Democracy and Public Service Broadcasting
REPORT
Democracy and Public Service Broadcasting
European Broadcasting Union
2023
In a world with increasing challenges to democracy and a market-driven landscape, public service broadcasters are increasingly being asked to justify their value to society.
But how can public service media’s role as a reliable and stable source of information that plays a vital role in a healthy democracy be measured? This report from the EBU attempts to answer this question and offer broadcasters a way to respond to challenges.
Shifting TV Audience Expectations in the UK during Covid-19
JOURNAL
Public Service TV in the Age of Subscription Video on Demand: Shifting Audience Expectations in the UK during COVID-19
Catherine Johnson and Lauren Dempsey | Media, Culture and Society
2023
During the Covid lockdowns in the UK, television viewing surged, driven primarily by a doubling in the number of hours people spent watching subscription video on demand (SVOD) services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. If anything, lockdown appeared to catalyse the adoption of SVODs.
This paper, based on empirical research, examines how these changing behaviours might alter the cultural meanings people attach to television, and what this fast-changing dynamic may mean for public service broadcasters.
News Personalisation and Public Service Media: The Audience Perspective
JOURNAL
News Personalisation and Public Service Media: The Audience Perspective in Three European Countries
Annika Sehl, Maximilian Eder | Journal Media 4(1)
2023
News organisations are increasingly providing personalised offerings curated by algorithms. This offers a tailored experience of a broadcaster’s content, but concerns have been raised about how it conflicts with public media values of universality of access, reach and content, particularly when an algorithm replaces an editor as curator.
This paper explores the opportunities and challenges, taking a look at users’ attitudes, concerns and expectations. Comparing three counties — the UK, Germany and France — it finds that some users are concerned about missing certain stories or viewpoints, though the extent of concern differs depending on each country’s media system.
Traditional broadcasting features in VoD services
REPORT
The reappropriation of time in television: How traditional qualities of broadcast media are being adopted by their video-on-demand services
Julie Münter Lassen l Nordicom
2023
In an increasingly digital media landscape, traditional broadcasters adapt their services to suit the new habits of their audience, who are spending more and more time using digital platforms. But how does it affect the presentation and the scheduling of programmes? Are old broadcasting theories such as immediacy, being live, being daily, and providing event television compatible with the new on-demand services offered by more public broadcasters today?
This study takes a look at these different questions through two different models of Danish Video on-demand services, DRTV and TV2 Play and demonstrates how features of traditional linear television are still key characteristics of SVoD services in Denmark.
Nordic countries' digital strategies and third-party platforms
JOURNAL
Digital strategies and third-party platforms: How Nordic public service media are reframing their audio strategies for the future
Aura Lindeberg | Journal of Digital Media & Policy
2023
This paper indicates the relationship between broadcasters and third-party platforms. The research examined four public service media organisations in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway who expressed their doubts regarding the distribution of their content on third party platforms. According to this study, PSMs’ ties with third-party platforms have gotten more complex , calling into question PSM’s value of universalism and the study also argues that national media policies are unable to regulate international audio distribution.
The value of public service broadcasting in Japan during Covid-19
JOURNAL
The value of public service broadcasting in Japan during COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis of WTP by Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition
Hisanobu Kakizawa | Telecommunications Policy
2023
The article analyses the shift in willingness to pay (WTP) for public service media (PSM) before and after the first Covid-19 outbreak in Japan. NHK Japan’s public broadcaster offered pay subscriptions to get premium services. Based on the data of the NHK survey WTP estimation was noted. During the pandemic, NHK increased public service educational and medical programmes to combat Covid-19. This led to increased WTP, the satisfaction level of viewers, and the value of journalism. The data also revealed that the WTP for PSM fell slightly as a result of the reduction in sports programmes.
What is life like without the BBC?
REPORT
Deprivation Study: What is life like without the BBC?
MTM
2022
The Deprivation Study set out to uncover the value of BBC to its audience. The study took away all BBC services from 80 households from 16 different locations. Before the study, 30 households neither wanted to pay or receive BBC services, 30 households wanted to pay less of the BBC TV licence, and the last 20 households were happy to pay full licence or more. After nine days without the BBC, results of this study found that 42 of the 60 ‘pay nothing’ and ‘pay less’ households changed their minds and became willing to pay the full licence fee or more. Another 4 households from the ‘pay nothing’ households also changed their stance to at least be willing to the licence but pay less of it. The results reveal that people underestimated the value of the BBC and found that they were elements unique to BBC that led them to feel the licence was worth it. “When households are without the BBC and assess its role and what they missed, the majority re-evaluated the value of the licence fee and what the BBC brings.”
Public Service Broadcasting in the Online TV Environment
JOURNAL
Public Service Broadcasting in the Online Television Environment: The Case for PSB VoD Players and the Role of Policy Focusing on the BBC iPlayer
Maria Michalis | International Journal of Communication
2022
In the era of online TV, this article assesses the main challenges faced by public service broadcasting (PSB). As of yet, the development of BBC iPlayer reveals that online TV has not fundamentally changed PSB, because of the interrelationship between VoD services and tv linear offerings. This article examines how PSB could be revived through personalisation and public service algorithms with the help of online TV.
Public service media in the age of SVoDs
JOURNAL
Public service media in the age of SVoDs: A comparative study of PSM strategic responses in Flanders, Italy and the UK
Alessandro D’Arma, Tim Raats and Jeanette Steemers | Media, Culture & Society Journal
2021
This paper examines the response of public service media to the expansion of streaming services like Netflix and their disruption to established national television models around the world. This paper found that the response of PSM to the disruption caused by giant stream services is due to factors including the country’s governmental support for the role of PSM, and market size. It also found that PSM responds through different strategies one of which is production collaborations.
The Public Service Approach to Recommender Systems
JOURNAL
The Public Service Approach to Recommender Systems: Filtering to Cultivate
Jockum Holden | Television & New Media Journal
2022
The use of algorithms that recommend content to their users has dramatically transformed online media consumption. PSM is catching on and have adopted these algorithms into their own systems to personalise how their online content is distributed. However, since these algorithms cater to a more commercialised recommending system, it could make them incompatible with PSM values, which is to disseminate diverse content. This study gives an in-depth knowledge of how PSM have modified these recommender systems to suit a non-commercial setting.