Comparing The Contribution Of Channel 4 To Public Service Broadcasting In Britain

Discuss the contribution of Channel 4 to public service broadcasting in Britain. Does the contemporary Channel 4 live up to its original PSB values?

Channel 4 launched in 1982 and has been known for its audacious programming and exploring important, relevant issues. This essay will consider whether the channel has been effective in it’s approach to educating the public and if it should still be regard as a Public Service Broadcaster.
Before November 1982, television in Britain was made up of three channels. BBC was the world’s first television service, launching in 1936, although it didn’t become popular until the late 1940s. The BBC had been a public coroporaton operating in the national interest since 1926, when it only broadcasted over

This report considered the future of British broadcasting and suggested that there should be better commercial television regualtions and more adult education broadcasting. The report itself stated that many of the committee believed “that the first need is to offer more programmes of a strictly educational nature” (2 pilkington report, p. 6). “If we want a signature ‘moment’ when the idea of a ‘fourth’ channel arrives […] this would be it” (Blanchard, 2013, p. 367).
There were many options for this third television network and the “form which the fourth channel would take was a long time in gestation. For twenty years individuals and interested groups argued, cajoled, petitioned and debated the form of the new channel and its proposed parentage” (Hobson, 2008, p. 2). In the end, most agreed that it would be best to break the BBC/ ITV duopoly.
The Annan Report was made public in 1977. It talked about the broadcasting industry and it recommmended that there be a fourth channel which was independent. ___ stated that he believed “that a fourth channel would give more real choice” (1 ____ p. 919). The report also endorsed the diversification of broadcasting and an increase in independent production, as society had become multi-racial and many believed that television should reflect

Channel 4 was to be a subsidiary of IBA.
Channel 4’s first Programme Policy Statement (1982) corrresponded with the Annan Report. There was an “early promise of avant garde programmes and innovative scheduling” (Hobson, 2008, p. xi). It said that their new channel should be “a conduit for a wide range of voices” (Bock & Zielinski, 2014, P. 420) providing programming for tastes not covered by ITV (such as cultural minorities). It would also be educational and experimental in its form and content. The channel also promised a more considered, analytical approach to the