of BT...
|
|
Free and subscription |
25 free, 19 subscription |
|
|
|
40,000 |
IPTV Internet Protocol television is a system through which digital television service is delivered using the architecture and networking methods of the Internet Protocol Suite over a packet-switched network infrastructure, e.g., the Internet and broadband Internet access networks, instead of being...
|
The InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
|
|
Varies |
|
|
|
|
17,275,660 |
Internet television Internet television is television service distributed via the Internet...
|
BT VisionBT Vision is a service provided in the United Kingdom supplied by BT Retail. It provides digital terrestrial television channels using a Freeview decoder and on demand film, TV, sport, kids and music programming delivered via broadband through a hybrid DTT/IP/PVR set top box also known as the...
|
2006- |
Pay |
As Freeview |
|
|
|
423,000 |
IPTV and digital terrestrial |
| Orange Orange UK is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but is now owned by France Télécom. Orange UK has over 17 million customers through its mobile and broadband services....
|
1994- |
Pay |
|
|
|
|
|
Mobile televisionMobile TV is television which is watched on a small handheld device. It may be a pay TV service delivered to subscribers via mobile telecommunications networks, such as the mobile phone carriers, or received free-to-air via terrestrial television stations operating either in regular mode or a...
|
Sky TVSky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E....
|
1998- |
Pay |
Around 600 (TV and radio) |
Push Sky Anytime is the brand-name of a range of services from BSkyB designed to compete with video on demand services currently offered by cable companies such as Virgin Media or Tiscali TV as well as Internet services such as BBC iPlayer....
|
|
|
8,900,000 |
Digital satellite |
| Smallworld Smallworld Media is a provider of digital cable television in the UK based in Irvine. The coverage area is Irvine, Troon and Kilmarnock in the west of Scotland, and Carlisle, Lancaster and Morecambe in the north-west of England, serving about 40,000 homes.Smallworld provides broadband, telephone...
|
|
Pay |
99 |
|
|
|
[Smallworld, Virgin and Wightcable have 3,300,000 subscribers combined according to Ofcom figures] |
Digital cableDigital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...
|
| T-Mobile |
1993- |
Pay |
|
|
|
|
|
Mobile television |
| Tiscali TV |
2006- |
Pay |
73 |
|
|
|
100,000 |
IPTV |
| Top Up TV Top Up TV is a subscription video on demand service broadcasting on the UK digital terrestrial platform in the UK. The service offers a assortment of content from providers such as BBC, Warner, Cartoon Network and TCM. The content is accessed by a Top Up TV Freeview+ digital Television recorder...
|
2004- |
Pay |
As Freeview |
Push |
|
|
200,000 |
Digital terrestrial |
| Virgin [digital] |
2007- |
Pay |
Around 318 (tv & radio) (TV) |
|
|
|
3,510,400[This figure is from Virgin Q1 2009 results as quoted in Ofcom report] |
Digital cable |
| Vodafone |
1991- |
Pay |
|
|
|
|
|
Mobile television |
| WightCable Wight Cable 2005 Ltd is the only provider of commercial and residential cable television services on the Isle of Wight. They also provide telephone and broadband internet services....
|
|
Pay |
120 |
|
|
|
|
Digital cable |
UK households receiving pay vs free TV on their main TVs
| | Type | Percentage | Households | Providers |
|---|
| |
Free |
50.5% |
12,864,803 |
Freesat, Freesat from Sky, Freeview, analogue terrestrial TV |
| Pay |
49.5% |
12,625,197 |
Sky TV, Smallworld Media, Tiscali TV, Top Up TV, Virgin Media, Wightcable |
UK households by broadcast/reception system on their main TVs
| | Type | Percentage | Households | Providers |
|---|
| |
Terrestrial |
49.4% |
12,600,000 |
Analogue terrestrial, Freeview, Top Up TV |
| Satellite |
36.9% |
9,400,000 |
Freesat, Freesat from Sky, Sky TV |
| Cable |
13.3% |
3,390,000 |
Smallworld Media, Virgin Media, Wightcable |
| IPTV via ADSL |
0.4% |
100,000 |
Tiscali TV |
Reception devices for the UK's television providers
| Provider | TV or IDTV | STB | Computer | Mobile phone |
|---|
| (Unbranded analogue terrestrial) Analogue terrestrial television in the United Kingdom is, traditionally, the method most people in the UK, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man used to receive television...
|
|
|
|
|
FreesatFreesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was marketed from 6 May 2008 and offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on digital terrestrial television, with a selection of channels available...
|
|
|
|
|
| Freesat from Sky Freesat from Sky is a British satellite television service from BSkyB which gives viewers access to over 200 free-to-air channels, some free-to-view encrypted channels, an electronic programme guide and Sky Active interactive data service....
|
|
|
|
|
| Freeview |
|
|
|
|
FreewireFreewire is an internet based television service originally specifically targeted at students through University portals and networks. Freewire Television now reaches around 40,000 students at a variety of locations in the country, and in the process became the largest IPTV service ahead of BT...
|
|
|
|
|
The InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
|
|
|
|
|
BT VisionBT Vision is a service provided in the United Kingdom supplied by BT Retail. It provides digital terrestrial television channels using a Freeview decoder and on demand film, TV, sport, kids and music programming delivered via broadband through a hybrid DTT/IP/PVR set top box also known as the...
|
|
|
|
|
| Orange Orange UK is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but is now owned by France Télécom. Orange UK has over 17 million customers through its mobile and broadband services....
|
|
|
|
|
Sky TVSky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E....
|
|
|
|
|
| Smallworld Smallworld Media is a provider of digital cable television in the UK based in Irvine. The coverage area is Irvine, Troon and Kilmarnock in the west of Scotland, and Carlisle, Lancaster and Morecambe in the north-west of England, serving about 40,000 homes.Smallworld provides broadband, telephone...
|
|
|
|
|
| T-Mobile |
|
|
|
|
| Tiscali TV |
|
|
|
|
| Top Up TV Top Up TV is a subscription video on demand service broadcasting on the UK digital terrestrial platform in the UK. The service offers a assortment of content from providers such as BBC, Warner, Cartoon Network and TCM. The content is accessed by a Top Up TV Freeview+ digital Television recorder...
|
|
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|
|
| Virgin [analogue] |
|
|
|
|
| Virgin [digital] |
|
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| Vodafone |
|
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|
| WightCable Wight Cable 2005 Ltd is the only provider of commercial and residential cable television services on the Isle of Wight. They also provide telephone and broadband internet services....
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|
Analogue terrestrial television
This was the traditional way of receiving television in the UK, however it has now largely been supplanted by digital providers. There are 5 channels with regional variations, plus a limited number of local channels. Analogue terrestrial transmissions are currently being switched off in phases as part of the Digital Switchover. The last region is due to be switched off in the second half of 2012. See Digital switchover dates in the United Kingdom for more information.
As of January 2009, BBC One, BBC Two, ITV and Channel 4 broadcast from a network of 1,134
transmitterA transmitter is an electronic device which, usually with the aid of an antenna, propagates an electromagnetic signal such as radio, television, or other telecommunications.-Transmitter types:...
s. Five broadcasts from 52 transmitters, and the
Restricted Service LicenceA UK Restricted Service Licence , is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event...
stations broadcast from 14 transmitters. See :Category:Transmitter sites in the United Kingdom for information on some of these. The transmitters are operated by
ArqivaArqiva is a telecommunications company which provides infrastructure and broadcast transmission facilities in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The present company was formed by National Grid Wireless combining with Arqiva in September 2008...
.
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television launched in 1998 as a subscription service named ONdigital. Since October 2002, the primary broadcaster is Freeview, with
Top Up TVTop Up TV is a subscription video on demand service broadcasting on the UK digital terrestrial platform in the UK. The service offers a assortment of content from providers such as BBC, Warner, Cartoon Network and TCM. The content is accessed by a Top Up TV Freeview+ digital Television recorder...
and
ESPNESPN is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting and producing sports-related programming 24 hours a day....
(previously
Setanta SportsSetanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland.Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to Irish expatriates. The channel operates individual channels in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Africa and...
before it went bust) providing additional subscription services.
Ofcom reports that, at the end of March 2009, there are
- 26,100,000 television sets equipped to view digital terrestrial in the UK (directly or via a set-top-box)
- 18,000,000 homes using digital terrestrial equipment
- 9,800,000 homes where digital terrestrial is the only form of digital television received
As of January 2009, digital terrestrial is broadcast from a network of 100 transmitters, operated by Arqiva.
Cable television
There are three providers of cable television, targeting different geographic areas within the UK. In all cases cable TV is a subscription service normally bundled with a phone line and broadband.
Smallworld MediaSmallworld Media is a provider of digital cable television in the UK based in Irvine. The coverage area is Irvine, Troon and Kilmarnock in the west of Scotland, and Carlisle, Lancaster and Morecambe in the north-west of England, serving about 40,000 homes.Smallworld provides broadband, telephone...
is available in south-east Scotland and north-west England. Pricing ranges from £10.50 (cost of phone line with 'free' TV) to £80 per month.
WightCableWight Cable 2005 Ltd is the only provider of commercial and residential cable television services on the Isle of Wight. They also provide telephone and broadband internet services....
is available in the
Isle of WightThe Isle of Wight is an English island and a county, located 3-5 miles from the south coast of the mainland, in the English Channel. It is separated from mainland England by the Solent and is situated south of the county of Hampshire...
.
Virgin Media is available to 55% of UK households. Pricing ranges from £11 a month (phone line with 'free' TV) to £30.50 a month, with additional fees for premium services such as Sky Sports. Virgin also market V+, a
digital video recorderA digital video recorder or personal video recorder is a device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive or other memory medium within a device. The term includes stand-alone set-top boxes, portable media players and software for personal computers which enables video capture and...
and high-definition receiver.
Virgin Media is the only cable provider to supply high-definition television and video on demand, although these aren't available in areas provided with their analogue TV service.
Existing Virgin Media customers can end their ongoing subscriptions, and opt for their set-top box to be configured to receive digital 'freeview' channels, giving them a freeview service via Virgin Media.
Satellite television
There are three distinctly marketed direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) services (also known as direct-to-home (DTH), to be distinguished from satellite signals intended for non-consumer reception).
Sky TVSky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E....
is a subscription service owned by
British Sky BroadcastingBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
. It is the dominant satellite provider with the largest number of channels compared to other providers. As of September 2008, subscription starts at £18 per month and rises to £47 per month. Installation is from £0 to £150 depending on the chosen set-top-box. Additional pay-per-view films, events and individual subscription channels are available. Sky TV markets Sky+ and Sky+HD,
digital video recorderA digital video recorder or personal video recorder is a device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive or other memory medium within a device. The term includes stand-alone set-top boxes, portable media players and software for personal computers which enables video capture and...
s; the latter additionally provides high-definition television. Sky TV does not provide
video on demandVideo on Demand or Audio Video on Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand....
.
Freesat from SkyFreesat from Sky is a British satellite television service from BSkyB which gives viewers access to over 200 free-to-air channels, some free-to-view encrypted channels, an electronic programme guide and Sky Active interactive data service....
, is a free satellite service owned by
British Sky BroadcastingBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
. Installation is priced at £75 or £150, which includes the receiver, dish, viewing card and access to all
free-to-airFree-to-air television and radio broadcasts are sent unencrypted and may be received via any suitable receiver:Free-to-view is, generally, available without subscription but is digitally encrypted and may be restricted geographically...
and
free-to-viewFree-to-view is a term used for free of charge and encrypted audio and/or video contents transmission that do not require any form of continual subscription....
channels in the UK. Existing Sky TV customers can also end their ongoing subscriptions, and opt for the Free-To-View viewing card, giving them the Freesat from Sky service. Freesat from Sky does not provide high-definition television or video on demand.
FreesatFreesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was marketed from 6 May 2008 and offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on digital terrestrial television, with a selection of channels available...
is a free satellite service created jointly by the BBC and ITV. In contrast to Freesat from Sky, it does not need a viewing card. It is the UK's first provider of high definition television without a subscription; one channel was available at launch. Freesat does not provide video on demand, or access to specific free channels which use BSkyB's encryption, including Channel 4 HD and Fiver.
Freesat, Freesat from Sky and Sky TV transmit from
SES AstraSES Astra SA, is a corporate subsidiary of SES, based in Betzdorf, in eastern Luxembourg, that owns and operates the Astra series of geostationary communication satellites, which transmit approximately 2490 analogue and digital television and radio channels via 317 transponders to 122.2 million...
satelliteIn the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s at
28.2° eastAstra 28.2°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 28.2° East position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
(Astra
2AAstra 2A is a communications satellite owned by SES Astra. Launched in 1998, half its expected end-of-life capacity of 28 transponders were pre-booked by BSkyB, who utilised it to launch their new Sky Digital service...
/
2BAstra 2B is a communications satellite owned and operated by SES Astra, launched in 2000 to join Astra 2A at the Astra 28.2°E orbital slot providing digital television and radio broadcast services to the UK and Republic of Ireland....
/
2DAstra 2D is one of a group of satellites operated by SES Astra, located at 28.2° East in the Clarke Belt. It is a Hughes HS-376 craft, and was launched from the Guiana Space Centre in December 2000....
) and
EutelsatEutelsat S.A. is a French-based satellite provider. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, it is one of the world's three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues.Eutelsat’s satellites...
's
Eurobird 1Eurobird 1 is a Eutelsat operated satellite, used primarily for digital television. It is located at 28.5° east in the Clarke Belt, just within the range of most satellite dishes pointed at SES Astra's Astra 2A, 2B and 2D at 28.2° east...
satellite at 28.5° East. As the satellites are in
geostationary orbitA geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator , with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero...
, they are positioned above the
earthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
's
equatorThe equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the plane perpendicular to the Earth's axis of rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass. In simpler language, it is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole that divides the Earth...
approximately 35,786 km above mean sea level; this places them above the
Democratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country located in Central Africa, with a small length of Atlantic coastline. It is the third largest country in Africa...
.
IP television (IPTV)
In contrast to Internet TV, IPTV refers to services operated and controlled by a single company, who may also control the 'Final Mile' to the consumers' premises.
BT VisionBT Vision is a service provided in the United Kingdom supplied by BT Retail. It provides digital terrestrial television channels using a Freeview decoder and on demand film, TV, sport, kids and music programming delivered via broadband through a hybrid DTT/IP/PVR set top box also known as the...
,
FreewireFreewire is an internet based television service originally specifically targeted at students through University portals and networks. Freewire Television now reaches around 40,000 students at a variety of locations in the country, and in the process became the largest IPTV service ahead of BT...
and
Tiscali TVTiscali TV is a UK-based consumer television and video on demand service, operated by Tiscali UK.The service, originally known as Homechoice, was provided by Video Networks Limited , based in Shepherd's Bush in West London, until it was purchased by Tiscali UK in August 2006, and became known as...
are the UK's three providers of IPTV services.
BT Vision and Tiscali TV offer a range of broadcast channels as well as additional on demand content. BT Vision also offers high-definition programmes for download and playback (near on-demand),
Freewire offers free and subscription channels to students at 40 universities. It is received on PCs and distributed via the academic computer network,
JANETJANET is a private British government-funded computer network dedicated to education and research. All further- and higher-education organisations in the UK are connected to JANET, as are all the Research Councils; the majority of these sites are connected via 20 metropolitan area networks JANET...
.
Mobile television
Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone provide mobile television services for reception on
third generationInternational Mobile Telecommunications-2000 , better known as 3G or 3rd Generation, is a family of standards for mobile telecommunications defined by the International Telecommunication Union, which includes GSM EDGE, UMTS, and CDMA2000 as well as DECT and WiMAX...
mobile phoneA mobile phone or mobile is a long-range, electronic device used for mobile telecommunications...
s. They consist of a mixture of regular channels (marketed as 'live TV') as well as made for mobile channels with looped content.
Orange provide 9 packages of TV channels, starting from £5/month.
T-Mobile provide 4 packages of TV channels, marketed as
T-Mobile TV or
Sky Mobile TV. The cheapest package is £3.50/month.
Vodafone provides 5 packages of TV channels collectively marketed as
Sky Mobile TV, with the cheapest package at £3/month.
Internet television
Television received via the Internet may be free, subscription or pay-per-view,
multicastMulticast addressing is a network technology for the delivery of information to a group of destinations simultaneously using the most efficient strategy to deliver the messages over each link of the network only once, creating copies only when the links to the multiple destinations split.The word...
,
unicastright|250pxIn computer networking, unicast transmission is the sending of messages to a single network destination host on a packet switching network....
, or
peer-to-peerA peer-to-peer, commonly abbreviated to P2P, distributed network architecture is composed of participants that make a portion of their resources directly available to other network participants, without the need for central coordination instances...
,
streamedStreaming media are multimedia that are constantly received by, and normally presented to, an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider . The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather than to the medium itself...
or downloaded, and use a variety of distribution technologies. Playback is normally via a computer and broadband Internet connection, although
digital media receiverA digital media receiver or digital media adapter is a home entertainment device that can connect to a home network to retrieve digital media files from a personal computer or other media server and play them back on a home theater system or TV...
s or
media centreThe term media center refers either to a dedicated computer appliance or to a specialized personal computer software, both of which are adapted for playing various kinds of media , and it usually has a Graphical user interface design to be used in living-room TV with a remote control...
computers can be used for playback on televisions, such as the
Netgear Digital EntertainerNetgear's Digital Entertainer line of products are digital media receivers that can pull multimedia content from home computers to the typical audio/video entertainment center. There are currently 2 products in the line: the EVA700 and the HD EVA8000 with the Digital Entertainer Elite, the EVA9000...
or a computer equipped with
Windows Media CenterWindows Media Center is an application with a 10-foot user interface designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub for the living-room TV. It is included in Windows XP Media Center Edition, which must be installed as an operating system, as the application cannot be added to an existing...
.
Since 2006, UK channel owners and content producers have been creating Internet services to access their programmes. These services are available to UK residents with a broadband Internet connection (some may block users outside of the UK). The services often employ
digital rights managementDigital rights management is a generic term for access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to try to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices...
technologies to reduce the threat of illegal distribution. The providers have adopted several different models of distribution:
- Download programmes from the BBC and Five
- Streamed programmes from the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV and Sky
- Catch-up services from the last 7 (BBC) or 30 days (other providers)
- Rent or buy individual programmes from providers other than the BBC
- Access to streamed channels ('live TV') as well as indivudal programmes
Internet video on demand services from UK providers
| Service name | Pricing | Owner | Distribution method | Notes |
|---|
| 4oD |
30-day Catch-Up: Free
Other programmes: Rent/buy |
Channel Four Television Corporation |
Download |
UK and Ireland only |
| BBC iPlayer (download version) |
|
BBC |
Download |
Software install required; programmes from last 7 days; 30 days to watch |
| BBC iPlayer (stream version) |
|
BBC |
Streamed |
Requires Adobe Flash; programmes from last 7 days |
| Catch-Up |
|
Channel Four Television Corporation |
Streamed |
Programmes from last 30 days; Requires Windows Media Player 11; UK and Ireland only |
| Demand Five Demand Five is the online download sales arm of the Five television company in the United Kingdom.The Demand Five service, previously known as 'five download', went live on the 26 June 2008....
|
Free and pay |
RTL Group |
Free - streamed
Pay - download |
Programmes from last 30 days and series; UK only |
| ITV Player ITV Player is a website based video on demand service accessible though the main ITV website. Programmes are available for 30 days after being first shown. The adverts cannot be skipped until you have seen the programme at least once. The service was originally called catch-up but was then...
|
|
ITV plc |
Streamed |
Programmes from last 30 days; |
| STV Player The STV Player is a website based video on demand service accessible though the main STV website and separately in the distinct domain name stvplayer.tv. Current programmes are available for 30 days after transmission on the main STV channel, with archive programming available longer-term...
|
|
STV Group plc |
Streamed |
Programmes from last 30 days; uses Brightcove Flash video technology |
| Sky Player Sky Anytime is the brand-name of a range of services from BSkyB designed to compete with video on demand services currently offered by cable companies such as Virgin Media or Tiscali TV as well as Internet services such as BBC iPlayer....
|
Free, subscription and PPV |
BSkyB |
Streamed |
Channels and programmes available; requires Microsoft Silverlight; pricing variations for existing Sky TV subscribers |
In addition to the BBC iPlayer, the BBC simulcasts various channels via BBC Online, offers news reports and other short video items through its website, and a channel on
YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
.
In July 2009,
comScorecomScore is an internet marketing research company providing marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses. comScore tracks all internet data on its surveyed computers in order to study online behavior.-Company history:...
released research on the number of online video views in the UK during April 2009, showing the Google-owned YouTube as the dominant source.
Online videos viewed, April 2009
| Site / owner (top 10) | Views |
|---|
|
| Google Sites |
2,415,292,000 |
|
| BBC Sites |
79,416,000 |
| ITV Sites |
34,723,000 |
Megavideo.comMegaupload is an online company established in 2005 for the use of uploading and downloading files. It includes a video browsing section in the site Megavideo as well as a sister company called Megaporn which hosts uploaded pornographic content...
|
31,743,000 |
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices...
Sites |
30,205,000 |
| Channel4 |
20,434,000 |
DailymotionDailymotion is a video sharing service website, based in Paris, France. Its domain name was registered one month after YouTube with gandi.net, a French internet domain name provider, and at least one name server is based in France with the .fr name extension.Since February 18, 2008, the site...
|
20,155,000 |
| AOL America Online, LLC is an American global Internet services and media company operated by Time Warner. It is headquartered at 770 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City...
|
19,135,000 |
Fox Interactive MediaFox Interactive Media oversees the Internet business operations of media giant News Corporation, and was formed to oversee News Corporation's new media acquisitions, including IGN Entertainment, MySpace and Photobucket....
|
18,919,000 |
FacebookFacebook is a global social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and...
|
17,028,000 |
Ofcom does not regulate Internet television, nor consider the use of Internet television in its quarterly reports of digital TV penetration.
Forthcoming providers
| Provider | Launch date | Free or pay TV | No. broadcast channels | VOD | HD | Red button | Transmission | Status |
|---|
| O2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
IPTV |
Awaiting launch date |
| Smallworld Smallworld Media is a provider of digital cable television in the UK based in Irvine. The coverage area is Irvine, Troon and Kilmarnock in the west of Scotland, and Carlisle, Lancaster and Morecambe in the north-west of England, serving about 40,000 homes.Smallworld provides broadband, telephone...
[IPTV] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
IPTV |
Awaiting launch date |
| Virgin [IPTV] |
2009 |
Pay |
|
|
|
|
IPTV and digital terrestrial |
Awaiting launch date |
In December 2007, Telefónica O2 (branded
O2) announced the roll out of IPTV services in 2008.
In May 2007,
Smallworld MediaSmallworld Media is a provider of digital cable television in the UK based in Irvine. The coverage area is Irvine, Troon and Kilmarnock in the west of Scotland, and Carlisle, Lancaster and Morecambe in the north-west of England, serving about 40,000 homes.Smallworld provides broadband, telephone...
stated their intention to roll out an IPTV solution across their unbundled network in early to mid 2008.
In February 2007,
Virgin Media announced a hybrid IPTV and digital terrestrial service to target the half of the country unable to receive their cable TV services. In November, they stated it will be at least 2009 before launch.
Channels and channel owners
Most-viewed channels
The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) measures television ratings in the UK. The following table shows viewing shares from 1992 to 2009 of channels which have once had, or still have, a viewing share of ≥ 1.0%. The figures for 2009 only account for the weeks up until May 31.
As of 2009, 15 channels have a viewing share of ≥ 1.0% together accounting for 67.4% of total viewing share. (4 additional channels had a viewing share ≥ 1.0% in 1992 but have since fallen below this). Of the 15 channels, 7 of these collectively had a viewing share of 79.3% in 1992, the largest of which was ITV with a share of 30.5%. As the number of channels rose and with the launch of digital television, the collective share of these channels had declined to 67.8% in 2002, and has remained at about that level ever since. ITV viewing share fell below BBC One in 2002; whist ITV viewing share declined, BBC One has remained stable at about 20% since 2001. Of these 15 channels, 4 are funded by the license fee; 2 are subscription; 7 of these channels launched after 1999. Comparing 1992 to 2009, only Channel4/S4C has seen an overall increase in viewing share.
Charts showing viewing share of channels with a viewing share of ≥ 1.0% from 1992 - 2009
| |
|
Table showing viewing share of individual channels from 1992 - 2009, which either have or have had a viewing share of ≥ 1.0%. (Channels which have always had a viewing share of less than this aren't shown)
| Channels |
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
BBC One
|
25.0 |
24.5 |
24.4 |
23.8 |
23.6 |
22.1 |
21.5 |
20.8 |
20.0 |
20.2 |
20.0 |
19.3 |
19.6 |
19.3 |
20.0 |
19.9 |
20.4 |
19.8 |
| ITV ITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
[Branded ITV1]ITV1 is the generic brand, that is used by twelve franchises of the ITV Network in England, Wales, the Scottish Borders, the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their eleven...
, STVSTV is the brand used by both ITV licensees in Northern and Central Scotland, formerly known as Grampian TV and Scottish TV respectively. The brand was adopted on Tuesday, 30 May 2006 replacing both franchises' identities. Its positioning, identity and brand guidelines were developed by Elmwood...
or UTVUTV is a television channel based in Northern Ireland. The channel is the Channel 3 licensee for the Northern Ireland region and is operated by UTV plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV Media.- Terrestrial :...
|
30.5 |
30.5 |
30.2 |
28.2 |
26.5 |
24.8 |
24.6 |
24.6 |
22.3 |
20.6 |
19.8 |
19.3 |
18.8 |
18.4 |
17.5 |
17.6 |
17.2 |
17.1 |
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
/S4CS4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fourth oldest British terrestrial television channel S4C , currently...
|
6.4 |
7.2 |
6.9 |
7.2 |
6.8 |
6.9 |
6.8 |
6.9 |
7.1 |
7.0 |
7.1 |
6.8 |
7.3 |
7.9 |
8.2 |
7.5 |
6.8 |
6.7 |
BBC Two
|
7.0 |
6.5 |
6.1 |
6.5 |
6.7 |
6.6 |
6.7 |
6.6 |
6.6 |
6.8 |
7.0 |
7.0 |
6.8 |
6.8 |
6.9 |
7.1 |
6.9 |
6.7 |
| Five |
|
|
|
|
|
1.7 |
3.2 |
4.2 |
4.2 |
4.3 |
4.5 |
4.7 |
5.0 |
5.3 |
4.9 |
4.6 |
4.7 |
4.8 |
ITV2ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.1 |
0.3 |
1.2 |
1.6 |
1.8 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
1.9 |
1.9 |
| ITV3 ITV3 is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom, that is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel launched on 1 November 2004...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.2 |
1.4 |
1.3 |
1.6 |
1.7 |
| Sky Sports 1 |
3.3 |
1.5 |
3.4 |
3.8 |
3.7 |
3.4 |
2.2 |
2.2 |
1.6 |
1.8 |
1.7 |
1.8 |
1.8 |
1.7 |
1.7 |
1.7 |
1.4 |
1.4 |
| Sky1 |
7.1 |
7.0 |
5.4 |
4.9 |
4.7 |
4.2 |
4.3 |
4.0 |
4.3 |
3.5 |
3.7 |
2.9 |
2.4 |
1.9 |
1.7 |
1.1 |
1.0 |
1.3 |
| CBeebies CBeebies is a television channel produced by the BBC aimed at children 6 years and under. First launched on 11 February 2002, it is broadcast as both a free-to-air domestic British television channel, and as international variants supported by advertising, subscription or both.The channel has been...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.1 |
1.2 |
1.3 |
1.3 |
1.2 |
1.3 |
1.3 |
1.3 |
BBC ThreeBBC Three is a television channel from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel is described by the BBC as an outlet for 'New drama, talent, comedy, films, and accessible news'. The channel is on-air from 19:00 to about 04:00 each night, in...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.7 |
0.9 |
1.0 |
1.1 |
1.2 |
1.3 |
| E4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.7 |
1.5 |
1.2 |
0.9 |
1.2 |
1.4 |
1.3 |
1.2 |
1.2 |
More4More4 is a digital television channel, produced by United Kingdom broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky Digital, UK IPTV broadcaster Tiscali TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.6 |
0.7 |
0.9 |
1.1 |
| Dave |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.4 |
0.6 |
1.1 |
1.0 |
| Living |
|
|
0.6 |
0.7 |
1.1 |
1.1 |
1.7 |
1.3 |
1.2 |
1.0 |
1.1 |
0.7 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
0.6 |
| G.O.L.D. |
|
2.8 |
2.7 |
2.4 |
2.1 |
1.9 |
2.1 |
2.3 |
2.4 |
2.2 |
1.7 |
1.5 |
1.3 |
1.1 |
1.0 |
0.7 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
| Disney Channel |
|
|
|
|
1.1 |
1.0 |
0.8 |
1.1 |
0.9 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
Sky NewsSky News is a 24 hour international news service with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New Zealand. Sky News previously operated...
|
1.8 |
1.4 |
1.2 |
1.5 |
1.1 |
1.2 |
1.0 |
1.0 |
0.7 |
0.7 |
0.8 |
1.2 |
0.6 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
| Sky Sports 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
1.1 |
1.8 |
1.5 |
1.2 |
0.8 |
0.8 |
0.7 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
0.4 |
| Cartoon Network |
|
|
|
|
|
2.4 |
2.4 |
2.0 |
1.4 |
1.1 |
0.7 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
0.3 |
| Nickelodeon Nickelodeon or Nick for short is a British television channel available on Sky Digital, Virgin Media, Tiscali TV and UPC Ireland. The channel was launched on 1 September 1993...
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.9 |
1.9 |
1.7 |
1.3 |
1.1 |
0.8 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
EurosportEurosport is a European sports satellite and cable network, available in 59 countries and broadcasting in 20 different languages. It is owned and operated by the TF1 Group....
|
|
|
1.0 |
1.0 |
1.1 |
0.8 |
0.8 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
Sky Movies ComedySky Movies is the collective name for the premium subscription television movie channels operated by Sky Television, and later British Sky Broadcasting. It has around 5 million subscribers, via both satellite, cable and IPTV in the UK and Ireland...
[Formerly known as The Movie Channel, Sky Screen 2, Sky Premier and Sky Movies 1] |
3.4 |
3.3 |
3.4 |
3.2 |
3.0 |
2.4 |
2.1 |
2.1 |
1.4 |
1.2 |
0.8 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
0.4 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
Sky Movies Action & ThrillerSky Movies is the collective name for the premium subscription television movie channels operated by Sky Television, and later British Sky Broadcasting. It has around 5 million subscribers, via both satellite, cable and IPTV in the UK and Ireland...
[Formerly known as Sky Movies, Sky Screen 1, Sky Moviemax and Sky Movies 2] |
6.0 |
4.8 |
3.8 |
3.5 |
3.2 |
2.8 |
1.8 |
1.3 |
0.8 |
0.7 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0.2 |
Home[Formerly known as UK Style and UKTV Style] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.6 |
1.0 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
| MTV One |
1.6 |
1.4 |
1.2 |
0.9 |
0.7 |
0.7 |
0.9 |
1.1 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
Since 1992, there are 11 channels which previously had a viewing share of ≥ 1.0%, but which have now fallen below. (These are depicted with grey titles in the table above). In 1992, these channels collectively had a viewing share of 12.8% via analogue satellite and cable television. This peaked in 1998 at 16.5%, coinciding with the launch of digital television. In 2009, the collective viewing share of these 11 channels is 3.5%. The largest individual loss is for a channel now known as Sky Movies Action & Thriller, from 6% in 1992 to 0.1% in 2009. With the exception of Sky News, these are all subscription channels.
Availability of channels from various providers
Availability of channels from various providers with channel numbers
| Position | Channel | Analogue terrestrial channel | Freeview channel | Sky TV channel | Virgin [digital] channel | Virgin [analogue] channel | Tiscali TV channel | Freesat | Smallworld channel | Wightcable channel | Freewire channel | Internet |
|---|
| 1 |
BBC One
|
1 |
1 |
101 |
101 |
|
1 |
101 |
|
|
101 |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone |
| 2 |
ITV ITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
|
3 |
3 |
103 |
103 |
|
3 |
103 |
|
|
103 |
ITV1 - itv.com |
| 3 |
BBC Two
|
2 |
2 |
102 |
102 |
|
2 |
102 |
|
|
102 |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo |
| 4 |
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
|
Outside Wales - 4
Wales - N/A |
Outside Wales - 4
Wales - 8 |
Outside Wales - 104
Wales - 117
HD - 140 |
104 |
|
4 |
Outside Wales - 104
Wales - 120 |
|
|
|
http://www.channel4.com |
| 4 |
S4CS4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fourth oldest British terrestrial television channel S4C , currently...
|
Wales - 4
Outside Wales - N/A |
Wales - 4
Outside Wales - N/A |
Wales - 104
Outside Wales - 134 |
Wales - 194
Outside Wales - N/A |
|
|
Wales - 104
Outside Wales - 120 |
|
|
|
s4c.co.uk |
| 5 |
Five |
5 |
5 |
105 |
105 |
|
5 |
105 |
|
|
|
|
| 6 |
ITV3 ITV3 is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom, that is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel launched on 1 November 2004...
|
|
10 |
119 |
116 |
|
13 |
115 |
|
|
|
itv.com |
| 7 |
ITV2ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms...
|
|
6 |
118 |
114 |
|
12 |
113 |
|
|
|
itv.com |
| 8 |
E4 |
|
29 |
136 |
144 |
|
14 |
122 |
|
|
|
http://www.e4.com |
| 9 |
Sky Sports 1Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
|
|
|
401 |
511 |
|
551 |
|
|
|
|
skysports.com |
| 10 |
Sky1 |
|
|
106 |
121 |
|
353 |
|
|
|
|
|
| = |
CBeebies CBeebies is a television channel produced by the BBC aimed at children 6 years and under. First launched on 11 February 2002, it is broadcast as both a free-to-air domestic British television channel, and as international variants supported by advertising, subscription or both.The channel has been...
|
|
71 |
614 |
702 |
|
305 |
601 |
|
|
|
|
| 12 |
ITV4ITV4 is a UK television station which launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel has a male-oriented line-up, including sport, cop shows and US comedies and dramas, as well as classic ITV action series of the 1960s and '70s. The channel...
|
|
28 |
120 |
117 |
|
29 |
117 |
|
|
|
itv.com |
| 13 |
BBC ThreeBBC Three is a television channel from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel is described by the BBC as an outlet for 'New drama, talent, comedy, films, and accessible news'. The channel is on-air from 19:00 to about 04:00 each night, in...
|
|
7 |
115 |
106 |
|
19 |
106 |
|
|
|
bbc.co.uk |
| 14 |
Dave |
|
19 |
111 |
126 |
|
40 |
|
|
|
|
dave.uktv.co.uk |
Availability of programming from channels through mobile and VOD providers
| Position | Channel | Virgin VOD | BT Vision VOD | Tiscali TV VOD | Internet VOD | Orange | T-Mobile | Vodafone |
|---|
| 1 |
BBC One
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 2 |
ITV ITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 3 |
BBC Two
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 4 |
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 4 |
S4CS4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fourth oldest British terrestrial television channel S4C , currently...
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 5 |
Five |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 6 |
ITV3 ITV3 is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom, that is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel launched on 1 November 2004...
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 7 |
ITV2ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms...
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 8 |
E4 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 9 |
Sky Sports 1Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 10 |
Sky1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| = |
CBeebies CBeebies is a television channel produced by the BBC aimed at children 6 years and under. First launched on 11 February 2002, it is broadcast as both a free-to-air domestic British television channel, and as international variants supported by advertising, subscription or both.The channel has been...
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 12 |
ITV4ITV4 is a UK television station which launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel has a male-oriented line-up, including sport, cop shows and US comedies and dramas, as well as classic ITV action series of the 1960s and '70s. The channel...
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 13 |
BBC ThreeBBC Three is a television channel from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel is described by the BBC as an outlet for 'New drama, talent, comedy, films, and accessible news'. The channel is on-air from 19:00 to about 04:00 each night, in...
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| 14 |
Dave |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
The BBC is the world's oldest and biggest broadcaster, and is the country's first and largest
public service broadcasterPublic broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets that receive some or all of their funding from the public. Public broadcasters may receive their funding from individuals through voluntary donations, a specific tax such as a television licence fee, or as direct...
. The BBC is funded by a government grant; it does not carry advertising. The grant is financed by the payment of a
television licenceA television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...
fee that all households with a television must pay. However, the funds do not go directly to the BBC but to the
TreasuryHM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy.- History :...
instead, via a government body known as TV Licensing. The government has no legal duty to hand all or any of this revenue to the BBC but traditionally has done.
Its analogue channels are
BBC One
and
BBC Two
. The BBC first began a television service, initially serving
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
only, in 1936. BBC Television was closed during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
but reopened in 1946. The second station, BBC Two, was launched in 1964. As well as these two analogue services, the British Broadcasting Corporation now also offers digital services
BBC ThreeBBC Three is a television channel from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel is described by the BBC as an outlet for 'New drama, talent, comedy, films, and accessible news'. The channel is on-air from 19:00 to about 04:00 each night, in...
,
BBC FourBBC Four is a BBC television channel available to digital television viewers in the UK. The part successor to BBC Knowledge. BBC Four launched on 2 March 2002....
, BBC News,
BBC ParliamentBBC Parliament is a British television channel from the BBC. Its remit is to make accessible to all the work of the parliamentary and legislative bodies of the United Kingdom and the European Parliament...
,
CBBC ChannelThe CBBC Channel is a BBC television service aimed at 6 to 12 year olds. It complements the CBBC programming that continues to air on BBC One and BBC Two. Launched on 11 February 2002, it broadcasts from 07:00 to 19:00 on Freeview, cable, IPTV and digital satellite, occupying the same bandwidth as,...
,
CBeebiesCBeebies is a television channel produced by the BBC aimed at children 6 years and under. First launched on 11 February 2002, it is broadcast as both a free-to-air domestic British television channel, and as international variants supported by advertising, subscription or both.The channel has been...
, BBC Red Button and
BBC HDBBC HD is a high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007...
.
Independent Television (ITV)
ITV (Independent Television) is the network of fifteen regional and three national commercial television franchises, originally founded in 1955 to provide competition to the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
. ITV was the country's first
commercial televisionCommercial Television was the third free-to-air broadcast television station in Hong Kong. It first went on air in 1975, and ceased transmissions in 1978.-History:...
provider funded by advertisements, and has been the most popular commercial channel through most of its existence. Through a series of mergers, takeovers and relaxation of regulation, eleven of these companies are now owned by
ITV plcITV plc is a British media company that operates 11 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
, two by STV Group plc while
UTVUTV is a television channel based in Northern Ireland. The channel is the Channel 3 licensee for the Northern Ireland region and is operated by UTV plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV Media.- Terrestrial :...
and
Channel TelevisionChannel Television is a television station in the British Isles which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It has a main studio centre in Jersey, a smaller studio complex in Guernsey and offices in London on the South Bank, near to The London Studios...
remain independent. ITV plc, the operator of all
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
,
WelshWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
and
Southern ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
franchises, has branded the channel as
ITV1ITV1 is the generic brand, that is used by twelve franchises of the ITV Network in England, Wales, the Scottish Borders, the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their eleven...
since 2001, with regional names being used prior to regional programmes only. STV Group plc, which operates the two other Scottish franchises, has now unified the regions under the single name of
STVSTV is the brand used by both ITV licensees in Northern and Central Scotland, formerly known as Grampian TV and Scottish TV respectively. The brand was adopted on Tuesday, 30 May 2006 replacing both franchises' identities. Its positioning, identity and brand guidelines were developed by Elmwood...
.
UTVUTV is a television channel based in Northern Ireland. The channel is the Channel 3 licensee for the Northern Ireland region and is operated by UTV plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV Media.- Terrestrial :...
, the
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
franchisee operated by
UTV plcUTV Media is a broadcasting and New Media company based in Belfast in Northern Ireland. UTV Media's main operation is the ITV franchise for Northern Ireland, and it is also the owner of UTV Radio, which operates the UK Independent National Radio station talkSPORT, along with 17 radio stations in...
, uses its own name on air at all times, while the independent
Channel TelevisionChannel Television is a television station in the British Isles which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It has a main studio centre in Jersey, a smaller studio complex in Guernsey and offices in London on the South Bank, near to The London Studios...
uses the generic
ITV1ITV1 is the generic brand, that is used by twelve franchises of the ITV Network in England, Wales, the Scottish Borders, the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their eleven...
stream and its own name prior to regional programmes. ITV has been officially known as
Channel 3 since 1990. ITV plc also operates digital channels
ITV2ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms...
,
ITV3ITV3 is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom, that is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel launched on 1 November 2004...
,
ITV4ITV4 is a UK television station which launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel has a male-oriented line-up, including sport, cop shows and US comedies and dramas, as well as classic ITV action series of the 1960s and '70s. The channel...
,
Men & MotorsMen & Motors is a men's lifestyle television channel in the UK. It is the last remaining station operated by the former Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture, set up by Granada Television and British Sky Broadcasting in 1996...
and the
CITV ChannelCITV, short for "Children's ITV" is a British children's TV station from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel is aimed at children under 12 years old, showing content from the current CITV library, as well as commissions and acquisitions.The CITV channel is an extension of...
. ITN currently holds the national news franchise,
GMTVGMTV is the national ITV breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom. It is owned by GMTV Ltd, comprising ITV plc and The Walt Disney Company...
operates the breakfast franchise and Teletext Ltd operates the national teletext franchise.
Channel 4
Launched in 1982, Channel 4 is a state-owned national broadcaster which is funded by its commercial activities (including advertising). Channel 4 has expanded greatly after gaining greater independence from the
IBAThe Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
, especially in the multi-channel digital world launching E4,
Film4Film4 is a free digital television channel in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned and operated by Channel 4, that screens films....
,
More4More4 is a digital television channel, produced by United Kingdom broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky Digital, UK IPTV broadcaster Tiscali TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of...
and various
timeshift servicesA timeshift channel is a television channel carrying a time-delayed rebroadcast of its "parent" channel's output. This channel runs alongside their parent: the term "timeshift" does not refer to a network broadcasting at a later time to reflect a local timezone unless the parent is also available...
. Since 2005, it has been a member of the Freeview consortium, and operates one of the six digital terrestrial multiplexes with
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
as
Digital 3&4Digital 3&4 is a consortium consisting of regional Channel 3 companies and Channel 4 Television Corporation, which operates a multiplex broadcasting from a number of transmitter sites in the UK, carrying television and radio channels from both ITV and Channel 4; however three per-cent of the...
. Since the advent of digital television, Channel 4 is now also broadcast in
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
across all digital platforms. Channel 4 was the first British channel not to carry regional variations for programming, however it does have set advertising regions.
Five
Five (previously known as Channel 5) was the final analogue broadcaster to be launched, in March 1997. Its analogue terrestrial coverage is less than that of the other analogue broadcasters, and broadcast in re-assigned frequencies, often at a lower power from major transmitters only. Many ex-VHF transmitters which were used for black and white transmissions prior to the switchover to UHF transmissions in the 1970s–80s are now used to broadcast Five, mainly due to capacity restraints on the masts. It was also the first terrestrial broadcaster to broadcast on satellite and carry a permanent
digital on-screen graphicA digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
(DOG). The channel was re-named "Five" in 2002, which saw an overhaul of the channel's identity and removal of the infamous DOG.
RTL GroupRTL Group is Europe's largest TV, radio and production company, and is majority-owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. It has 45 television and 32 radio stations in 11 countries...
, Europe's largest television broadcaster and a subsidiary of
BertelsmannBertelsmann AG is a transnational media corporation founded in 1835, based in Gütersloh, Germany. The company operates in 63 countries and employs 106,083 workers...
, took full control of the channel in August 2005. Five launched two new channels,
Five USFive USA is a free-to-view entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by Five, launched on 16 October 2006 as Five US and was the second digital channel to be launched by Five as part of their multi-channel strategy, the first being Fiver...
and
Five LifeFiver is a free-to-view television channel in the United Kingdom owned by Five. The channel launched as "Five Life" on 15 October 2006, and was rebranded as "Fiver" on 28 April 2008. The channel is available on digital television via Freeview, Sky Digital , Tiscali TV and Virgin Media...
(now known as Fiver) in October 2006. All of these channels are also carried on
satellite televisionSatellite television is television delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by a satellite dish and set-top box. In many areas of the world it provides a wide range of channels and services, often to areas that are not serviced by terrestrial or cable providers.-History:The...
,
cable televisionCable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting in which a television antenna is required...
and
digital terrestrial televisionDigital Terrestrial Television is the technological evolution and advance from analogue terrestrial television, which broadcasts land based signals...
services. Five also owns 20% of the digital terrestrial pay-TV provider,
Top Up TVTop Up TV is a subscription video on demand service broadcasting on the UK digital terrestrial platform in the UK. The service offers a assortment of content from providers such as BBC, Warner, Cartoon Network and TCM. The content is accessed by a Top Up TV Freeview+ digital Television recorder...
. Like Channel 4, Five does not have programming regional variations, however it does so for advertising.
British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB)
British Sky Broadcasting operates a satellite television service and numerous television channels including Sky1, Sky2, Sky3,
Sky MoviesSky Movies is the collective name for the premium subscription television movie channels operated by Sky Television, and later British Sky Broadcasting. It has around 5 million subscribers, via both satellite, cable and IPTV in the UK and Ireland...
and
Sky SportsSky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
.
UKTV
UKTV is a joint venture between the BBC's commercial arm,
BBC WorldwideBBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2009 it made a profit of £86m on a turnover of £1.04bn, mainly affected by the administration of...
, and Virgin Media Television. Both companies additionally wholly-own a number of other channels, broadcast domestically or internationally.
Channels under the joint venture are Alibi, Blighty, Dave, Eden, G.O.L.D., Good Food,
ReallyReally is a digital television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom, part of the UKTV family of channels. The channel launched on 19 May 2009, after replacing UKTV Gardens. The channels focus is lifestyle programmes targeted at women....
, Home,
WatchWatch is a general entertainment channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom & Ireland, as part of UKTV. The channel was launched on 7 October 2008 on Sky Digital channel 109 and Virgin TV channel 124....
, Yesterday plus a number of timeshift services.
Other channel owners
The most watched digital channels are owned by the six broadcasters above. Other broadcasters who have secured a notable place on British television include Virgin Media,
ViacomViacom , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable and satellite television networks , and movie production and distribution with Paramount Motion Pictures Group. Paramount is also the distributor of movie studio DreamWorks...
, Discovery Networks and
DisneyThe Walt Disney Company , often simply known as Disney, is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world, known for its family-friendly products...
.
Programming
British television differs from other countries, such as the
United StatesTelevision is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one.-Television channels and networks:...
, in as much that programmes produced in Britain do not generally have a long 'season' run of around 20 weeks. Instead, they are produced in a series, a set of episodes varying in length, usually aired over a period of a few months. See List of British television series.
100 Greatest British Television Programmes
100 Greatest British Television Programmes was a list compiled in 2000 by the
British Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
(BFI), chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened. Although not including any programmes made in 2000 or later, the list is useful as an indication of what were generally regarded as the most successful British programmes of the 20th century. The top 10 programmes are:
- Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Although only twelve episodes were produced the programme has had a lasting and powerful legacy....
BBC2 1975-1979
- Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home is a BBC television drama by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach. Filmed in a gritty, realistic drama documentary style, it was first broadcast on 16 November 1966 on BBC1...
(The Wednesday PlayThe Wednesday Play was a series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from 1964 to 1970. Every week this drama anthology series presented a different play, usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources were also presented...
) BBC1 1966
- Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
BBC1 1963-1989, 1996, 2005-
- The Naked Civil Servant
The Naked Civil Servant is the title of two biographical works, both based on the life of Quentin Crisp:*The Naked Civil Servant is Crisp's 1968 autobiographical book...
ITV 1975
- Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC sketch comedy programme from the Monty Python comedy team, and the group's initial claim to fame. The show was noted for its surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags, and sketches without punchlines...
BBC2 1969-1974
- Blue Peter
Blue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel.It is named after the blue-and-white flag hoisted by a ship in port when it is ready to sail...
BBC1 1958-
- Boys from the Blackstuff
Boys from The Black Stuff is a British television drama series of five episodes, originally transmitted from October 10 to November 7 1982 on BBC2....
BBC2 1982
- Parkinson
Parkinson is a British television chat show presented by Sir Michael Parkinson. It was first shown on BBC One from 1971 to 1982, totalling 361 editions. It returned in 1998, but transferred to ITV in 2004...
BBC1/ITV 1971-1982, 1998-2007
- Yes Minister
Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Sir Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC television and radio between 1980 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988...
/ Yes, Prime Minister BBC2 1980-1988
- Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited is a 1981 British television serial. The teleplay by John Mortimer is based on the novel of the same name by Evelyn Waugh...
ITV 1981
100 Greatest TV Moments
100 Greatest TV Moments was a list compiled by Channel 4 in 1999. The top 10 entries are:
| # | Programme | Channel | Year | Moment |
|---|
| 1 |
(Various) |
BBC One / BBC Two / ITV |
1969 |
The Apollo 11The Apollo 11 mission was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr...
moon landing |
| 2 |
News |
|
1990 |
The release of Nelson Mandela |
| 3 |
News |
|
1997 |
Michael Portillo loses his seat in the general electionThe UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992. The Labour Party won the general election in a landslide victory with 418 seats, the most seats the party has ever held...
, which became to symbolise the end of the period of ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
government which had begun in 1979 with Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
as Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
|
| 4 |
News |
|
1997 |
The Death of Diana, Princess of Wales On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died as a result of injuries sustained in a carwreck in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Her companion, Dodi Fayed and driver, Henri Paul, were also pronounced dead at the scene of the accident...
|
| 5 |
News |
|
1989 |
The fall of the Berlin Wall |
| 6 |
1966 FIFA World CupThe 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England was chosen as hosts by FIFA in August 1960 to celebrate the centenary of the codification of football in England...
|
BBC One / ITV |
1966 |
FinalThe 1966 FIFA World Cup Final was the final match in the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth FIFA World Cup. The match was contested by England and West Germany on 30 July 1966 at Wembley Stadium in London, and had an attendance of 98,000. England defeated West Germany 4-2 after extra time to win the...
: England beats Germany 4-2; commentator Kenneth WolstenholmeKenneth Wolstenholme DFC & Bar was the football commentator for BBC television in the 1950s and 1960s, responsible, during the closing moments of the 1966 World Cup final, for the sport's most famous commentary phrase....
's quotation "They think it's all overThey think it's all over is a well known quotation popular in England. It is taken from Kenneth Wolstenholme's BBC TV commentary in the closing moments of the 1966 World Cup, where England beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time to win the FIFA World Cup....
" |
| 7 |
Only Fools and HorsesOnly Fools and Horses is a British television sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan, and made and broadcast by the BBC. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003.Set in Peckham in south London,...
|
BBC One |
1989 |
Yuppy LoveYuppy Love is an episode of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses. It was the first episode of series 6, and was first screened on 8 January 1989...
: Del BoyDerek Edward Trotter , more commonly known as "Del Boy", is the fictional lead character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses...
falls through a bar flap |
| 8 |
Live AidLive Aid was a multi-venue rock music concert held on . The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. Billed as the 'global jukebox', the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium, London and JFK Stadium, Philadelphia...
|
BBC One |
1985 |
The multi-venue rock concert to raise funds for the famine of EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
|
| 9 |
Blackadder Goes ForthBlackadder Goes Forth is the fourth and final series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989....
|
BBC One |
1989 |
Goodbyeee...: The protagonists go over the top -Military Origins:"Going over the top" is a military phrase derived from the trench warfare of the First World War . Attacks starting from trenches required infantry to climb over the top of the parapet before they could cross no man's land to attack the enemy trenches...
|
| 10 |
News |
|
1963 |
John F. Kennedy assassination The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time in Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was fatally shot while riding with his wife Jacqueline in a Presidential motorcade...
|
List of most-watched television broadcasts
In 2005, the British Film Institute compiled a list of programmes with the biggest audience since 1955. The top 10 are:
| Rank |
Show |
Episode |
Number of Viewers |
Date |
Network |
| 1 |
1966 World Cup Final |
|
32.30 million |
30 July 1966 |
BBC/ITV |
| 2 |
Funeral of Princess Diana |
|
32.10 million |
6 September 1997 |
BBC1/ITV |
| 3 |
British Royal FamilyImage:Roy-fam-2007.jpg|right|500px|thumb|Members of the Royal Family gathered for a dinner celebrating the 60th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh Image:Roy-fam-2007.jpg|right|500px|thumb|Members of the Royal Family gathered for a dinner...
documentaryDocumentary film is a broad category of visual expressions that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and digital productions that can...
|
|
30.69 million |
1969 |
BBC1/ITV |
| 4 |
EastEndersEastEnders is a long-running, popular and award-winning television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985...
|
Den Dennis "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well-known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
divorces AngieAngela "Angie" Watts is a fictional character from the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anita Dobson from the first episode of the show until 1988 when the actress decided to quit and the character was written out....
|
30.15 million |
25 December 1986 |
BBC1
|
| 5 |
Apollo 13Apollo 13 was the third manned mission by NASA that was intended to land on the moon, but a mid-mission technical malfunction forced the lunar landing to be aborted. The crew members were commander James A. Lovell, command module pilot John L. "Jack" Swigert, and lunar module pilot Fred W....
splashdownSplashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft by parachute in a body of water. It was used by American manned spacecraft prior to the Space Shuttle program. It is also possible for the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft to land in water, though this is only a contingency...
|
|
28.60 million |
17 April 1970 |
BBC1/ITV |
| 6 |
FA Cup replayThe first 1970 FA Cup Final took place on 11 April 1970 at Wembley Stadium and ended 2–2. The replay at Old Trafford was on 29 April. It was the first Wembley final not to be decided on the day and marked a clash of footballing contrasts. Chelsea, the flamboyant southerners, faced Leeds...
: ChelseaChelsea Football Club Chelsea Football Club Chelsea Football Club (are a professional English football club based in West London. The team, founded in 1905, play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football...
vs. Leeds |
|
28.49 million |
29 April 1970 |
BBC1/ITV |
| 7 |
Royal Wedding of CharlesCharles, Prince of Wales is the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1952, he has been heir apparent to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms. After earning a bachelor of arts from Trinity College, Cambridge, Charles served a tour of duty with Royal Navy...
& DianaDiana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Their sons, Princes William and Harry, are second and third in line to the thrones of the United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth Realms.A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana...
|
|
28.40 million |
29 July 1981 |
BBC1/ITV |
| 8 |
Wedding of Princess AnneAnne, Princess Royal is the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
and Mark Phillips |
|
27.60 million |
14 November 1973 |
BBC1 |
| 9 |
Coronation StreetCoronation Street is an award-winning prime time soap opera set and produced in Manchester created by Tony Warren...
|
Alan Bradley Alan Bradley is a fictional character in the British soap opera Coronation Street. He was played by Mark Eden.Bradley was one of the most famous villains in the history of the Street. However, he made his first appearance in 1986 when his wife was killed in a road accident...
killed by tram |
26.93 million |
8 December 1989 |
ITV ITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
|
| 10 |
Coronation StreetCoronation Street is an award-winning prime time soap opera set and produced in Manchester created by Tony Warren...
|
Hilda OgdenHilda Alice Ogden is a fictional character from the television series Coronation Street, one of the best-known of all the regular characters in the soap opera, whose name became synonymous with a certain type of working-class woman...
leaves |
26.00+ million |
25 December 1987 |
ITV ITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
|
100 Greatest Kids' TV shows
The 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows was a poll conducted by the British television channel Channel 4 in 2001. The top 5 UK-produced programmes are:
- The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show was a television program featuring a cast of Muppets, which was produced by Jim Henson and his team from Sesame Street. The show stars Kermit the Frog as a showrunner who tries to keep control of the antics of the other Muppet characters , as well as keep the human guest stars happy...
1976-1981
- Danger Mouse 1981-1992
- Bagpuss
Bagpuss is a popular 1974 UK children's television series, made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms. The title character is "an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams"....
1974
- Grange Hill 1978-2008
- Mr Benn
Mr Benn is a character created by David McKee who appears in several children's books, and an animated television series of the same name transmitted by the BBC in 1971 and 1972. Whether in a book, or on television, Mr Benn's adventures take on a similar pattern...
1971-1972
Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC to identify the United Kingdom's best
situation comedyA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
. The top 5 programmes were:
- Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British television sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan, and made and broadcast by the BBC. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003.Set in Peckham in south London,...
1981-2003 — 342,426 votes
- Blackadder
Blackadder is the generic name that encompasses four series of a BBC One historical sitcom, along with several one-off installments.All episodes star Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and his dogsbody, Baldrick. Each series is set in a different historical period with...
1983-1989, 2000 — 282,106 votes
- The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom created by Richard Curtis and written for its lead actress, Dawn French, by Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, with contributions from Kit Hesketh-Harvey. The Vicar of Dibley aired from 1994 to 2007...
1994-2007 — 212,927 votes
- Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
1968-1977 — 174,138 votes
- Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Although only twelve episodes were produced the programme has had a lasting and powerful legacy....
1975, 1979 — 172,066 votes
British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series
The British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series is one of the major categories of the British Academy Television Awards. The last 5 winners are:
- 2009
The 2009 British Academy Television Awards were held on 26 April at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The event was broadcast live on BBC1 and was hosted by Graham Norton. The nominations were announced on March 24...
: WallanderWallander is a television series adapted from the Swedish novelist Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander novels and starring Kenneth Branagh as the eponymous police inspector. The three-episode series, produced by Yellow Bird, Left Bank Pictures and TKBC for BBC Scotland, was broadcast first on BBC One...
- Left Bank PicturesLeft Bank Pictures is an English film and television production company. It was formed in 2007 by Andy Harries, formerly controller of drama, comedy and film at Granada Productions, and Francis Hopkinson and Marigo Kehoe...
/Yellow BirdYellow Bird is a Swedish film and television production company founded by best-selling novelist Henning Mankell and film-producers Ole Søndberg and Lars Björkman. The company was founded to produce films based on Mankells Kurt Wallander novels. The company was sold to Danish media house Zodiak...
/TKBC / BBC One/BBC HD
- 2008
The 2008 British Academy Television Awards were held on 20 April at the London Palladium Theatre in London. The ceremony was broadcast live on BBC One in the United Kingdom. The nominations were announced on 18 March 2008. Drama Cranford received the most nominations with four, making Judi Dench...
: The Street - Granada ProductionsGranada Productions is one of Europe's leading commercial television production and distribution companies.From January 2006, the company used the name ITV Productions when making programmes for the ITV family of channels. From March 2009 the company has been fully rebranded as ITV Studios Limited...
/ BBC One
- 2007
The 2007 British Academy Television Awards were held on Sunday 20 May at the London Palladium Theatre in London. They were broadcast live on BBC One in the UK...
: The Street - Granada Productions / BBC One
- 2006
The 2006 British Academy Television Awards were held on Sunday 7 May at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The ceremony was broadcast on the ITV Network, hosted by television presenter Davina McCall...
: Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
- BBC WalesBBC Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside London,...
/ BBC One
- 2005
The 2005 British Academy Television Awards were held on Sunday April 17 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. The ceremony was hosted by Irish comedian and television presenter Graham Norton.-Winners:*Best Actor...
: Shameless - Company PicturesCompany Pictures is an independent British television production company which has produced drama programming for many broadcasters. Their productions have included:*drama series Wild at Heart for ITV1...
/ Channel 4
Soap operas
Award totals for
soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
s as awarded by the British Soap Awards:
- EastEnders
EastEnders is a long-running, popular and award-winning television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985...
- 60
- Coronation Street
Coronation Street is an award-winning prime time soap opera set and produced in Manchester created by Tony Warren...
- 50
- Emmerdale
Emmerdale, known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989, is a popular and critically acclaimed British soap opera that has aired on ITV since 1972...
- 19
- Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
- 16
- Brookside
Brookside was a British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the first night of the then-new network Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...
- 7
- Doctors
Doctors is a British daytime television soap opera, set in the fictional city of Letherbridge, which started in 2000. It is produced by BBC Birmingham and screened on BBC One. It tells the story of the staff at the fictional Mill Health Centre and Letherbridge Universities Campus Surgery...
- 7
- Family Affairs
Family Affairs was a British soap opera broadcast on five. It was the second programme to air on the channel on 30 March 1997, the channel's launch night...
- 2
- Night and Day
Night and Day is a British soap opera which was produced by Granada Television for LWT and ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003.Its theme-song, "Always & Forever", was sung by Kylie Minogue.-Synopsis:...
- 1
Weekday
Weekday programming on terrestrial channels begins with breakfast national news programmes (along with regional news updates) on
BBC One
and
GMTVGMTV is the national ITV breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom. It is owned by GMTV Ltd, comprising ITV plc and The Walt Disney Company...
, with children's programming on
BBC Two
and Five.
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
and
S4CS4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fourth oldest British terrestrial television channel S4C , currently...
predominately broadcasts teen-orientated programmes in its morning slot,
T4T4 or T-4 is used for various purposes as a designation, abbreviation or identifier:In airports and airlines* The IATA airline code for Hellas Jet* Madrid Barajas Airport Terminal 4* London Heathrow Airport Terminal 4In biology and medicine...
, including soaps, music and comedy programming. The weekday breakfast news programme ends at 9:15 am on BBC One and 9:25 am on GMTV.
Following this on BBC One, lifestyle programming is generally shown, including property, auction and home/garden makeover. BBC One continues this genre until after the lunchtime news, whereby afternoon has a soap called
DoctorsDoctors is a British daytime television soap opera, set in the fictional city of Letherbridge, which started in 2000. It is produced by BBC Birmingham and screened on BBC One. It tells the story of the staff at the fictional Mill Health Centre and Letherbridge Universities Campus Surgery...
followed by US dramas with the word "Murder" in the title currently occupy the schedule. ITV on the other hand takes over from GMTV at 9:25 am, and generally broadcasts more human-interest chat-style shows, including
The Jeremy Kyle ShowThe Jeremy Kyle Show, is a British daytime television talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle that has been broadcast on ITV since 4th July 2005...
,
This MorningThis Morning is a British daytime television programme created by Granada Television and broadcast on ITV. It first aired from Granada's Albert Dock Studios in Liverpool on 3 October 1988. It features celebrity guests, entertainment, advice on health and well-being, competitions, cookery and more...
and
Loose WomenLoose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, which was first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip and sexism...
, in the morning to mid-afternoon slots, with the
ITV Lunchtime NewsThe ITV Lunchtime News is the afternoon news programme on the British television network ITV. It is produced by ITN.The programme's main newscasters are Katie Derham and Alastair Stewart, who present alternate bulletins...
(including a regional bulletin) at 1:30 pm. Channel 4 continues its T4 slot, often with home-project and archaeology lifestyle programming in the early afternoon after the
News at Noon. Five broadcasts chatshow programmes in the morning including
The Wright StuffThe Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, andcurrently airing on Five each weekday at 9:15am. It is repeated later on at 11:00am on Fiver....
and
Trisha GoddardPatricia "Trisha" Goddard is an English television presenter well known for her morning talk show Trisha Goddard, which was broadcast on a mid morning slot on Channel Five in the UK. In Australia she is known as a long time presenter of Play School.-Background:Goddard was born in London, England...
with regular news bulletins. In the afternoon it shows a drama followed by an hour of Australian soaps such as
Home and AwayHome and Away is a Logie Award-winning Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney by the Seven Network since July 1987. It premiered in January 1988 and is the second longest-running drama on Australian television, winning more than 30 Logie Awards.The show initially focused on the...
and
NeighboursNeighbours is a Logie Award-winning Australian soap opera, which began airing in March 1985. The series follows the lives of families who live in the six houses at the end of Ramsay Street, a short cul-de-sac in the fictional middle-class suburb of Erinsborough. Storylines explore the romances,...
and a film.
At around 3:05 pm, BBC One switches to its
CBBCCBBC is the brand name used for the BBC's children's television programmes, and currently specifically refers to those programmes aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 12...
children's output, before the game show
The Weakest LinkThe Weakest Link is a television quiz show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment and used to air on BBC America...
at 5:15 pm. BBC Two often carries lifestyle programming such as
Animal ParkAnimal Park is a television documentary about the life of keepers and animals at Longleat Safari Park, Wiltshire, England. It also covers the daily life of workers in Longleat House, the estate and the gardens.-Main Series:...
and often many sporting events. ITV shows a lifestyle programme followed by a chat show called
The Alan Titchmarsh ShowThe Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British chat show on the ITV Network, airing weekdays at 3.00pm. UTV used to broadcast the show 4.00-5.00pm, UTV have moved it back to the same time as ITV1...
and a daily soap opera called
The Royal TodayThe Royal Today is a British medical soap opera, a spin-off of the similarly-themed drama, The Royal. The concept is that whilst The Royal is set in the late 1960s, The Royal Today features the same hospital in the present day, with a new set of characters working in the same location...
before repeats of classic ITV shows, such as
HeartbeatHeartbeat is a long running British TV police drama series set in 1960s Yorkshire. It is made by ITV Studios at The Leeds Studios, and on location, for broadcast on ITV. Heartbeat first aired on Friday 10 April 1992...
,
Poirot and
Midsomer MurdersMidsomer Murders is a British television drama that has aired on ITV1 since 1997. A detective drama, it focuses on the main character of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, played by John Nettles, and his efforts to solve the various crimes that take place in the fictional English county of...
in late-afternoon, before a gameshow-style programme at 5:00 pm, which have included
Golden BallsGolden Balls is a British daytime game show on the ITV Network, presented by Jasper Carrott. It is filmed at the BBC Television Centre. From 25 February 2008 to 13 February 2009, the show was sponsored by ITV Bingo...
and
The Price Is RightThe Price Is Right is a U.S. television game show that is currently owned by the FremantleMedia subsidiary of the RTL Group. It was created by Bob Stewart for Goodson-Todman Productions in the United States in 1956, and was significantly revamped by them in 1972...
.
News bulletins are broadcast between 6pm and 7pm on both BBC One and ITV, with BBC One beginning with the national 6 O'Clock news and ITV with the flagship regional news programme. At around 6.30, BBC One broadcasts the regional news programmes whilst ITV broadcasts the national news. Both Channel 4 and Five have news programmes at around 7pm.
Primetime programming is usually dominated by further soaps—including
EastEndersEastEnders is a long-running, popular and award-winning television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985...
on BBC One,
Coronation StreetCoronation Street is an award-winning prime time soap opera set and produced in Manchester created by Tony Warren...
and
EmmerdaleEmmerdale, known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989, is a popular and critically acclaimed British soap opera that has aired on ITV since 1972...
on ITV, and
HollyoaksHollyoaks is a long-running television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
on Channel4. These soap operas or 'continuing dramas' as they are now called can vary throughout the year, however weekly dramas, such as
Holby CityHolby City, styled as HOLBY CI+Y, is a BAFTA award winning medical drama television serial transmitted by BBC One in the United Kingdom. It is a spin-off from Casualty, and is set in the same hospital, with occasional crossovers of characters and plots...
, are also fixed to scheduling. Because of this, the UK can often rely more heavily on TV guides, be it with the newspaper, online on as available on information services on the television:
CeefaxCeefax is the BBC's teletext information service transmitted via the analogue signal, starting in 1974 and running until 2012....
/
TeletextTeletext is a television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It offers a range of text-based information, typically including national, international and sporting news, weather and TV schedules...
/BBC Red Button as well as built in Electronic Programme Guides.
Weekend
Weekend programming traditionally contains further children's, lifestyle programming, as well as sporting events and the occasional afternoon film. There are further battles for viewers in the weekend primetime slot, often featuring reality or talent game shows in the evening. Morning and late evening news programmes still continue on BBC One and ITV, yet even these can be shifted about due to delays in sporting events.
After midnight, when late evening films are shown, many channels cease broadcasting "normal" programming or simulcast with another channel. Before 2000, the channels simply closed down, displaying news in the form of Ceefax or a
test cardA test card, also known as a test pattern in North America, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast...
. However, recently programming has been shown continuously. BBC channels will join BBC News in a multichannel simulcast. Since 2005, ITV has broadcast the
ITV PlayITV Play was a 24/7 participation television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV plc. The ITV Play name continued on the ITV Network until December 2007....
strand of phone-in participation TV programmes. Depending on the time of year, Channel 4 will close down to show live feeds of
Big BrotherBig Brother is a reality television series broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Channel 4 and E4, and on S4C in Wales. Internationally, it is broadcast on the Polish network TVN. It is part of the Big Brother franchise first developed in the Netherlands, and is currently the second...
(in the summer) and its spin-off,
Celebrity Big Brother (in January). On weeknights, Five generally shows various sports from around the world, including boxing and football from European leagues, with phone-in participation-TV
Quiz CallQuiz Call was a late night/early morning phone-in quiz TV show, produced by Ostrich Media for Five, Five USA and Fiver.- Launch :...
on weekends.
Moral decline of the country
In 1963,
Mary WhitehouseMary Whitehouse CBE was a British campaigner for what she perceived to be values of morality and decency derived from her Christian beliefs. She began by focusing her efforts on the broadcast media, which she regarded as highly influential, and where she felt these values were particularly lacking...
claimed Sir
Hugh GreeneSir Hugh Carleton Greene KCMG, OBE was a British journalist and television executive. He was the director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969, and is generally credited with modernising an organisation that had fallen behind in the wake of the launch of ITV in 1955.-Early life and work:Hugh was...
, then director of the BBC, was "more than anybody else [...] responsible for the moral collapse in this country". She subsequently launched the Clean Up TV Campaign, and founded the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association in 1965, now known as
Mediawatch-ukMediawatch-uk, formerly known as the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, is a pressure group in the United Kingdom, which campaigns against the publication and broadcast of media content that it views as harmful and offensive, such as violence, "profanity", sex, homosexuality and...
.
In 2005, the BBC's broadcast of
Jerry Springer: The OperaJerry Springer: The Opera is a British musical written by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas, based on the television show The Jerry Springer Show. The musical is notable for its profanity, its irreverent treatment of Judeo-Christian themes, and surreal images such as a troupe of tap-dancing Ku Klux...
elicited 55,000 complaints, and provoked protests from
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
organisation
Christian VoiceChristian Voice is a pressure group based in the UK.The group states it is striving, through prayer and public campaigning, for "national repentance". CV is led by Stephen Green , with Lord Ashbourne as its patron...
, and a private prosecution against the BBC by the
Christian InstituteThe Christian Institute is a British evangelical Christian pressure group. Registered as a charity in England and Wales, the CI promotes a Fundamentalist Christian viewpoint, founded on the belief that the Bible is inerrant and should be the authority on all of life.While the CI has campaigned on...
. A summons was not issued, however as a reaction against the campaigns, the website MediaWatchWatch.org.uk was formed, claiming to "keep an eye on those groups and individuals who, in order to protect their beliefs from offence, seek to limit freedom of expression."
In 2007, the
General Synod of the Church of EnglandThe General Synod is the deliberative and legislative body of the Church of England. The Synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church of England that had started in the 1850s.- The Church Assembly:...
claimed that programmes such as Celebrity Big Brother and
Little BritainLittle Britain is an award winning character-based comedy sketch show first appearing on BBC radio and then television. It was written by stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams...
were eroding moral standards. The Synod criticised broadcasting trends that "exploit the humiliation of human beings for public entertainment", and called for research to determine the behavioural impact of sexual or violent images.
In 2008, the BBC broadcast a
docudramaA docudrama is a dramatization of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction.-Generalities:Docudramas tend to demonstrate some or most of the following characteristics:...
entitled
Filth: The Mary Whitehouse StoryFilth: The Mary Whitehouse Story is a 2008 BBC Television docudrama written by Amanda Coe, telling the life story of the British morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse. Julie Walters played the part of Whitehouse, Alun Armstrong her husband Ernest, and Hugh Bonneville played Sir Hugh Greene...
. In a commentary of this, a journalist of
The IndependentThe Independent is a British newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers. The daily edition was named National...
speculated at the time that Whitehouse had been right in the sense that "allowing channels to broadcast [...] what they like after the 9pm watershed [has led to] a dramatic decline across the board [in programming quality]". He concluded "On the wider question of whether sex and violence on TV has led to a general moral collapse in society at large, the jury is still out. No one doubts that Western civilization is teetering on the brink – scarcely a day passes without a teenager being stabbed to death in broad daylight – but it is unfair to lay the blame entirely at the feet of BBC2 and Channel 4."
Awards
The
British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs) are the most prestigious awards given in the British television industry, analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States. They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are only open to British programmes. After all the entries have been received, they are voted for online by all eligible members of the Academy. The winner is chosen from the four nominees by a special jury of nine academy members for each award, the members of each jury selected by the Academy's Television Committee.
The
National Television Awards is a British television awards ceremony, sponsored by ITV and initiated in 1995. Although not widely held to be as prestigious as the BAFTAs, the National Television Awards are probably the most prominent ceremony for which the results are voted on by the general public. Unlike the BAFTAs, the National Television Awards allow foreign programmes to be nominated, providing they have been screened on a British channel during the eligible time period.
Regulation
Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority for the communication industries in the United Kingdom, including television. As the regulatory body for media broadcasts, Ofcom's duties include:
- Specification of the Broadcast Code, which took effect on 25 July 2005, with the latest version being published October 2008. The Code itself is published on Ofcom's web site, and provies a mandatory set of rules which broadcast programmes must comply with. The 10 main sections cover protection of under-eighteens, harm and offence, crime, religion, impartiality and accuracy, elections, fairness, privacy, sponsorship and commercial references. As stipulated in the Communications Act 2003
The Communications Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It gave regulation body Ofcom its full powers. Among other measures, it introduced legal recognition of Community Radio and paved the way for full-time Community Radio services in the UK, and more controversially...
, Ofcom enforces adherence to the Code. Failure for a broadcaster to comply with the Code results in warnings, fines, and potentially revokation of a broadcasting license.
- Rules on the amount and distribution of advertising, which also took effect July 2005
- Examining specific complaints by viewers or other bodies about programmes and sponsorship. Ofcom issues Broadcast Bulletins on a fortnightly basis which are accessible via its web site. As an example, a bulletin from February 2009 has a complaint from the National Heart Forum over sponsorship of The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie...
by Domino's PizzaDomino's Pizza, Inc. is an international fast food pizza delivery corporation headquartered just outside Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Tom Monaghan. There are currently about 8,500 corporate and franchised stores in 55 countries, including all 50 US states...
on Sky1. Ofcom concluded this was in breach of the Broadcast Code, since it contravened an advertising restriction of food high in fat, salt or sugar. (Restrictions in food and drink advertising to children were introduced in November 2006.)
- The management, regulation and assignment of the electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....
in the UK, and licensing of portions of the spectrum for television broadcasting
- Public consultations on matters relating to TV broadcasting. The results of the consultations are published by Ofcom, and inform the policies that Ofcom creates and enforces.
In 2008, Ofcom issued fines to the total of £7.7m. This included £5.67m of fines to ITV companies, including a £3m fine to
LWTLondon Weekend Television is the ITV network franchise holder for London and the South East at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5:15pm. to Monday mornings at 5:59am....
over voting irregularities on
Saturday Night TakeawayAnt & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway is a variety show created by LWT and shown in the UK on Saturday evenings on ITV, presented and executively produced by Ant & Dec. It broadcast live from The London Studios, on the South Bank...
, and fines totalling £495,000 to the BBC. Ofcom said phone-in scandals had contributed significantly to the fine totals.
The
Committee for Advertising Practice (CAP, or BCAP) is the body contracted by Ofcom to create and maintain the codes of practice governing television advertising. The Broadcast Advertising Codes (or the TV codes) are accessible on
CAP's web site. The Codes cover advertising standards (the TV Code), guidance notes, scheduling rules, text services (the Teletext Code) and interactive television guidance. The main sections of the TV Code concern compliance, progammes and advertising, unnacceptable products, political and controversial issues, misleading advertising, harm and offence, children, medicines, treatments, health claims and nutrition, finance and investments, and religion.
The
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is an independent body responsible for resolving complaints relating to the advertising industry within the UK. It is not government funded, but funded by a levy on the advertising industry. It ensures compliance with the Codes created by CAP. The ASA covers all forms of advertising, not just television advertisements. The ASA can refer problematic adverts to Ofcom, since the channels carrying the adverts are ultimately responsible for the advertising content, and are answerable to Ofcom. Ofcom can issue fines or revoke broadcast licenses if necessary.
Licensing
In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and the Crown dependencies, a
television licenceA television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...
is required to receive any publicly broadcast television service, from any source. This includes the commercial channels, cable and satellite transmissions. The money from the licence fee is used to provide radio, television and Internet content for the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Welsh-language television programmes for
S4CS4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fourth oldest British terrestrial television channel S4C , currently...
. The BBC gives the following figures for expenditure of licence fee income:
- 50% - BBC One and BBC Two
- 15% - local TV and radio
- 12% - network radio
- 10% - digital (BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News 24, BBC Parliament, CBBC, CBeebies)
- 10% - transmission costs and licence fee collection
- 3% - BBC Online, Ceefax, and Interactive Content (including bbc.co.uk and BBC Red Button)
Digital television
Digital televisionDigital television is the sending and receiving of moving images and sound by discrete signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV.-Timeline:...
has been available in the UK since 1998 via satellite, cable or terrestrial, and since 1999 via IPTV. It introduced
interactive televisionInteractive television describes a number of techniques that allow viewers to interact with television content as they view it.-Definitions of interactive television:...
, 16:9 widescreen, electronic programme guides and
audio descriptionAudio description makes the visual images of media accessible for people who are blind and visually impaired—the visual is made verbal. Using words that are succinct, vivid, and imaginative, describers convey the visual image that is not fully accessible to a segment of the population and not...
.
UK households receiving digital vs analogue TV on their main TVs
| | Type | Percentage | Households | Providers |
|---|
| |
Analogue |
10.8% |
2,752,920 |
Virgin Media (analogue), analogue terrestrial |
| Digital |
89.2% |
22,737,080 |
Freesat, Freesat from Sky, Freeview, Sky TV, Smallworld Media, Tiscali TV, Top Up TV, Virgin Media (digital), Wightcable |
UK households receiving multichannel vs analogue terrestrial TV on all TVs
| | Type | Percentage | TV sets | Providers |
|---|
| |
Analogue terrestrial |
26.7% |
16,000,000 |
Analogue terrestrial |
| Multichannel |
73.3% |
44,000,000 |
Freesat, Freesat from Sky, Freeview, Sky TV, Smallworld Media, Tiscali TV, Top Up TV, Virgin Media, Wightcable |
Ofcom is tracking digital television penetration as part of the digital switchover, and releases quarterly reports. The report for Q1 2009 states:
- 89.2% (22.8 million of 25.6 million televisions) of main TV sets now receive digital television
- 61% (21.4 million of 35 million televisions) of secondary TV sets now receive multichannel television (multichannel refers to any digital television, and analogue cable)
- 73.3% (44 million of 60 million televisions) of all TV sets now receive multichannel TV; the remainder receive analogue terrestrial television
Ofcom does not consider households which use Internet television as their primary source, whether connected to a TV set or not, nor television from the mobile TV providers or Freewire.
Broadcast digital television uses the
MPEG-2MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
and
H.264/MPEG-4 AVCH.264/MPEG-4 AVC is a standard for video compression. The final drafting work on the first version of the standard was completed in May 2003.H.264/AVC is the latest block-oriented motion-compensation-based codec standard developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group together with the ISO/IEC...
technical standards, encapsulated as MPEG transport streams, which are themselves packaged/multiplexed using the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) suite of technical standards.
Video on demand
Video on demandVideo on Demand or Audio Video on Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand....
(VOD) offers the viewer a choice of programmes in an on-screen programme guide. When the viewer selects a programme to watch, it starts playing immediately. The programmes may be free, pay-per-view or subscription.
BT Vision, Tiscali and Virgin Media are the UK's three providers of video on demand delivered via IPTV or cable. They offer a combination of catch-up and archive content from programme makers and channel owners. Virgin is the UK's largest provider of on-demand content, with over 3,000,000 subscribers. Video on demand in the UK is also seeing overseas programme makers such as HBO launching VOD services. Virgin also offers high-definition VOD.
BSkyB and Top Up TV market Sky Anytime and Top Up Anytime. Sky Anytime is available to subscribers of Sky+ or Sky+HD with a particular model of set-top-box. Both are 'push VOD' services which offer access to pre-selected programmes which are played back from the set-top-boxes
hard disk driveA hard disk drive is a non-volatile storage device that stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. Strictly speaking, "drive" refers to the motorized mechanical aspect that is distinct from its medium, such as a tape drive and its tape, or a floppy disk...
.
In July 2009, BSkyB stated the intention to launch a full video on demand service in 2010, accessible to Sky+HD subscribers with a broadband Internet connection.
Internet television also provides access to VOD, e.g.
YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
and other streamed video websites.
High-definition television
| Close-up view |
| |
|
| HDTV resolution |
SDTV resolution |
High-definition televisionHigh-definition television is a digital television broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems...
(HDTV) has four to five times as much picture information compared to
standard-definition televisionStandard-definition television is a television system that has a resolution that meets standards but not considered either Enhanced-definition television or High-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same ...
, which results in sharper pictures. HDTV uses three
resolutionsThe display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube and flat panel or projection...
, with equipment baring the
HD readyHD ready concerns the abilities of television receivers to display high-definition pictures. The term has had official use in Europe since January 2005 when, EICTA announced the requirements for the label.EICTA introduced the label as a quality sign for the differentiation of display...
or HD ready 1080p logos to signal their display capability and connectivity. The 1080p logo signifies reproduction of the three HD resolutions without distortion or
overscanOverscan is extra image area around the four edges of a video image that is not normally seen by the viewer. It exists because television sets in the 1930s through 1970s were highly variable in how the video image was framed within the cathode ray tube ....
, however the 1080p resolution itself is not currently used for broadcasting. Unlike standard-definition television, all HD is widescreen (16:9
aspect ratioThe aspect ratio of an image is its width divided by its height.Aspect ratios are mathematically expressed as x :y and x×y . The most common aspect ratios used today in the presentation of films in movie theaters are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1...
).
| Resolution | Aspect ratio | Standard definition | HD ready | HD ready 1080p |
|---|
576i576i is a standard-definition video mode used in PAL and SECAM countries. In digital applications it's usually referred to as "576i", in analogue contexts it's often quoted as "625 lines"....
(720 x 576 interlaceIn the domain of mechanical television, the concept of interlacing was demonstrated by Léon Theremin. He had been developing a mirror drum-based television, starting with 16 lines resolution in 1925, then 32 lines and eventually 64 using interlacing in 1926, and as part of his thesis on May 7, 1926...
d) |
4:3 or 16:9 |
|
|
|
| 720p 720p is the shorthand name for a category of HDTV video modes. The number 720 stands for the 720 horizontal scan lines of display resolution , while the letter p stands for progressive scan or non-interlaced...
(1280 x 720 progressively scannedProgressive or noninterlaced scanning is a method for displaying, storing or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence...
) |
16:9 |
|
|
|
| 1080i 1080i is the shorthand name of a format of high-definition video modes. 1080 denotes the number of horizontal scan lines - also known as vertical resolution - and the letter i stands for interlaced. In the alternate format of high-definition video mode, known as 1080p, the p would stand for...
(1920 x 1080 interlaced) |
16:9 |
|
|
|
1080p1080p is the shorthand name for a category of HDTV video modes. The number 1080 represents 1,080 lines of vertical resolution , while the letter p stands for progressive scan . 1080p can be referred to as full HD or full high definition although 1080i is also "Full HD"...
(1920 x 1080 progressively scanned) |
16:9 |
|
|
|
BT Vision, Freesat, Sky TV and Virgin Media are the UK's four providers of high-definition television. Freesat is the only free provider, and also the only provider of ITV HD without manual tuning. BT Vision and Virgin Media are the only providers of on-demand high-definition. Sky TV's and Virgin's services are marketed as Sky+ HD and V+ respectively. BT Vision does not offer channels, but pay-per-view programmes which are downloaded and then played back.
| Provider | Free/Pay | BBC HD BBC HD is a high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007...
| ITV HDITV HD is a British free-to-air high-definition television channel operated by ITV plc, the company which is contracted to provide 11 ITV services across the UK. ITV HD is available to view in the United Kingdom exclusively on Freesat via the red button whilst watching ITV...
| Channel 4 HD |
|---|
Other HD channels !! On-demand !! Households |
| BT Vision |
Pay-per-view |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Freesat |
|
|
|
|
1[1 additional HD channel available on Freesat when manually tuned] |
|
263,000 |
| Sky TV |
Subscription/pay-per-view |
|
Yes[ITV HD available if manually tuned] |
|
| |
1,022,000 |
| Virgin |
Subscription/pay-per-view |
|
|
|
| |
611,900 |
| Total households |
1,896,900 |
Freeview has stated that high-definition broadcasts, under the Freeview HD banner, are expected to begin in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
and the north-west (area served by
Winter Hill transmitterThe Winter Hill transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications site situated on Winter Hill, at the southern boundary of the Borough of Chorley,and above the main town of Bolton in Lancashire, England. It is owned and operated by Arqiva....
, which includes
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
and
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
) in December 2009, with services available in
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
,
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
,
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The historic core at the heart of Leeds in 2001 had an estimated subdivision population of 443,247, whilst the entire city, that includes the urban and suburban areas incorporated into the city in 1974, had an estimated...
,
BradfordBradford is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
and
NewcastleNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England...
ahead of the
2010 FIFA World CupThe 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th FIFA World Cup, the premier international football tournament. It is scheduled to take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the culmination of a qualification process that began in August 2007 and involved...
in June 2010. The roll-out to the rest of the country will conclude by the end of 2012, being broadly in line with the scheduled digital switchover dates. Reception will require purchase of a set-top-box or IDTV capable of decoding
MPEG-4H.264/MPEG-4 AVC is a standard for video compression. The final drafting work on the first version of the standard was completed in May 2003.H.264/AVC is the latest block-oriented motion-compensation-based codec standard developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group together with the ISO/IEC...
and
DVB-T2DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial; it is the upcoming extension of the existing standard DVB-T, issued by the European consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television...
. The service will initially consist of BBC HD, ITV HD and Channel 4 HD, with a high-television channel from Five added in late 2010.
As of June 2008, there are almost 10 million high-definition TVs in the UK.
3D television
Three-dimensional television (
3D television3D Television employs some technique of 3D presentation, such as stereoscopic capture, multi-view capture, or 2D plus depth, and a 3D display, special viewing device to project a television program into a realistic three-dimensional field....
) displays an image with an illusion of
depthDepth perception is the visual ability to perceive the world in three dimensions. Although any animal capable of moving around its environment must be able to sense the distance of objects in that environment, the term perception is reserved for humans, who are, as far as is known, the only beings...
, the third
dimensionIn mathematics and physics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify each point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it...
. In July 2009, BSkyB announced a plan to launch a 3D television channel in 2010, accessible to Sky+HD subscribers with a '3D Ready' television.
3D television is also available via the Internet; video website YouTube launched online 3D videos in July 2009.
3D television has occasionally been broadcast before, such as the
Dimensions in TimeDimensions in Time is a charity special crossover between the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and the soap opera EastEnders that ran in two parts on November 26 and 27, 1993. It was filmed on the EastEnders Albert Square set, and features several of the stars of that programme...
crossover of
EastEndersEastEnders is a long-running, popular and award-winning television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985...
and
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
in 1993, requiring special spectacles.
Production
As of 2002, 27,000 hours of original programming are produced year in the UK television industry, excluding news, at a cost of £2.6bn. Ofcom has determined that 56% (£1.5bn) of production is in-house by the channel owners, and the remainder by independent production companies. Ofcom is enforcing a 25% independent production quota for the channel operators, as stipulated in the Broadcasting Act 1990.
In-house production
ITV plcITV plc is a British media company that operates 11 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
, the company which owns 11 of the 15 regional ITV franchises, has set its production arm ITV Productions a target of producing 75% of the
ITV1ITV1 is the generic brand, that is used by twelve franchises of the ITV Network in England, Wales, the Scottish Borders, the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their eleven...
schedule, the maximum allowed by Ofcom. This would be a rise from 54% at present, as part of a strategy to make ITV1 content-led chiefly in order to double production revenues to £1.2bn by 2012. ITV Productions currently produces programmes such as
Coronation StreetCoronation Street is an award-winning prime time soap opera set and produced in Manchester created by Tony Warren...
,
EmmerdaleEmmerdale, known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989, is a popular and critically acclaimed British soap opera that has aired on ITV since 1972...
and
HeartbeatHeartbeat is a long running British TV police drama series set in 1960s Yorkshire. It is made by ITV Studios at The Leeds Studios, and on location, for broadcast on ITV. Heartbeat first aired on Friday 10 April 1992...
.
In contrast, the BBC has implemented a Window of Creative Competition (WOCC), a 25% proportion over and above the 25% Ofcom quota in which the BBC's in-house production and independent producers can compete. The BBC produces shows such as
All Creatures Great and Small and
F*** off I'm a Hairy Woman.
Channel 4 commissions all programmes from independent producers.
Independent production
As a consequence of the launch of Channel 4 in 1982, and the 25% independent quota from the Broadcasting Act 1990, an independent production sector has grown in the UK. Notable companies include Talkback Thames,
Endemol UKEndemol UK is one of the largest independent producers in the country. The UK group is part of Endemol, a worldwide network of leading production companies spanning 24 countries....
,
Hat Trick ProductionsHat Trick Productions is a British independent television production company. It was founded in 1986 by Rory McGrath Denise O'Donohue and Jimmy Mulville, and mainly makes comedy programmes.- Current Shows :* Outnumbered...
, and
Tiger Aspect ProductionsTiger Aspect Productions is a British television production company, particularly noted for its situation comedies. Co founded by producer Peter Bennett-Jones, its productions have included popular hits such as The Vicar of Dibley and Mr. Bean...
. A full list can be seen here: :Category:Television production companies of the United Kingdom
History
Timeline
| 1936 |
Analogue terrestrial |
Following mechanical television Mechanical television was a television system that used mechanical or electromechanical devices to capture and display images. However, the images themselves were usually transmitted electronically and via radio waves. The reason for this dual nature of mechanical television lies in the history of...
test transmissions starting in 1926, and the first official broadcast in 1929, the BBC launches electronic television broadcasts, the BBC Television Service
, from Alexandra PalaceSet in Alexandra Park, Alexandra Palace was built in an area spanning Wood Green and Muswell Hill, North London, England, in 1873 as a public centre of recreation, education and entertainment and as North London's counterpart to the Crystal Palace in South London.-Overview:The Great Hall and West...
. The picture format is monochromeMonochrome is a term generally used to describe painting, drawing, design, or photograph in one color or shades of one color. Monochromatic light is light of a single wavelength, though in practice it can refer to light of a narrow wavelength range...
, 405-line, and the transmission analogue terrestrial VHF. The service rebrands to BBC tv in 1960 |
| 1938 |
Analogue cable |
Community Antenna TV launches in BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
and Kingston upon HullKingston upon Hull , almost invariably referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located 25 miles from the North Sea on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary...
, the UK's first cable services, distributing the 405 line service |
| 1939 |
Analogue TV |
The BBC Television Service ceases from September 1939 to June 1946, during World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
|
| 1955 |
Regulation |
The Independent Television Authority The Independent Television Authority was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" , the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom...
(ITA) is appointed to oversee the creation of ITV by the Television Act 1954The Television Act 1954 was a British law which permitted the creation of the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom, ITV. Royal Assent was given to the Act on 30 July 1954....
|
| 1955 |
Analogue terrestrial |
ITV ITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
, the UK's second channel, begins when Associated-RediffusionAssociated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion, London, was the British ITV contractor for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 1954 and 29 July 1968...
, the first ITV franchise, launches. ITV is initially arranged as 14 regional franchises, with three of these (London, Midlands and North) being further split into weekday and weekend franchises. The franchisees launch between September 1955 and September 1962, the franchise holders being Associated-Rediffusion, Associated TeleVisionAssociated TeleVision, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licenses to broadcast on the ITV network from September 24, 1955 until December 31, 1981.-Formation:...
(holds two franchises, ATV London and ATV Midlands), Associated British CorporationAssociated British Corporation was one of a number of commercial television companies established during the 1950s by cinema chain companies in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television which was taking away their cinema audiences.In this case, the parent company...
, Granada TelevisionGranada Television is the United Kingdom ITV contractor for North West England and the Isle of Man.It is the only one of the original four ITA franchisees from 1954 that survived as a franchise holder into the twenty-first century. Broadcasting began on 3 May 1956, with the company originally...
, Scottish TelevisionScottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchise still active...
, Television Wales and the WestTelevision Wales and the West was the British "Independent Television" contractor for the franchise area serving 'South Wales and West of England' 1956–68 .Geography required that the 'South Wales and West of England' franchise would be operated differently from any other...
, Southern TelevisionSouthern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until 1 January 1982. It also used the name Southern Independent Television, on-air, from 1964 until its demise...
, Tyne Tees TelevisionTyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and some of North Yorkshire...
, Anglia TelevisionAnglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
, Ulster Television, Westward TelevisionWestward Television was the first ITV franchise holder for the South West of England from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward provided a popular, distinctive and highly regarded service to its region, until public boardroom squabbles led to its franchise not...
, Border TelevisionBorder Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria...
, Grampian TelevisionGrampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife...
, Channel TelevisionChannel Television is a television station in the British Isles which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It has a main studio centre in Jersey, a smaller studio complex in Guernsey and offices in London on the South Bank, near to The London Studios...
and Wales (West and North) TelevisionTeledu Cymru - Wales Television, also known as WWN, was the Welsh "Independent Television" contractor awarded the franchise area serving 'North and West Wales', from 1962-68 It began transmitting on 14 September 1962, and ceased on 26 January 1964 through financial failure; the franchise area...
|
| 1964 |
Analogue terrestrial |
BBC Two
launches, in a higher definition 625-line format (576i576i is a standard-definition video mode used in PAL and SECAM countries. In digital applications it's usually referred to as "576i", in analogue contexts it's often quoted as "625 lines"....
). As it is broadcast in UHF frequencies and a different format, owners of 405 line TVs are unable to receive it. Simultaneously, BBC tv rebrands to BBC One |
| 1960s |
Analogue cable |
Rediffusion Vision start a 625-line cable service |
| 1967 |
Analogue terrestrial |
Colour transmissions begin on BBC Two using the PALPAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television encoding system used in broadcast television systems in large parts of the world. Other common analogue television systems are SECAM and NTSC. This page primarily discusses the colour encoding system...
format |
| 1968 |
Analogue terrestrial |
The ITA made changes to the ITV franchises: the weekday/weekend split for the Midlands and North franchises is removed, but the North was split into North West and Yorkshire. From 1968, Telefusion YorkshireYorkshire Television is the ITV contractor for the Yorkshire franchise. Up until 1974, this was primarily the three Ridings of Yorkshire and associated areas served by the Emley Moor television transmitter...
held the new Yorkshire franchise. Thames TelevisionThames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992. It was both a broadcaster and a producer of television programmes, making shows both for the local region it covered...
was created for the London weekday franchise, formed from ABC and Rediffusion. London Weekend TelevisionLondon Weekend Television is the ITV network franchise holder for London and the South East at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5:15pm. to Monday mornings at 5:59am....
replaced the London weekend franchise holder, ATV. |
| 1968 |
Analogue terrestrial |
The ITV Emergency National Service The ITV Emergency National Service was the management response to the near-complete Independent Television technicians strike immediately after the 1968 franchise changes took effect....
replaces the regional ITV network in August 1968 due to strike action as a consequence of the implementation of the franchise changes |
| 1969 |
Analogue terrestrial |
Colour transmissions begin on BBC One and ITV |
| 1972 |
Regulation |
The Sound Broadcasting Act 1972 reconstitutes the ITA as the Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
|
| 1974 |
Analogue terrestrial |
CeefaxCeefax is the BBC's teletext information service transmitted via the analogue signal, starting in 1974 and running until 2012....
and ORACLEORACLE was a commercial teletext service first broadcast on ITV in 1974 and later on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, finally ending on both channels at 23:59 GMT on 31 December 1992....
, the UK's first teletextTeletext is a television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It offers a range of text-based information, typically including national, international and sporting news, weather and TV schedules...
services, launch |
| 1979 |
Analogue terrestrial |
Almost all ITV broadcasts and production ceased due to a 10-week industrial dispute. When programming resumed on 24 October, there was a lack of original programming, so ITV showed repeats of 3-2-1 3-2-1 was a popular British game show, made by Yorkshire Television for ITV. It ran for ten years, between 29 July 1978 and 24 December 1988. Throughout its run, the show was hosted by former Butlins Redcoat Ted Rogers. It was based on a Spanish gameshow called Un, dos, tres.....
. Original programming resumes two and a half months later |
| 1982 |
Analogue terrestrial |
ITV franchise changes took effect: Central Independent TelevisionCentral Independent Television, more commonly known as Central was the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
was created from a restructured ATV. Television SouthTelevision South was the broadcasting name associated with the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 23:59 on 31 December 1992...
(TVS) replaced Southern Television. Television South WestTelevision South West was the ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from the former Westward Television studios in Plymouth, Devon.-History:...
(TSW) replaced Westward Television. A new national ITV franchise is created for breakfast television, and awarded to TV-amTV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of an ITV franchise at breakfast-time, and was broadcast every day of the week, for most or all of the period between 06:00...
|
| 1982 |
Analogue terrestrial |
Launch of Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
and S4CS4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fourth oldest British terrestrial television channel S4C , currently...
, the UK's second and third independent channels. S4C broadcast to Wales, and Channel 4 the remainder of the country. The ITV companies sold Channel 4's airtime until the end of 1992. ITV and Channel 4 cross-promoted each others programmes until 1998. |
| 1985 |
Analogue terrestrial |
The two-station analogue terrestrial VHF transmissions cease on January 3rd |
| Late 1980s |
Analogue cable |
Issue of franchises to local cable operators, which will eventually merge to become Virgin Media, Smallworld and WightCable |
| 1989 |
Analogue satellite |
SkyBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
launches, a subscription satellite service, with pay-per-viewPay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast of that event to their homes. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
movies and events |
| 1990 |
Regulation |
The Broadcasting Act 1990 The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism. The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting; British television, in particular, had earlier been...
abolishes the Independent Broadcasting Authority and Cable AuthorityThe Cable Authority was the United Kingdom statutory body established by the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984 to regulate the newly liberalised cable television industry. It came into existence on 1 December 1984 and took on its functions with effect from 1 January 1985...
and replaces them with the Independent Television CommissionThe Independent Television Commission licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003....
. The Act makes mergers between ITV franchises possible - the regional franchises will ultimately consolidate to ITV plcITV plc is a British media company that operates 11 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
(holds 11 franchises), STV Group plc (2 franchises), UTV Media, and Channel Television (1 franchise each). Franchises that would ultimately be owned by ITV plc adopt the ITV1ITV1 is the generic brand, that is used by twelve franchises of the ITV Network in England, Wales, the Scottish Borders, the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their eleven...
brand in 2001, and drop regional identity in 2002. The two STV Group franchises standardise on the STVSTV is the brand used by both ITV licensees in Northern and Central Scotland, formerly known as Grampian TV and Scottish TV respectively. The brand was adopted on Tuesday, 30 May 2006 replacing both franchises' identities. Its positioning, identity and brand guidelines were developed by Elmwood...
brand in 2006, with Channel Television taking on the ITV1 brand despite being independent of ITV Plc. |
| 1990 |
Analogue satellite |
BSBBritish Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
launches, a subscription 5-channel satellite service |
| 1991 |
Analogue terrestrial |
Two ITV regions and Channel 4 broadcast stereo sound transmissions using NICAM NICAM stands for Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex. It is an early form of lossy compression for digital audio. It was originally developed in the early 1970s for point-to-point links within broadcasting networks...
, with the rest of the ITV network following in the next couple of years. The BBC launches NICAM stereo broadcasting on 31 August, having started test transmissions in 1986 |
| 1992 |
Analogue satellite |
After merging with Sky, BSkyB ceases transmissions on BSB's old satellite |
| 1993 |
Analogue terrestrial |
ITV franchise changes took effect: Westcountry TelevisionWestcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW , from the 1 January 1993...
replaced TSW; Carlton TelevisionCarlton Television was the ITV franchisee for London and parts of the surrounding counties from 9:25am every Monday to 5:15pm every Friday . The company is now managed with London Weekend Television as a single entity , but the two companies are still separately licensed...
replaced Thames Television; Meridian BroadcastingMeridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the south and south east of England. The station owned and operated by ITV plc under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited....
replaced TVS; Sunrise Television replaced TV-am, and aired with the name GMTVGMTV is the national ITV breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom. It is owned by GMTV Ltd, comprising ITV plc and The Walt Disney Company...
; Teletext Ltd replaced ORACLE, the national teletext franchise holder |
| 1997 |
Analogue terrestrial |
Five launches; it is the UK's first terrestrial broadcaster to also launch on Sky |
| 1998 |
Digital satellite |
BSkyB launches SkyDigital, now marketed as Sky TV, the UK's first digital satellite service. Unlike the analogue service, it includes an Electronic Programme Guide, interactive TV and text services, widescreen picture format from certain channels (16:9), audio description and near video-on-demand pay-per-view movie channels. This also sees the BBC, Channel 4 and S4C to broadcast via satellite for the first time; as such, Channel 4 becomes available in Wales, and a new Welsh-only version of S4C broadcasts nationally. The BBC is initially encrypted and non-regional; it will drop encryption and launch regional variations from May 2003. ITV will not join SkyDigital until October 2001. SkyDigital launches with around 200 TV or radio channels |
| 1998 |
Digital terrestrial |
Launch of OnDigitalITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster, which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network as ONdigital in 1998 and briefly re-branded as ITV Digital in July 2001, before the service ceased in May 2002. Its main shareholders...
, a subscription digital terrestrial service |
| 1998 |
Digital cable |
NTL, Telewest and Cable and Wireless begin digital cable services with similar characteristics to SkyDigital. Unlike SkyDigital, cable remains a regional service, carrying all versions of BBC channels and ITV |
| 1999 |
IPTV |
Kingston Interactive Television KCOM Group is a UK communications and IT services provider. It is headquartered in Kingston upon Hull, where subsidiary business unit Kingston Communications serves local residents and businesses with Internet and telephony services...
(KIT), the UK's first IPTV service, launches in Hull. It is the UK's first video on demand service |
| 2001 |
Analogue satellite |
BSkyB ceases its analogue satellite service |
| 2002 |
Digital terrestrial |
Closure of ITV Digital (né OnDigital) |
| 2002 |
Digital terrestrial |
Launch of Freeview, a free digital terrestrial service to replace ITV Digital |
| 2003 |
Regulation |
The Communications Act 2003 The Communications Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It gave regulation body Ofcom its full powers. Among other measures, it introduced legal recognition of Community Radio and paved the way for full-time Community Radio services in the UK, and more controversially...
abolishes the Independent Television Commission and replaces it with OfcomThe Office of Communications or, as it is more often known, Ofcom, is the independent regulator and competition authority for the communication industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established in the enabling device, the , but received its full authority from the Communications...
|
| 2004 |
Digital terrestrial |
Launch of Top Up TV Top Up TV is a subscription video on demand service broadcasting on the UK digital terrestrial platform in the UK. The service offers a assortment of content from providers such as BBC, Warner, Cartoon Network and TCM. The content is accessed by a Top Up TV Freeview+ digital Television recorder...
, a subscription service on digital terrestrial |
| 2006 |
Cable |
Merger of NTL and Telewest; they will later merge with Virgin MobileVirgin Mobile is a brand used by many mobile phone service providers based in the United Kingdom and operating in India, Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United States and France; the brand survived only briefly in Singapore...
and relaunch as Virgin Media |
| 2006 |
Cable |
The UK's first public high-definition broadcasts, as BBC and ITV show the 2006 FIFA World CupThe 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th instance of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000...
in high-definition via NTL:Telewest |
| 2006 |
IPTV |
Kingston Communications cease KIT |
| 2006 |
IPTV |
Launch of BT Vision, a subscription video on demand service combined with a Freeview receiver |
| 2006 |
Internet television |
BSkyB launches Sky Anytime Sky Anytime is the brand-name of a range of services from BSkyB designed to compete with video on demand services currently offered by cable companies such as Virgin Media or Tiscali TV as well as Internet services such as BBC iPlayer....
, a program to download television shows to PCs via the Internet, for subscribers to Sky TV |
| 2006 |
Internet television |
Channel 4 launches 4 on Demand, allowing free and paid-for downloads via the Internet of television shows |
| 2007 |
Internet television |
ITV relaunch itv.comitv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's biggest commercial television broadcaster which operates 11 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers online streaming, ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, games, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV...
as an on-demand portal |
| 2007 |
Analogue terrestrial |
The digital switchover begins as a consequence of switching off analogue terrestrial UHF transmissions |
| 2007 |
Internet television |
The BBC launches BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer is a service available via website, P2P, cable television, and several mobile devices developed by the BBC to extend its existing RealPlayer-based "Radio Player" and other streamed video clip content...
, a tool for watching BBC programmes online |
| 2008 |
Digital satellite |
Freesat launches, a free satellite television service |
| 2012 |
Analogue terrestrial |
Analogue terrestrial UHF transmissions cease in all regions. |
Closed and aborted television providers
| Provider | Years | Free or pay | No. of channels | Colour | Digital | VOD | Transmission |
|---|
| (Unbranded VHF collection) |
1936-1985 |
|
2 |
|
|
|
Analogue terrestrial |
| 405-line cable service |
1938-? |
|
2 |
|
|
|
Analogue cable |
SkyBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
[analogue] |
1989-2001 |
Pay |
|
|
|
|
Analogue satellite |
BSBBritish Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
|
1990-1992 |
Pay |
5 |
|
|
|
Analogue satellite |
OnDigital / ITV DigitalITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster, which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network as ONdigital in 1998 and briefly re-branded as ITV Digital in July 2001, before the service ceased in May 2002. Its main shareholders...
|
1998-2002 |
Pay |
|
|
|
|
Digital terrestrial |
| KIT |
1999-2006 |
Pay |
|
|
|
|
IPTV |
| Virgin [analogue] |
NTL:1993-2006
Telewest:1984-2006 |
Pay |
35 |
|
|
|
Analogue cableCable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting in which a television antenna is required...
|
OrangeOrange UK is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but is now owned by France Télécom. Orange UK has over 17 million customers through its mobile and broadband services....
had announced the desire for IPTV services to be launched in 2007. In November 2008, Orange stated there was 'no rollout imminent' as the service was too similar to BT Vision.
Sky PicnicSky Picnic was a proposed pay television service to launch from Sky. It would sit alongside Freeview and Top Up TV on the digital terrestrial television platform in the United Kingdom. The service is currently the subject of a public consultation by communications regulator Ofcom. The consultation...
, a subscription digital terrestrial service proposed by BSkyB in October 2007, was aborted in September 2008. BSkyB claimed this was due to regulatory delays, whereas Ofcom claimed BSkyB 'dragged its feet' in providing the necessary information.
'Project Kangaroo'Kangaroo was the working title for a proposed video on demand platform offering content from BBC Worldwide , ITV.com and Channel 4's 4oD , initially expected to launch in 2008, but blocked by the Competition Commission in 2009. Following the Commission's rejection of the bid, the technology...
was an on-demand Internet service announced by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 in November 2007 to be launched in 2008. After an inquiry, in February 2009 the
Competition CommissionThe Competition Commission is a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other inquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom...
blocked Project Kangaroo, stating that viewers would benefit from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 competing with each other rather than collaborating. During the inquiry, Sky and Virgin Media had claimed that Kangaroo would concentrate too much power over content.
Defunct channels
There are around 80 defunct British channels. For a list, see :Category:Defunct British television channels.
The rise of television in the UK
Television caught on in Britain in 1947, but only 9 percent of British homes owned a TV during
the first four years of its existence. These statistics were extremely familiar to the United
States. In fact most of Britain's TV statistics were identical to the U.S., but two years behind
(Smith, 1995, p. 49). Although, Britain was the first country that had a regular daily
television schedule direct to homes and they were the first to have technical professions to
work on TVs. (A. Smith,
Television: An International Hero 1995)
The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was established in 1927 to work with radio and inevitably
became involved in TV in 1947. The BBC has very close ties with the government because of their
financial support to the broadcasts. Even though the government is involved with the BBC
financially, the station has the independence to decide what to do with money. (J. Gabriel,
Thinking About Television 1973
The British government also appointed people to particular positions on the Board of Governors,
(the people who run the station). Instead of appointing someone that would help the government
take over the station, the BBC and British government worked together to fill the needs of both
organisations and hire someone that would fit the system that is in place. (A. Smith, 1995)
When
commercial televisionCommercial Television was the third free-to-air broadcast television station in Hong Kong. It first went on air in 1975, and ceased transmissions in 1978.-History:...
was first introduced in Britain, advertising during the broadcasts operated
similarly to the way the United States operated. They both received money from advertisers,
although how they received their money was very different. English advertisers had nothing to do
with the programme they were advertising with. The station controlled where the advertisement
would go and the product’s company had no say on this. In America, the advertiser would directly
pay for their ad to be played during a particular programme. (J. Gabriel, 1973)
Satellite television
The first commercial DBS service in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
,
Sky TelevisionFor other uses, see Sky Television.Sky Television plc was a public limited company which operated its four-channel satellite television service, launched by Rupert Murdoch's News International on 5 February 1989...
, was launched in 1989 and used the newly launched
AstraAstra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by Société Européenne des Satellites , now SES Astra. During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite originally....
satellite at
19.2° eastAstra 19.2°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg....
, providing 4 analogue TV channels. The channels and subsequent
VideoCryptVideoCrypt is a cryptographic, smartcard-based conditional access television encryption system that scrambles analogue pay-TV signals. It was introduced in 1989 by News Datacom and was used initially by Sky TV and subsequently by several other broadcasters on the SES Astra satellites at 19.2°...
video encryption system used the existing
PALPAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television encoding system used in broadcast television systems in large parts of the world. Other common analogue television systems are SECAM and NTSC. This page primarily discusses the colour encoding system...
broadcast standard. This gave Sky a distinct advantage over the winner of the UK state DBS licence,
BSBBritish Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
.
In the following year, after many delays,
BSBBritish Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
was launched, broadcasting five channels (Now,
GalaxyGalaxy, was a satellite television channel, one of the five channels run by British Satellite Broadcasting , focusing on General Entertainment...
,
The Movie ChannelThe Movie Channel was a British television channel which, true to its name, only shows movies. Launched on BSB in 1989, The Movie Channel was a predecessor of some of the Sky Movies channels, having survived the merger with Sky Television, another satellite service launched by Rupert Murdoch's News...
, The Power Station and
The Sports ChannelThe Sports Channel was a British television channel. The first wholly-dedicated sports channel in the United Kingdom, it was created by Champion TV and broadcast by British Satellite Broadcasting.-Foundation:...
) in
D-MACMultiplexed Analogue Components was a satellite television transmission standard, originally proposed for use on a Europe-wide terrestrial HDTV system, although it was never used terrestrially.- Technical overview :...
format and using the EuroCypher video encryption system which was based heavily on the General Instruments VideoCipher system used in the USA. While the BSB system was technologically more advanced than the PAL system and one of the main selling points of the BSB offering was the Squarial, an expensive flat plate antenna and LNB. Sky's system used conventional and cheap dish and LNB technology.
The competition between the two companies was fierce and bidding wars over the UK rights to movies. Sky kept costs to a bare minimum, operating from an industrial park in
IsleworthIsleworth is a small, affluent town of Saxon origin sited within the Borough of Hounslow in west London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane....
in West London. BSB had expensive offices in London (
Marco Polo HouseMarco Polo House is a large marble- and glass-clad office building at 346 Queenstown Road facing Battersea Park in the London Borough of Wandsworth...
). The two services subsequently merged to form British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) though the new BSkyB was really Sky. The technologically more advanced BSB D-MAC/EuroCypher system was gradually replaced with Sky's
VideoCryptVideoCrypt is a cryptographic, smartcard-based conditional access television encryption system that scrambles analogue pay-TV signals. It was introduced in 1989 by News Datacom and was used initially by Sky TV and subsequently by several other broadcasters on the SES Astra satellites at 19.2°...
video encryption system.
In 1994 17% of the group was floated on the
London Stock ExchangeThe London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1801, it is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world, with many overseas listings as well as British companies...
(with
ADRsAn American Depositary Receipt represents ownership in the shares of a non-U.S. company and trades in U.S. financial markets. The stock of many non-US companies trade on US stock exchanges through the use of ADRs. ADRs enable U.S. investors to buy shares in foreign companies without the hazards or...
listed on the
New York Stock ExchangeThe New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by United States dollar value of its listed companies' securities...
), and
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born American global media mogul. He owns media outlets and is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation ....
’s News Corporation owns a 35% stake.
By 1998, following the launch of several more satellites to Astra's
19.2° eastAstra 19.2°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg....
position, the number of channels had increased to around 60 and BSkyB launched the first subscription-based digital television platform in the UK, offering a range of 300 channels broadcast from Astra's new the at
28.2° eastAstra 28.2°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 28.2° East position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
position under the brand name Sky Digital. BSkyB’s analogue service has now been discontinued, with all customers having been migrated to Sky Digital.
In May 2008, a free-to-air satellite service from the BBC and ITV was launched under the brand name
FreesatFreesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was marketed from 6 May 2008 and offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on digital terrestrial television, with a selection of channels available...
, carrying a variety of channels from
Astra 28.2°EAstra 28.2°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 28.2° East position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
, including some content in HD formats.
Industry bodies
- Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union
The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union is a trade union in the United Kingdom. It has around 26,500 members who work in broadcasting, film, theatre, entertainment, leisure and interactive media....
(BECTU), National Union of JournalistsThe National Union of Journalists is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 35,000 members...
(NUJ) and Equity, trade unionA trade union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas, such as working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labor contracts with employers...
s for members of the broadcasting industry
- Clearcast
Clearcast is an NGO which pre-approves most British television advertising. It came into being on January 1 2008 and took over the responsibilities of the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre...
, performs clearance of television advertising copy and the final advertisements. Replaced the Broadcast Advertising Clearance CentreThe Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre was an NGO which until December 31 2007 pre-approved most British television advertising. The work of the BACC has been taken over by Clearcast Ltd....
(BACC) on 1st January 2008
- Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee
The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee is one of the Select Committees of the British House of Commons, having been established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport which replaced the defunct Department for National Heritage.-Current members:The...
, a select committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, established in 1997, which oversees the Department for Culture, Media and SportThe Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, for example broadcasting...
(DCMS), the government department responsible for broadcasting in the UK
- Digital TV Group
The Digital TV Group is the industry association for Digital Television in the United Kingdom : The Group was formed in 1995 to set technical standards for the implementation of digital terrestrial television in the UK and now encompasses all digital TV platforms and convergence issues...
(DTG), an industry association for digital television, formed in 1995
- Digital UK
Digital UK is the body in charge of the digital switchover of television in the United Kingdom.Digital UK communicates switchover to the public, works with industry to build support for the switchover programme, and co-ordinates engineering work across the UK broadcast network...
, the body in charge of digital switchover of television in the UK
- Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based society for the discussion, analysis and preservation of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the one of the oldest television societies in the world...
(RTS), a society for the discussion, analysis and preservation of television in all its forms, past, present and future, which formed in 1927
- United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting
The United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting is an affiliation of British independent television production companies and broadcasters. Its predecessor's primary function was to represent independent British television interests as a member of the European Broadcasting Union. It was formed in the...
(UKIB), an affiliation of independent production companies and broadcasters, representing non-BBC interests in the European Broadcasting UnionThe European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 75 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 43 associate broadcasters from a further 25. It is unrelated to the European Union. Members are radio and television companies, most of which are government-owned public service broadcasters...
Genres and programming
- ITC Code on Sports and Other Listed Events
The ITC Code on Sports and Other Listed Events is a series of regulations issued by the Independent Television Commission which is designed to protect the availability of live coverage of so-called "listed events" in sport — typically major sporting occasions — on free-to-air services in the...
, regulatory rules devised in 1997 which ensure particular sporting events are available for free via terrestrial television
- Sports broadcasting contracts in the United Kingdom
- British sitcom
A British sitcom is a situation comedy produced in the United Kingdom. Like sitcoms in most other countries, they tend to be based around a family, workplace or other institution where a group of contrasting characters are brought together each episode. A common factor is the exploration of social...
- Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
- Light entertainment
Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances.-Light entertainment in Britain:In the early days of the BBC virtually all broadcast entertainment would be considered light by today's standards, as great pains were taken not to offend...
:Category:British television-related lists
Miscellaneous
- Appreciation Index
An Appreciation Index is a score between 0 and 100 which is used as an indicator of the public's approval for a particular television programme or broadcast service in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by BARB, the organisation that compiles television ratings...
(AI), a score between 0 and 100 which measures the public's approval of a particular programme, which can be used to measure attitudes to programmes with small or niche audiences
- Broadcast, a weekly trade magazine for the broadcast industry
- Edinburgh International Television Festival
The Edinburgh International Television Festival, founded in 1976, is held annually over the British August bank holiday weekend at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre....
, an annual industry gathering in EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
- Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom the term "public service broadcasting" refers to broadcasting intended for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial concerns. The communications regulator Ofcom, requires that certain television and radio broadcasters fulfil certain requirements as part of their...
, broadcasting intended for public benefit rather than purely commercial concerns
- Public information film
Public Information Films are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement .-Subjects:...
, government commissioned short films usually shown during television advertising breaks
- Listings and general television magazines Radio Times
Radio Times is the BBC's weekly television and radio programme listings magazine. It also provides on-line listings.-History and publication:...
, SoaplifeSoaplife is a fortnightly UK magazine, released on Tuesday. Storylines of the shows it covers are from soap operas shown in the United Kingdom and from Australia....
, TV & Satellite WeekTV & Satellite Week is a TV listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of TimeWarner. Its focus is on quality dramas, comedy and documentaries, films and sport....
, TV easyTV easy is a television mass market, listings magazine notable for its compact size. It is published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of TimeWarner. Its focus is on popular TV, with emphasis on soaps. It is aimed at busy young families....
, TV QuickTV Quick is a British weekly TV listing magazine published by family-run German company H Bauer Publishing. It features the TV listings of the week from a Saturday to the following Friday and is sold every Tuesday...
, TVTimes, What's on TVWhat's on TV is a weekly television listings magazine published by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary. It has a cover price of 47p.-Overview:...