Public services

There's a question which I'd like to ask. I'm not a Britain citizen so I don't no the answer Which British TV-channels are public services and which not?

Ze BBC is the public service broadcaster, we pay them a licence fee and there is no advertising. So if we're talking purely terrestrial television, BBC ONE and BBC TWO are public.

ITV 1 is funded by commercials, as is Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Generally speaking, anything with a BBC prefix is funded by the public (unless it's outside the UK, but we don't want to say anything about that otherwise some forumers may explode violently).

Doesn't Channel 4 have a public service remit as well. Tell me if I'm talking bllcks.

I think it's government owned in some way.

It depends what is meant by 'a Public Service' or a 'Public Service Channel'. It's not connected with ownership. Many media outlets perform a service to the public, but are not public service broadcasters

BBC1 and 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Five all have public service remits to various extents. They are all compelled to broadcast certain genres of programmes and they and their news providers have certain other obligations.

Do BBC-3 and BBC-4 have a public service remit?

After all, they are paid for out of the television license tax.

Yes, they are very tightly regulated as to what they have to show - they both have to show news, BBC3 has to have a certain amount of documentaries, religion, drama etc



Tax..... yeah yeah yeah

I heard something like that too, apparently it is not allowed to be owned by a company and put on the stock market (Like Carlton and Granada) and I am certain that profits are pumped back into Channel 4 (From merchandise etc) in the same way as BBC Worldwide. They also have to commit to so many hours of religion, arts and other things, programmes not supplied by "Channel 3." (In the words of the ITC and the government)

Yes, Channel 4 is a public corporation with a strict public service remit and, I am fairly certain, partially Government controlled, because the Tories were talking a few years back about planning to privatise it (had they won the 2001 election).

However, it's always had an antagonistic relationship with the BBC, especially in the early days, partially because they were both chasing similar audiences (BBC2 and Channel 4) and also because of the odd relationship between it and ITV - remember, programmes used to be cross-promoted, and, of course, Channel 4 Schools was once ITV Schools. I think advertising revenue was shared to an extent as well.

There's a surprise.

Not to mention 60 seconds in the middle of films

Yep - Channel Four is, I think, officially "The Channel Four Television Corporation" and is wholly owned by the state. It is funded by advertising. (Originally Channel Four was funded by ITV, in return for ITV selling adverts on Channel Four. This changed in 1992 when the ITV and Channel Four structures were revised)

ITV1 is a federation of individual regional (and in the case of the GMTV breakfast service, national) franchises - which are licenced to commercial companies - many of which are now owned by the same companies (Granada and Carlton) It is funded by advertising

Five is a commercial national broadcaster, owned by a commercial company. It is funded by advertising.

The BBC operates two analogue TV channels - BBC One and BBC Two - as well as five analogue national radio channels, and local services. These are funded by the licence fee - which is paid by all TV owners in the UK. The BBC World service radio operation is NOT funded by the TV licence, and is paid for separately by the government directly.

All UK terrestrial channels have public service requirements - with the commercial channels regulated by the ITC. The public service remit is part of the trade-off for being given access to the airwaves... The BBC and Channel Four have the strongest remits for public service, with ITV1's requirements also significant (though relaxed compared to their earlier years) Five is probably the least regulated to meet public service criteria.