Public Service Broadcasters' Strategies About Radio Apps

BOOK

The Listener of the Future: Exploring Public Service Broadcasters’ Strategies About Radio Apps

Marta Perrota | The Bloomsbury Handbook of Radio

2023


The article explores how public service radio stations switch to digital services and what principles they adopt in order to compete with apps like Spotify. These platforms have created dedicated applications, investing heavily in terms of content, metadata tactics, algorithms, and the fruition experience – fluid, agile, and personalised – on smartphones, in cars, and at home via smart speakers. Certainly, most European public service broadcasters, who are currently in the midst of a lengthy and complex digital transformation, have taken on this issue with zeal, but with what idea of the listener in mind? What specific ideas of the public role have been common in encouraging the adoption of effective digital competition solutions? What were the strategies in place to reinvent the content access experience? What sparked their interest? What types of audiences, if any, did they chose to deliberately target? This work aims to investigate the idea of the listener concept, which is at the heart of the vision of the future of radio condensed in a digital tool that allows listeners to play their part. If one of the primary goals of public service is universality, how can this notion be reconciled with the future development of radio apps?

Read report

Public service media in Europe: law, theory and practice

Book

Public service media in Europe

Law, Theory and Practice

Routledge | Karen Donders
Publication date: June 2021

Contributing to a rethink of Public Service Media, this book combines theoretical insights and legal frameworks with practice, examining theory and policy development in a bottom-up manner.
Book cover. Routledge.

It explores the practices of Public Service Media across Europe, assessing the rules that govern Public Service Media at both the EU and the National Member State level, identifying common trends, initiated by both the European Commission and individual countries, illustrating the context-dependent development of Public Service Media and challenging the theories of Public Service Broadcasting which have developed an ideal-type public broadcaster based on the well-funded BBC in an atypical media market. Seeking to further explore the actual practices of Public Service Media and make recommendations for the development of more sustainable policies, this book offers case studies of rules and practices from across a variety of EU Member States to consider the extent to which public broadcasters are making the transition to public media organisations, and how public broadcasters and governments are shaping Public Service Media together.

This book is a must-read for all scholars who take an interest in Public Service Media, media policy and media systems literature at large. It will also be of interest to practitioners working in government, Public Service Media and commercial media.

(Text sourced via Routledge)

Buy book

Achieving Viability for Public Service Media in Challenging Settings

Book

Achieving Viability for Public Service Media in Challenging Settings

A Holistic Approach
James Deane, Pierre François Docquir, Winston Mano, Tarik Sabry, Naomi Sakr

Part of the CAMRI Policy Briefs series.

Multiple international organisations recognise the value of public service media (PSM) as an essential component of democratisation. Yet how can PSM achieve viability in settings where models of media independence and credibility are unfamiliar or rejected by political leaders? This Policy Brief considers the issues, research and policy options around achieving viability for PSM. It concludes with six recommendations that are relevant to policymakers, practitioners and media studies specialists

Go to publication

A Future for Public Service Television

Book

A Future for Public Service Television

Edited by Des Freedman and Vana Galdot

Goldsmiths Press

Television is on the verge of both decline and rebirth. Vast technological change has brought about financial uncertainty as well as new creative possibilities for producers, distributors and viewers. This volume examines not only the unexpected resilience of TV as cultural pastime and aesthetic practice but also the prospects for public service television in a digital, multichannel ecology.

The proliferation of platforms from Amazon and Netflix to YouTube and the vlogosphere means intense competition for audiences traditionally dominated by legacy broadcasters. Public service broadcasters – whether the BBC, the German ARD, or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – are particularly vulnerable to this volatility. Born in the more stable political and cultural conditions of the twentieth century, they face a range of pressures on their revenue, their remits and indeed their very futures. This book reflects on the issues raised in Lord Puttnam’s 2016 Public Service TV Inquiry Report, with contributions from leading broadcasters, academics and regulators. With resonance for students, professionals and consumers with a stake in British media, it serves both as historical record and as a look at the future of television in an on-demand age.

Contributors include

Tess Alps, Patrick Barwise, James Bennett, Georgina Born, Natasha Cox, Gunn Enli, Des Freedman, Vana Goblot, David Hendy, Jennifer Holt, Amanda D. Lotz, Sarita Malik, Matthew Powers, Lord Puttnam, Trine Syvertsen, Jon Thoday, Mark Thompson

About the Editors

Des Freedman is Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is project lead for the Inquiry into the Future of Public Service Television.

Vana Goblot teaches media and communications at Goldsmiths, University of London and is a research associate on the Inquiry. Her PhD examined questions of quality, cultural value and archival processes in relation to BBC4.


Text sourced from Goldsmiths Press


Quality Indicators for Public Broadcasters – Contemporary Evaluation

Guide | Policy brief | Report
This UNESCO report discusses ways of assessing quality in public media.

 

This report, published by UNESCO, gives an insight into possible indicators for quality in public media. Public broadcasters and companies around the world are striving to produce high-quality content and face the market competition, but often their efforts cannot be quantified, and there is no structured way for public media companies to assess their performance. Public broadcasters can currently rely only on audience measurement instruments and ratings. According to the report, indicators are necessary to correctly assess the services provided by public broadcasters, make evaluations clearer and more objective and paving the way for continuous improvements.

This study offers a set of indicators that can be adapted or considered for different institutions and offers indicators related to production diversity, originality, the use of new languages and platforms and much more.

FULL REPORT


Public Media 2.0

Guide | Policy brief
Dynamic, Engaged Publics

Jessica Clark & Patricia Aufderheide

Future of Public Media Project, Center for Media and Social Impact

Center for Social Media, School of Communication, American University

2009


This White Paper explores the future of public media in the USA whilst considering its historical democratic role. The report lays out a vision for “Public Media 2.0” and what this may entail with the development of multi-platform, participatory technology.

To read the full report, head to the Center for Media & Social Impact website, here.