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Abstract

This article is my response to the House of Lords Communications Committee Inquiry on ‘Public service broadcasting in the age of video on demand’, which was carried out in 2019. The inquiry was important and relevant as the successful UK public service broadcasters (PSBs) BBC, ITV, C4, C5 and S4C are currently facing major challenges from video-on-demand (VoD) services. These challenges primarily concern competition for content from VoD services in a highly competitive broadcasting market characterized by shifts in audience behaviour. Audiences are watching less scheduled TV as they are attracted by the business model of global streaming services like YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. Fierce competition from mainly US-based, unregulated global VoD players investing billions of pounds in content has escalated programming costs and made it difficult for tightly regulated PSBs with modest domestic UK budgets to compete. This article is largely in favour of sustaining properly funded, universally available PSBs, who can deliver quality and original programming, alongside impartial and trusted news in the era of fake news and post-truth politics.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Copyright Intellect, 2020.
Subjects:	K Law P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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