Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon
But the advertising funded model is dying, though.
OK, ITV is having a reprieve for now, but until recently it was losing vast amount of revenue through lost advertising.
The advertising model relies on a broadcaster bringing in huge audiences which then makes it worth well for that advertiser to spend a lot of dosh on a tv advert. This worked fine, when it was just ITV and then CH4, CH5, but nowadays it doesn't.
If the main channels keep broadcasting drivel like soaps and reality all the time, then they're shooting just themselves in the head. Even Corrie doesn't garner the kind of audience share it once did even ten years ago.
I'm not aware its illegal for the BBC to become a subscription service, that just not in its charter, currently.... If the BBC were to go doen the adverts route too, they would run into the same problems as ITV,Ch4&5 are having.
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To clarify: it is illegal to for ITV1, Channel 4 or Channel 5 to go behind subscription due to the terms of their PSB licence. If the BBC's PSB licence was altered to remove the licence fee, then every legal precedent in UK broadcasting history says they would then fall under the same terms as the others.
I suspect the statistics you're referring to with regards to ITV's difficult past few years are the ones covering the major recession that began in 2008, which is a pretty extreme example, although it is useful because it shows that even in the worst recession in living memory, and with all the competition from multi-channel TV, ITV managed to do exactly what you're arguing it can't - namely, continue to survive on advertising revenue alone.
It's worth noting, by the way, that all the PSB operators also have multiple additional channels not covered by their PSB obligation, and all of them are free to air, I.e. ad-funded.