WJEC A-Level Media Studies 603-1976-8
Contexts of Media
Media Language
Media Representations
Media Industries
Media Audiences
Advertising, Marketing and Music Video
News in the Online Age
Film Industries: From Wales to Hollywood
Television in the Global Age
Magazines: Changing Representations
Video Games in the Digital Age
Creating Media Productions
Television in the Global Age
The global television industry: ownership, funding and regulation
- 3 things to know
- A2 Unit 3
Overview
S4C and why was it created, co-production and why is it attractive to broadcasters and how technological change has altered television distribution.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What obligations does a public service broadcaster carry that a commercial one does not?
What is S4C and why was it created?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Distinguish production, distribution and circulation in television.
Model answer
Production is the making of the programme, distribution is the business of getting it to broadcasters and platforms in different territories, and circulation is how it then moves and is talked about among audiences.
- 2
What obligations does a public service broadcaster carry that a commercial one does not?
Model answer
Impartial news, provision for minority audiences, original production across the nations and regions, and content for children, none of which need be profitable.
- 3
How is the BBC funded?
Model answer
The BBC is funded principally by the television licence fee, paid by households that watch or record live broadcasts or use BBC iPlayer, with the level of the fee set by the UK Government.
- 4
Name the two main sources of funding for UK television and give one consequence of each.
Model answer
Public funding through the licence fee allows programmes to be made without chasing ratings but ties the broadcaster to political decisions about its income, while commercial funding through advertising gives independence from government but pushes producers towards the audiences advertisers will pay for.
- 5
What is S4C and why was it created?
Model answer
S4C is the Welsh-language public service channel, launched on 1 November 1982 after a long campaign that included Gwynfor Evans's threat to fast to death, in order to give Welsh speakers a dedicated television service.
- 6
How does the BBC contribute to S4C's schedule?
Model answer
Under a statutory obligation the BBC supplies S4C with around ten hours of Welsh-language programming each week at no cost to the channel, including news and the long-running soap Pobol y Cwm.
Other ways to work this
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