Further to Tony's point, the IBA was actually THE broadcaster, hence it's name, Independent Broadcasting Authority. It simply contracted out the broadcasting work to private companies, and placed expected standards on these companies. Train franchising is something similar; the DFT is the train operator, but it contracts the work out to private consortiums.
Yes, it's a very important distinction, that often gets confused or forgotten.
All the time the ITA/IBA existed, they awarded
franchises
to
programme contractors
. The IBA was the legal entity broadcaster. The contractors paid the IBA transmitter rental, the fees were based upon their potential advertsing revenue. This meant for instance HTV and Grampian's transmitter networks, (that were far larger and complex than Thames/LWT's) were subsidised by the larger companies. Thames/LWT paid over the odds for their network. Commercially funded PSB for you.
From 1991 the IBA was disbanded, and the ITC took over. They awarded
licences
for the right to broadcast. They pay for those licences. The IBA's transmitter dept was privatised, (and after 20 years of being sold, acquired and merged) is now Arqiva and consists of the legacy BBC and IBA networks. The companies pay Arqiva for transmitter provision. It's not subsidised, not a problem for ITV, but I assume STV must struggle rather with their fees ?
