1 Read the text and answer the questions

1 What removed the BBC’s broadcasting monopoly?

2 What are the main differences between BBC Radios 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5?

3 Is there any advertising on radio in Britain?

4 Which part of the BBC’s work is important but separate?

5 Which Office of the government provides the funding of the BBC World Service?

6 Does the BBC World Service broadcast the views of the British government?

7 Will the BBC World Service maintain its world reputation for excellence?

2 Give English equivalents for the following words and expressions:

звонок в студию; психологическая служба; обиженный, огорченный; сбитый с толку, растерянный; внешняя служба вещания; беспристрастный, непредвзятый, дочернее предприятие; место штаб-квартиры.

3 Fill in the gaps with the words and phrases from the box.

external service; aggrieved; funding; phone-in; perplexed; promotional; counseling service; headquartered

1. All other issues are _____ to this one.

2. The _____ tone of his tone betrayed his mood.

3. The strength of the BBC’s _____ _____ has been the provision of objective and _____ ____.

4. She’s undergoing _____ _____ for depression.

5. The students looked at him _____.

6. College directors have called for more government _____.

7. Many top companies are ______ in northern California.

8. Alive ______ show is a very popular radio programme.

9. This service is a _____ part of British foreign policy.

Points for discussion

Discuss in small groups:

• Is radio an out-of-date way of receiving news and listening to music?

• Does everyone prefer the TV to the radio?

• Do young people listen to the radio?

Writing

If you had to make a radio news list for a fifteen minute current affairs programme. Which news stories would you include?

What would be the running order?

Write the news list for morning programme.

UNIT 3

Worldwide television (1 part)

Before reading

Discuss in pairs:

- Illustrate the difference between the BBC and the BBC Worldwide.

- What are these letters stand for in CNN, BSkyB and ITV?

- Give your opinion on the advantages and disadvantages of television in modern society.

advantages	disadvantages
high quality documentaries	programmes with mass appeal such as soap operas

In 1991 the BBC also commenced a commercial operation called Worldwide Television, which provides 24-hour news coverage and entertainment to broadcast networks in 80 countries and reaches an estimated 45 million homes. BBC World has only one rival, the American network, CNN. Where CNN has three times as many camera crews, the BBC has almost twice as many correspondents.

Television is the single most popular form of entertainment in Britain. In the mid-1990s viewers spent on average over three and a half hours daily in front of the television set. Until 1997 they had four terrestrial channels to choose from: BBC1 and BBC2, ITV (Independent Television) and Channel 4. Channel 4, which was established in 1982, specialises in minority interest programmes, but has proved highly successful. A third commercial channel, Channel 5, began broadcasting in 1997 and terrestrial broadcasting is likely to expand further. In 1996 legislation provided for transition of all broadcasting and telecommunications services from analogue frequency to digital transmission, probably early in the twenty-first century. Satellite broadcasting has been available since 1989. The major provider of satellite programmes is BSkyB. Cable television was introduced in 1993 and currently has 1.3 million subscribers.

BBC television and radio derives its income from an annual licence fee for television, while ITV and Channel 4 are financed solely through advertising. The question of financing by licence fee was strongly challenged by the Conservative government which argued that the BBC had to demonstrate its ability to operate with commercial efficiency in order to continue to enjoy public funding. As a consequence the BBC underwent a radical restructuring in the mid-1990s, with six separate components: BBC Broadcast, which schedules and commissions services for audiences; BBC Production, which develops in-house radio and television production; BBC News which provides an integrated national and international news operation; BBC Worldwide, to be responsible for generating income in Britain and abroad, and for the World Service; BBC Resources, to provide support and expertise to programme-makers; and BBC Corporate Services, to provide strategic services to the BBC as a whole. The danger, however, is that the drive for managerial efficiency will undermine the high quality of individual programmes. Take, for example, the new news operation. All news is now centrally gathered rather than by particular programmes. Leading BBC journalists protested strongly that this would threaten the distinctive ethos of particular news and current affairs programmes with a growing, and possibly bland, homogeneity. A compromise was struck, at the danger remains. In the words of one retired World Service director:

The tragedy is that a once great organisation - one of the finest creations of the liberal mind, one dedicated to an open and humane dialogue with its listeners and viewers, one that could carry out such dialogue because it conducted it internally first - has been subjected to such brutalising so-called 'managerialism'.

(John Tusa, The Independent)

The fear is that the BBC's wonderful variety will be replaced by a unified and homogenised service, in news, sport, and other areas.

Since 1991 ITV has been governed through the Independent Television Commission, which is empowered to give regional franchises for a 10-year period to a number of different companies. There are 15 such companies, providing programmes many of which are sold or broadcast on other regional networks. When commercial television commenced in 1955 there had been fears that advertising would erode the high standards already set by the BBC. In fact ITV became fiercely competitive with the BBC in the production of high- quality programmes which, like the BBC's, were sold profitably to many foreign networks. Channel 4 provides an alternative service with more documentary, cultural and informative programmes. Channel 5 aspires to the same standards of quality as ITV, but has yet to achieve this. In Wales there is a special fourth channel, S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru) which provides a minimum of 32 hours of Welsh-medium broadcasting weekly. Since 1993 there has also been a Gaelic TV fund to assist the provision of Gaelic broadcasting on commercial television and radio.

ACTIVE VOCABULARY

to commence a commercial operation	начинать коммерческое предприятие
to broadcast network	сеть вещания
terrestrial channels	наземные вещательные каналы
analogue frequency	аналоговая частота
digital transmission	цифровое вещание (передача)
to derive income from	извлекать доходы
annual licence fee	годовая оплата лицензии
commercial efficiency	коммерческая продуктивность
to enjoy public funding	пользоваться общественным финансированием
distinctive ethos	преобладающая черта, характер
bland homogeneity	скучное однообразие
brutalizing so-called ‘managerialism’	так называемый жестокий «администратизм»
to undermine the high quality	повреждать высокому качеству
franchise	франшиза

While reading