NDM Case Study ..

How has the impact of new and digital media allow the audience to time shift and watch their programmes online such as BBC Iplayer and 4OD instead of following scheduled timing.

8- What are the political and social implications of the new technologies and the methods of their consumption? E.g. moral panics etc?

What are the political and social suggestions of BBC iplayer and the way the audience consume Television?

Socially, people suggest that BBC iplayer is the new way of watching BBC. BBC iplayer is mainly popular with the teenage audience, it's easier and better, socially it creates the idea of being flexible, being able to go out with friends and socialising and then coming home and catching up on BBC iplayer. In terms of audiences consuming the programmes, well the website has the option to watch live which enables the audience to relax and watch it wherever, whenever they want. Also with the new download button people are now able to watch their programmes offline, no longer needing the internet.

Is there Still a Place for Public Service Television?

RECONSIDERING THE TELEVISION ENVIRONMENT

The internet offers an enormous selection of content from which consumers may satisfy informational and entertainment needs traditionally met by television. The transition to fully digital television marks an appropriate point to re-examine the economics of television broadcasting and the case for public service broadcasting. The consumer concern recognises that there may be market failures in broadcasting such that it fails to deliver the outputs that consumers themselves want to watch. These priorities are captured by the BBC’s Reithian mission to ‘inform, educate and entertain’. The TV licence fee, which supports the BBC’s public service activities, is currently frozen in nominal terms until BBC charter renewal in 2016; over the longer term multichannel households may prove resistant to substantial increases in its value or object in greater numbers to the principle of a compulsory licence fee. 

Tony Hall: BBC is admired around the world – full speech

Values of the BBC ..

• They can be informed, entertained, educated – and, I would add, inspired
• Anyone in this country who has a television, a radio, a computer, a smart device, has the best seats in the house for the Olympics, a front-row ticket for the best concerts, a box at the theatre for the greatest drama
• Because no other public service is used quite the way the BBC is. Our service reaches 96% of the population in the UK every week. Every week.
• Twenty years ago, the BBC received nearly 40% of all the revenues in broadcasting. Now the figure is around a quarter – 25% – a much smaller part of the media market.

Efficiency of the BBC ..

• Between 2008 and 2013, the BBC delivered savings at an average rate of 3.7% every year. The plans inherited seek another 20% annual savings by 2016/17 – that's an extra 4%, on average, we have to find every year
• We've made the most of our commercial income from BBC Worldwide, with returns to the BBC for investment in programmes reaching over £150m last year.

The licence fee ..

• The BBC's mission is to inform, educate and entertain. The licence fee means we must do this for all, not just for some.
• Universal access and the licence fee support each other. Because nearly everyone in the country uses us every week, we are not asking people who do not use the service to pay for it.
• Support for the licence fee is at 53% – way ahead of subscription on 17% and advertising on 26%. It's the top choice for funding the BBC across all ages, all social-economic groups and whether you're in a Freeview, Sky or Virgin household.
• Yet having no advertising is one of the characteristics that people most value about the BBC
• It's not just the interruption that people dislike. Advertising would also narrow the range of content on the BBC. And by taking advertising money away from ITV and Channel 4 it would make public service broadcasting much worse across the board.

9- Consider the effects so far, and possible effects in the future, on media institutions involved in your case study (media production).

Consider the effects on the BBC so far and the possible effects in the future because of BBC iplayer?

The BBC haven't been effected that badly because BBC iplayers controlled and owned by the BBC and is paid for through the License Fee. In the future it can only get better for the BBC because Tony Hall wants to increase the License Fee so that it covers the online bases of the BBC, at the moment the BBC charge 55p per month which doesn't really cover the amount of people that use BBC iplayer, now that it's become more popular than the traditional way of watching TV.  

There’s also been lots of talk about the availability of iPlayer, there’s news about plans for the Mac version and a US version too is apparently on the way. We, though, can give a different perspective, a bit of insight on things and maybe explode a few myths. Here’s just a few headlines:

• 5% growth in total average usage since 1st December
• 66% growth in volume of streaming traffic since 1st December
• 2% growth in the number of customers using their connection for streaming since 1st December
• 72% growth in the number of customers using over 250MB of streaming in a month since December
• 100% growth in the number of customers using over 1GB of streaming in a month since December
• Cost of carrying streaming traffic increased from £17,233 to £51,700 per month

At the moment the majority of this growth in traffic will be down to iPlayer (with some 4OD and Sky Anytime thrown in) and likely most people will be watching it on their PCs. We can only imagine what the growth will be like when that majority shifts from the PC to the TV.