Radio and Television in U.S. and Britain

Radio and television in the U.S. and Britain

1. Development, organization and control of broadcasting

NBC was founded in 1926 and CBS in 1927

Both were commercial enterprises

BBC was also established in 1926, but of the British government

Differnence: US TV and radio is commercial and popular, the British live up to the internationally recognized standards of the BBC

Radio and television is licensed by the FCC

2. Radio broadcasting

in the U. S. over 9000 are commercial radio stations

the reach of most stations is local

to counterbalance profit-oriented commercial broadcasting, the PBS was founded in 1967

3. Organization of television broadcastin

networks: NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, C-Span, ESPN, CBC, TNT

buy programs from television production companies

PBS, non-commercial, provides cultural, educational and news programs

Pay TV is financed by an additional charge to the viewers rather than by advertising

4. Advertising

air time is taken up by commercial breaks

are calculated according to how many people watch TV

interrupt all programs

the average American is exposed to 1000 breaks, the average 18-year-old sat through 350000 adverts

5. Quality of programs

viewing offered is dominated by half-hour shows

Two major trends have emergd:

One-theme Channels (Sport, cartoon, history)

"reality TV" (reality soaps)

6. Television and society

Before: reading, visiting family and friends, playing, listening to the radio, going to the movies

Now: every home has at least one set and average viewing time is over 7 hours a day