Understanding structure and funding in the TV industry

Ownership

Public service

A public service type of ownership in the TV industry would be BBC. The BBC is the people's channel due to the fact that us the general public actually pay for the channel to be kept on air every year. Through making the general public pay a TV licence  fee every year this helps  the BBC continue on. Unlike every other channel on our TV guide the BBC is the only one that doesn't have TV advertisements  during their shows to fund them. With the BBC relying on the public for their funding through TV licence they will also sell some of their shows old episodes  to other neighbouring  TV channels to raise funds. For example over the years Dave has taken on many of the BBC shows old episodes and broadcast them on their channel with Top Gear and Mock the week being just a couple that come to mind. Selling old episodes of their own shows to other channels will help raise funds for the BBC to fund shows. The BBC  have a very large radio presence  which is also publicly funded the BBC have around 7 separate radio channels with all of these channels relying on the public to keep them on air with competitions a regular thing meaning that listeners would have to pay to enter raising funds for the BBC. The BBC is run by a board of governors  and is currently a royal charter which is of High importance  because it outlines that the BBC are independent  from the government.

Commercial ownership

Within the TV industry there are many commercially owned channels for example ITV are a channel that are privately owned corporate  media.  Being commercially  owned means that they rely on advertisements and public voting on their shows  to be able to make their profit to then reinvest  into the channel.

Funding

Subscriptions

Funding in the media industry is of High importance and subscriptions are a very good way of a broadcasting company making money to then fund other ventures within the business. A prime example of subscriptions would be the company Sky with their sports channels there is a monthly subscription fee to be able to view this package. So on a monthly basis you would have to pay a bill to be able to keep access to these channels. Usually when a subscription  is made they will sign you onto a 12 month contract  stating a monthly subscription  fee would have to be payed to keep these channels this is how a commercially funded channel would go about making their money.

Advertising

Advertising is of the utmost importance  to commercially  owned companies due to the fact that they need these to help raise funds. A prime example of a company  that uses advertising efficiently  would be ITV because when you're watching your tv programme there will always be a ad break to split up your shows to give 3 to 4 minutes of commercials. These commercials fund the channel with big companies such as argos paying them to show their adverts during the breaks on certain shows. Just a 30 second advertisement in between a prime time TV programmes ad break could be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds so this is why ITV would air these ads from other big companies for a massive financial gain which helps fund the company along with other factors.

Pay per view

A company that is hugely reliant on pay per view deals to fund them would be Sky with them having many pay per views on a monthly basis covering all different kinds of sports and also movies. Within the sports sector they have annual massive boxing bouts that would be pay per view on the sky box office. With a usual charge of 15.99 for the rights to this event this would be hugely financially rewarding for sky with millions and millions of people paying this pay  per view fee giving them a healthy profit. Another segment of pay per view would be the movie sector with the sky box  office charging a pay per view charge to watch only recently released films that have just came out of the cinema. Many people who couldn't make the cinema screenings would purchase this movie from their sky box once available and would have to pay a pay per view for this. These types of charges help the company fund raise and ultimately survive.

TV license fee

This type of funding is used by BBC basically  for every homeowner for each tv in the house that can broadcast shows it is expected  that a fee of 145 pound a year is paid annually. This money that you pay each year is for the solitary reason of funding the BBC  with them being a public funded organisation they rely on these payments. Without paying the TV licence  fees it is technically illegal to actually watch TV and if found out could lead to legal issues.