WJEC

A2 Media StudiesDistribution and Globalisation in Television

Global Television The concept of global television is vast and for our

purposes we only need to cover certain aspects of

it.

Primarily we need to know about how USA and UK

television can appeal to global markets because

that’s where our case studies are drawn from.

We also need to know about global appeal – how

and why British and American television

programmes appeal to global audiences.

Global Television It’s useful to understand context very briefly.

It has been possible for live events to be broadcast across the world, for several decades.

The BBC has transmitted content, especially news, globally for several decades. Its World Service has been available in commonweath and other countries, for example.

British television programmes have been successfully exported to many countries and UK channels import television programmes from other countries especially the USA.

Global Television Countries in which English is the second spoken

language buy American and British programmes more than they do programmes from other countries because of the understanding of the language.

DVD box sets of television programmes have been recorded with sub-titling in many languages (since the development of digital media in the late 1980s).

British television exports more successfully than any other countries programming with the USA coming second to Britain. This is due in part to the long-held belief that Britain produces better quality television than any other country.

Global Television The BBC sells its documentaries and dramas world-

wide in huge numbers, especially period drama.

The UK buys sitcoms from the USA in large numbers primarily because America was the birthplace of the sitcom – a genre that is relatively inexpensive to make but which is very popular with audiences.

Britain has also pioneered reality television and formats for programmes like the X Factor, Who wants to Be a Millionaire and Countdown, for example, have been sold globally – even if they are adapted for different cultures.

Global Television Catch-up Services, such as BBC and ITV Players

are not available outside of the UK because this

would give foreign audiences the opportunity to

watch programming that hasn’t been paid for.

Since the rise of the internet, television streaming

has been developed but this is generally a paid-for

service, although enterprising hackers often find

ways of accessing these services without paying for

them.

Television Distribution Television distribution companies work in the same

way that film distributors do. They work as agents

between the television production companies and

the broadcast channels.

However, this is a very simplified explanation of

what is a very complex network and there are many

variations of this model. For our purposes the above

information is sufficient, just to understand how a

television programme makes the journey from being

produced to being broadcast.

Our Case Studies

First Dates was produced by Twenty Twenty (a British Production Company)

Twenty Twenty is owned by Warner Bros. Television.

The format for the programme was first developed for Channel 4 but has since been sold to Canada, Germany and the USA.

It works like a franchise in that no other company can take (or ‘steal’) the idea for the programme and make their own version. It’s been copyrighted. It has to be bought from Warner Bros. Television.

Our Case Studies

Happy Valley was sold through BBC Worldwide

(their own distribution company) to seven

international broadcasters.

Its international success was no doubt based on the

fact that it premiered to 7.6 million viwers and

achieved a 28.9% share – winning the slot.

Sarah Lancashire, the star, was already famous for

her role in Coronation Street on ITV, which is also

broadcast globally. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_Street

Our Case Studies

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was made for the FX Channel in America (Fox)

It was broadcast on the UK FX Channel and also onVirgin 1 (11.00 p.m.) and Bravo.

It was added to Netflix a year after it appeared on FX in the USA.

All of the seasons are available on Netflix and it is always trending there, which shows its popularity. Netflix is a global provider of streaming films and television series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix