Explore in detail the challenges that New Media has posed to the television industry, with reference to the strategies and difficulties faced by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC)

The turning of the millennium acted as a catalyst for the adoption of digital technology and the developed planned erosion of analogue broadcasting within the UK. For the last decade the television industry has, (anxiously) in some circumstances, embraced technological advances, which have produced significant cultural and economic impact. New media technologies, primarily the impact of the Internet, have been both a blessing and a curse for the industry as it looks to congregate services from other media fields, but has had to adjust to an increasingly fragmented audience and the threat of its advertising and commercial interests being superseded by other technologies.


This first part of this essay will explore how the television industry has evolved; focusing on how broadcasting and commercial content is delivered and distributed through services and devices such as Internet TV, video-on-demand, and personal video recorders (PVRs). The latter part focuses on the economic and cultural changes within the industry, and the strategies and challenges that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has had to face, as its hierarchy adapts to a digital media infused environment.

New media technologies have contributed to a changing landscape within the television industry, with companies seeking new methods of advertising and commerce, as well as broadcasters focusing on new distribution and content delivery methods. As predicted back in 1995, ‘wholly new content will emerge from digital, as will new players, new economic models and a likely cottage industry of information and entertainment providers’, (Negroponte: 18). As we enter 2009, the converging of market forces has continued to rouse debate over whether the nature of traditional broadcasting will be completely eradicated by the influx of the Internet. Or, conversely; whether people will browse and use the Internet solely via their television sets.

Caldwell argues that the two main aspects of economic fruition the television industry has established in the transition from old media technologies to new media, are the issues of 'convergence' and 'conglomeration', (Harries: 64). He also argues that the two industrial cultures: old media, and new media, would benefit from a sharing of knowledge. Old media needs to learn how to capitalise on the commercial possibilities that new media services offer, whilst new media - still a relatively new 'industry', would benefit from the 'traditional aesthetic and managerial competencies of old media companies', (Harries: 56). The technological promise of digital television, greater bandwidth and the incorporation of new media technologies, such as interactivity; has thrown into crisis, long-established industry practices, as broadcasters and media companies seek to find optimal strategies and business plans for the modern television industry.

In an ever demanding public sphere, in which communications industries are continually having to adapt and evolve, the television industry saw with the adoption of Internet technologies, the possibility of 'multiplexing - the ability to offer ancillary digital streams of data, image sound and interactivity simultaneously', (Harries: 64). These new possible features complement the growing convergence between the Internet and television. For example, Intel and Yahoo have recently created a 'Widget Channel'; small applications, such as video streams, weather updates and stock market data, that can be viewed on the television set - ultimately allowing consumers to enjoy rich Internet applications while watching their favourite TV shows.

This integration of new media software development into the output medium of television ushers in a new era for the expansion of the industry that Boerries (of Yahoo! Inc.) says will bring to television, "benefits of open user choice, community and personalisation", (NMK: 2008). These applications are beneficial to the industry as new media developers can tailor the software to relate to the televised content. For example, TV guide widgets could be created, similar to Electronic Programming Guides (EPGs) that have remediated traditional paper-based television guides - giving the consumer a quick, efficient source of knowledge in regard to programming content and times.

Audiences are also beginning to use new media technology, to interact with the real-time broadcasting of television programmes. The television industry has responded to the need of audience interaction by allowing viewers to comment and pose questions on particular issues, by using social-networking software. For example, in a remediation of audiences ringing in to pose their questions, TV channels such as CNN are allowing audiences to interact with their guests using the web-application Twitter, (Drapeau, 2008). This is an extremely beneficial feature to the industry, as culturally, it has expanded the ease in which audiences can contribute to programming. It is this sense of engagement, that Kerr et al. (65) argue, from a political economic perspective, allows the user to gain pleasure from playing the part of a ‘prosumer’; conveying individual user autonomy by expressing their own views. From an economic perspective, because the audience has to watch the broadcast in a real-time environment, they are more likely to view up-to-date commercials – an attractive proposition to advertising firms. This is an important challenge the industry is trying to overcome; as the audience becomes more fragmented, the watching of television perhaps a week later, thanks to the advent of PVRs and video-on-demand has become a viewing pattern that is dangerous to traditional broadcasting which relies on part, in ‘live’ viewing figures.

The primary successor to traditional television broadcasting is in the form of online video streaming web sites, which offer to the user a ‘radical sense of interactivity, combined with customised programming possibilities’. The Internet was considered a ‘worthy successor to television in some credible circles’, displacing the medium as the ‘dominant provider of audiovisual information and entertainment’ (Harries: 219). Therefore, the primary competitor to the future of traditional television broadcasting is the increasing amount of online video streaming web sites. Not only are television viewers transferring their viewing habits online, but the Internet is the primary source of pirated and copyrighted intellectual property.

This is a large concern as the illicit copying and distribution of broadcasting material over the Internet is rife, as digital media creates the opportunity to copy and distribute perfect copies of video, (Noam et al.: 149). This has serious repercussions, as episodes of TV shows that have the potential to be distributed commercially have the risk of being uploaded to online video streaming web sites such as YouTube. For example, NBC contacted the web site to remove the uploaded episode of “Lazy Sunday”, on its “Saturday Night Live” show. The clip now sells for $1.99 on Apple’s iTunes Store (Scott, 2006), and therefore has a platform for progressive economic distribution. To combat this problem, broadcasters, such as the BBC have their own dedicated channels on YouTube, where they can control and upload content for the public to view. However, this is a preventative measure, as it is still possible to watch copyrighted material online, via an array of various video streaming web sites.

A major concern the advent of new media has caused the television industry, is the threat of advertising revenues decreasing, as companies choose to advertise more heavily online, as opposed to traditional television commercials. The industry is under fear from forecasts depicting the ‘slow death, not only of commercially supported network television, but also of the entire economic and cultural logic of mass marketing that has supported broadcasting for over half a century’, (Harries: 242). There is a worryingly growing dichotomy between the increase in advertising rates and a declining audience for television broadcasts. A McKinsey study heralds the dangerous speculation that by 2010, TV advertising will be only one third as effective as it was two decades previously. This is a worrying concern to advertising agencies who seek to target a large audience at a competitive price. The report also states that prime-time rates for advertising have increased by 40%; a concerning statistic when over the last decade, there has been a 50% decrease in viewing figures, (Ness: 2006). There is no doubt that these statistics are a direct reflection of the increasing online advertising budget that companies have implemented. The challenges that new media advertising pose to the television industry are numerous. Online advertising allows for a wide distribution, the potential for viral explosion, and most importantly, cheaper costs.

As well as the added personalistion benefits of Internet advertising, for example: targeted advertising that displays advertisements that are relevant to the content the consumer is viewing; advertisers have heralded the Internet’s ability to log, track and analyse patterns of traffic. A whole host of statistical information and viewing activity data has enabled broadcasters and advertisers to quantify and leverage audience behaviours, (Harries: 67). This has posed a challenge to the accountability of television audience figures, as it delivers a more detailed and accurate measure of data, when compared to the small sample size that the Broadcaster’s Audience Research Board (BARB) uses to compose their statistics from.

Traditional broadcasting has solidified the passive nature of the television by having networks and channels that schedule the optimal content for the audience to consume. Content is delivered to each individual television, even though the audience may only want a small selection of deliverable content. This delivery method is expensive and is not resource efficient. This method has been addressed via the introduction of 'on demand' technology, that can store the relevant programming on a local storage device, where content can be saved and viewed conveniently.

The industry has had to adapt in redefining its medium, expanding the services and distribution methods it employs, and establishing new interfaces that complement the changing habits and viewing patterns of the audience. Television is seen by many as a device that is viewed to ‘fill void time’, (Evans: 203). However, the arrival of the PVR changes the image of television, which has been criticised as being a tool for ‘mindless’ viewing. This is thanks to as devices such as Sky’s Sky+, which allows for television programmes to be saved to a local hard drive to be watched at any time. This is significant, as it means that the audience has access to the high-quality programming they have set the device to record – therefore decreasing traditional audience patterns of ‘chance-viewing’ or ‘channel hopping’ from the mediums inventory.

However, while some new media technologies, such as the DVD player have complimented the television industry and established new business models and viewing practices, many are concerned about the dangers of PVRs in upsetting the industry’s established economic practices, (Harries: 242). PVRs have been marketed as providing liberation to the viewer as they select the programming of their choice, as well as having the potential to fast-forward programming; a tool that can be used to effectively ‘skip’ commercials. However, this is very disruptive to the industry, as it relies so heavily on the revenue from advertisers. To combat this problem, advertising firms have attempted to establish deals to incorporate new pieces of ‘virtual’ advertising; such as sponsorship, product placement and other forms of embedded commerce. The PVR manufacturer, TiVo for example has concocted four ‘branded areas’, where both the allotted screen space and the local storage device have been given a share to advertisers. These include TiVo Direct - thirty minutes of direct response video programming pre-installed; Network Solutions, an on-screen menu of branded network partners and IPreview (interactive television promos), (Harries: 246).

'Digitalisation has led to the convergence of industries and markets, the creation of a new media consumption environment and hence a fundamentally different regulatory content' (434: Lievrouw et al.). Since the arrival of digital technology, the traditional analogue regulatory broadcasting regime has been superseded. No longer is the broadcasting world shaped by a scarcity of the spectrum, a one-to-one flow of information, or its mediated consumption environment. Instead, digital broadcasting has allowed for a multi-channel system, non-linear broadcasting, and the availability of audience interaction.

Programming challenges the BBC has faced, were brought to light in the 2003 Communications Act, that stated ‘a risk-averse approach is reducing distinctiveness and minority content’, whilst the ‘range within some genres has narrowed’, (Iosifidis, 71). Although multi-channel television has established the potential for a wider range of niche programming to be delivered; it is important to remember that adapting to this ‘long tail’ of programming content, means broadcasters have had to establish new systems and re-formulate business models in regard to both operational and distribution strategies. It can be argued that the multi-channel digital age has reduced programming innovation and marginalised specialised content, in order to fill the numerous timeslots on multiple channels. Many within the BBC argue that the creation of new media services such as the iPlayer (a video-on-demand service); have contributed to a decrease in the quality assurance of programming content. There is a tension in the corporation - web-savvy developers who are seeking the new media success of companies like Google in offering web-based services, and other directors, who fear that the highly accountable programming that is offered to the nation as a public service will suffer from staff and programming budget cuts. (Lee-Wright: 254).

Although BBC televised content is restricted to UK residents only, conversely its online content is available to a wide geographical audience. It can be argued that it is relatively unfair that those who do not pay for a TV license, can access this content for free on the BBC’s web site (www.bbc.co.uk). For example, analytical traffic data shows that 'around a third of all users [of BBC News] reside in the United States', (Gauntlett: 146). However, as the BBC has moved towards an interoperable content environment, the risk of decentralised availability across different media platforms has been addressed to an extent. For example, users outside of the UK are prevented from accessing some audio content from its digital radio stations, and from viewing programming content via its video-on-demand iPlayer service.

A large impact new media plays in the introduction of video-on-demand services such as BBC’s iPlayer, relates to the issue of real-time broadcasting and recorded programming. The new television landscape has established a content-based paradigm, not a time-based paradigm (Harries: 173), with the audience selecting when they view, the programming of their choice. This is an important factor, as it shows the industry is conforming to the changing trend in audience control, where a large majority are seeking the sense of extension that individually controlled programming offers them.

As a Public Service Broadcaster, the BBC has the responsibility of ‘omniscience [in regard to] audience taste and demand curves to deliver the optimal programming mix’. It is however, unrealistic to presume that the BBC can deliver a diverse programming output to meet the varied needs of consumers, and throughout the years the company has shown a 'tendency, for elitist tastes to be imposed' (Collins et. al: 102). However, iPlayer solves this problem to an extent by allowing users to select from categories relating to their viewing genre tastes, for example; films, dramas and soap operas.

Video-on-demand services, such as the BBC’s iPlayer and Channel Four’s 4oD have created a new viewing model that allows the consumer to view the aggregated content (Forrester: 168). The challenge the BBC faces is that organisations such as BIPA argue that the 'iPlayer is a commercial endeavour and that questions of revenue, cost and investment would be more transparent if it was housed at BBC Worldwide and made to operate as a commercial entity'. If the BBC were to charge for radio and video content, the iPlayer would "help create rather than destroy a potential market for the commercial players". To avoid "de-stabilising the market", content that can be viewed from an archive, after the 7-day allowance could be charged at "market rates", to protect a fair and accountable market (Sweney: 2006).

This cost-based model is encouraged by welfare economists, who argue that viewer liberation is important in creating a market where consumers can express their preferred programming choices via a price mechanised system. This is important because free-to-use video-on-demand services are damaging to competitor alternatives, such as Apple’s iTunes Store, which charges for its digital content. However, the major difference between the two services is that the iTunes Store is paid-for content that can be stored on a local storage device. Conversely, the iPlayer only allows viewers to watch current programming for a one week period only.

The commercial arm of the BBC, BBC Worldwide is currently involved in Project Kangaroo, (tentatively known as SeeSaw), which will see the three key broadcasters in the UK; the BBC, ITV and Channel Four, involved in the creation of a single broadband video-on-demand service. The goal, ex-director Ashley Highfield says, is to "transform the way audiences watch television" (Grabham: 2008). Highfield was responsible for implementing the iPlayer onto other media devices, such as Nintendo's Wii video game console, and Apple's iPhone; with Project Kangaroo looking to muster the same success as the iPlayer, by offering users 10,000 hours of TV, with around 90 percent available for free, and the rest being available for rent or purchase.

Perhaps the greatest interest this new platform offers, is how closely it will replicate the structure of the iPlayer, as well as introducing a successful cost model, as it aims to charge for archived content and potentially new premium content too. It is arguable whether there is a competent cost model that would suit all parties involved; BBC Worldwide is hoping to find a new scalable platform, as an economic subsidiary to its online store, whilst ITV’s interests seem, (after a flirtation with live streaming via itv.com), to be heavily focused on their newly re-branded online video service, ITV Player. Whether a commercially successful service is viable, considering content will have to be divided between the BBC’s iPlayer, the ITV Player and Channel Four’s 4oD remains a serious question. Aimed to have been launched in late-2008, a launch is now 'unlikely until the second half of 2009. Project Kangaroo has reportedly already cost the three broadcasters upwards of 25 million in costs so far, with the market for internet video advertising, currently being 'tiny and developing slowly' (Ann-Skinner: 2008) - the project’s executives may have to re-think their strategies on advertising, which the commercial revenues for the service would primarily depend on.

Britain’s digital switchover; an intention to defuse all analogue services, and deliver digital transmissions only, is intended for 2012, and is spearheaded by the BBC, who are in charge of both the technological aspects, and marketing the benefits to encourage a nationwide ‘switch over’. In attempting to convert Britain to digital, the industry has faced the ‘tensions between innovation and standardisation’ (Harries: 228), that plague every new medium in the communications industries. In attempting to re-define the analogue broadcasting landscape, which ultimately; would bring great benefit to the country, the challenge of upsetting existing patterns of social organisation and current acceptance with the established medium will have to be overcome. For example, ‘large parts of the population see little or no reason to adopt digital television (DTV)’ (Iosifidis: 58). Although it is important that this nationwide upgrade takes place to make more efficient use of the spectrum, many people do not desire the multi-channel benefits; find the process of upgrading confusing, and do not wish to undertake the financial investment needed to convert to the new technology.

The UK’s interactive television services, has been heavily marketed by the BBC, to entice the population to convert to digital. The UK’s interactive television landscape has been symbolised by the use of the ‘red button’ on a television remote, used to enter a ‘portal’, introduced first by BSkyB, and then in 2001 by the BBC. The main benefit of interactive television is that it dissolves the traditional linear broadcasting flow of television; giving the viewer access to alternative commentary and camera angles for sporting events, multi-screen choices for different news stories, as well as extra visual and textual information, sourced from related online content. The Beijing Olympics coverage in August 2008 for example, heightened viewer’s interest in interactive services, by offering multi-screen coverage of Olympic sporting events that were occurring simultaneously, via a specially designed interface.

Part of the BBC’s role is ensuring that ‘digital immigrants’ are able to understand and engage in the new digital technologies that are converging with television, and take advantage of the resourceful knowledge facilities that interactive television provides. The BBC also faced the challenge of ensuring elderly audiences, who were defined as ‘vulnerable’ to being left behind, were helped to make the transition to DTV, (Bennett: 280). Interactive services, allow for the creation of special portals for events throughout the year. For example, the People’s War campaign in 2004, which successfully familiarised interactive services with an older generation, whilst enabling user generated content (individual’s memoirs of World War II). The introduction of interactive technologies within the television industry has in part, remediated the BBC’s responsibility as a Public Service Broadcaster, (Bennett: 290). The corporation successfully united viewers across the country to share their own experiences, and in turn, created a resource archive, that can be universally accessed by the country online.

The concept of ‘transmedia describes the way that new technologies have been used to extend dramas onto multiple media outlets in addition to the television set, and takes into account the shifting patterns of movement, by both texts and audiences, across distinct but interrelated media platforms’, (Evans: 197). Harries argues (89) that broadcasters must use synergy, to establish an identity for programmes, by supplementing them with additional online content, that can add interactive elements that may alter the narrative of the television content. This has been successfully implemented into the television show Big Brother (Endemol, 1997-), where viewers can participate in online polls to directly affect live video feeds.

This notion of interactivity, Evans (202) argues, is connected to the concept of agency and control; with the audience gaining pleasure from engaging and shaping the outcome or narrative of television programming. Online content for television programmes has supplemented the interest ‘between episodes for audiences who are keen to remain immersed in the diegetic world of the programme’, (Bennett: 282). The television industry has had to adapt to the challenges of integrating transmedia within its programming. In a bid to overcome the perceived notions of the television viewer – associations with passivity, when compared to an interactive media user, (Lister: 61); many programmes now rely on the ‘viewser’ as an integral part of the show that plays an ‘active’ role.

Harries argues that the television industry embracing the interactivity new media offers, has created a new subset of audience; connected consumers, known as ‘viewsers’ – who seek to engage and find pleasure in the multitasking options available to them via both computer and television screens. This changing role of audience behaviour, establishes new strategies within the industry, which are also migrating across other mediums; the viewing of computer software, using interactive television, and ultimately, ‘viewsing’ new media, (Harries 172).

Culturally, although digital television may offer a greater choice of programming and control over ones viewing habits, Kerr et al. (73) argue that for others, ‘the system and set of choices equate[s] with not enough control’. Conversely, many still find the sovereignty involved with viewing programming content, and the interaction with technical devices, such as the remote control have contributed to notions of confusion and fear. To have such a centerpiece of the interactive digital experience: the red button, allocated to a small area of size on a remote, means that for some people, they are not even aware of its significance. Perhaps the industry would benefit as a whole, if they took inspiration from Nintendo’s re-designing of the Wii video game controller as a simplistic input device that can be learnt and used by all ages; in devising more simplistic remotes to access interactive television content. Perhaps the advent of touch-screen technology, may also go some way in aiding digital immigrants who are not technologically-savvy and are perplexed by input devices and/or interfaces.

Although activities in the new media market may be financially unsettling in the short-term, such as the anti-commercial nature of the PVR, broadcasters must secure their long term market share, by innovating and tending to audience desires for agency, personalisation and interactivity; even if it may be “cannibalising” (Noam et al.:87) their traditional business models. The television industry must embrace its convergence with the Internet, with its industry economy focusing on responsiveness to new audience trends and patterns, instead of hegemonic desires. The rise of interactive services, video-on-demand and Internet TV, have already successfully evolved the industry on both a cultural and economic level; establishing new audiences, whilst keeping old ones, entertained, informed and interested in a medium that only looks set to evolve further within the next decade.

References

Books:

Collins, Richard, Garnham, Nicholas & Locksley, Gareth. (1988) The Economics of Television. Sage: London

Forrester, Chris. (2000) The Business of Digital Television. Focal Press: Oxford

Gauntlett, David ed. (2002) Web.studies: Rewiring Media Studies for the Digital Age. Oxford University Press: New York

Harries, Dan ed. (2002) The New Media Book. British Film Institute: London

Lister, Martin, [et al.] (2003) New Media: A Critical Introduction. Sage: London

Lievrouw, Leah & Livingstone, Sonia. (2006) The Handbook of New Media. Sage: London

Negroponte, Nicholas. (1995) Being Digital. Hodder & Stoughton/Coronet: London

Noam, Eli, Groebel, Jo & Gerbarg, Darcy ed. (2004) Internet Television. Lawrence Erlbaum: New Jersey

Journals:

Bennett, James. (2008) Interfacing the Nation: Remediating Public Service Broadcasting in the Digital Television Age. Sage. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 14(3), pp.277-294.

Evans, Elizabeth. (2008) Character, Audience Agency and Transmedia Drama. Sage. Media Culture & Society, 30(2), pp.197-213.

Iosifidis, Petros. (2005) Digital Switchover and the Role of the New BBC Services in Digital Television Take-up. Sage. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 11(3), pp.57-74.

Kerr, Aphra, Kücklich, Julian & Brereton, Pat. (2006) New Media – New Pleasures? Sage. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 9(1), pp.63-82.

Lee-Wright, Peter. (2008) BBC News at a ‘Future Media and Technology’ Crossroads. Sage. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 14(3), pp.249-260.

Online Articles:

Collins, Scott. (2006) ‘YouTube Poses Challenges to TV Industry’ http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/jun/21/youtube_poses_challenges_tv_industry [date accessed: 02/01/09]

Drapeau, Mark. (2008) ‘Will New Media Save Television Ads?’ http://mashable.com/2008/09/08/will-new-media-save-television-ads/ [date accessed: 02/01/09]

Grabham, Dan. (2008) ‘Project Kangaroo: Highfield’s Biggest Challenge?’ http://techradar.com/blogs/article/project-kangaroo-highfield-s-biggest-challenge-317675 [date accessed: 04/01/09]

Grabham, Dan. (2008) ‘Is Project Kangaroo in Big Trouble?’ http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/is-project-kangaroo-in-big-trouble--483968 [date accessed: 04/01/09]

Ness, Greg. (2006) ‘Challenges facing TV Industry Are Large’ http://www.sundog.net/index.php/sunblog/entry/challenges-facing-tv-industry-are-large [date accessed: 03/01/09]

NMK. (2008): ‘Industry Welcomes Intel/Yahoo! Internet TV Tie-In’ http://www.nmk.co.uk/articles/1012 [date accessed: 03/01/09]

Skinner, Carol-Ann. (2008) ‘Project Kangaroo will cost ITV and Channel 4 £30m’ http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/12/24/project-kangaroo-will-cost-itv-and-channel-4-30-million [date accessed: 04/01/09]

Sweney, Mark. (2006) ‘Commercial challenge to BBC iPlayer’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/nov/07/broadcasting.bbc [date accessed: 03/01/09]