Page 165 - Culture Society and the Media

NEGOTIATION OF CONTROL IN THE MEDIA 155
Perhaps the biggest single change in direction and emphasis in British
broadcasting, for example, occurred with the breaking of the BBC’s monopoly in
the 1950s and the advent of commercial television. This arrived as the result of
pressure for an expansion in advertising—an expansion which coincided with the
career and financial interests of those who lobbied for the introduction of a
commercial system. Wilson argues that the change of direction was made
politically possible by changes within the governing Conservative party, changes
which in turn reflected and expressed forces which were shaping British society:
Throughout the controversy it was apparent that the commercial advocates were
contemptuous of efforts to uphold either cultural or intellectual standards; the
decisive consideration was that television was a great marketing device’
(Wilson, 1961, pp. 214–15).
What was involved here was a change in the purpose of communication. The
implications should have been far-reaching. In the event, for a variety of reasons
some of which will be dealt with later, the fundamental difference between the
‘public service’ commitment of the BBC and the ‘independence’ of the
commercial system did not become a reality. Nevertheless, the competitive
relationship which of necessity developed between the two systems had
important consequences for programming in both the BBC and the independent
companies. Tracey (1978) in his case study of one of these (ATV), concluded
that the output of its programme departments was as much a ‘product for
consumption’ as were the products advertised in the commercial breaks. But, he
argues, the ‘logic’ of commercialism is not escaped by the BBC because it too
must compete for a share of the audience. In the mid-1950s, for example, the full
impact of ITV’s competition was apparent to the BBC through the 30:70 ratio of
audience ratings. If the Corporation was to be able to rely on its revenue from the
public licence fee, it had to demonstrate its public appeal by attracting a larger
share of the audience: the pursuit of the ratings was conducted with a vigour
which resulted in the achievement of a roughly 50:50 ratio during the 1960s.
Two devices were crucially important in the ratings battle. First, there was the
emergence of the programme ‘series’ built around a production team, rather than
resting with an individual producer. These series, such as Tonight’, ‘Panorama’,
‘Sportsview’, ‘Maigret’, and ‘This is Your Life’, were immensely popular—‘the
shock troops of the BBC’s effective counterattack on the commercial opposition’
(Jay, 1972, p. 23)—guaranteed the viewers a predictable programme and
guaranteed the BBC an audience. These were devised as much from a need to
impose an ‘administrative logic’ on a rapidly expanding and increasingly cost-
conscious organization as in the interests of audience maximization:

Production teams responsible for output right through the year meant that…
orders and contracts could be placed for 12 months, with the consequent
advantages of price to the BBC and security to suppliers, writers and
performers. And the relationship between the production team’s budget