BBC, ITV and Channel 4: Talent in the Digital Environment

Abstract

This chapter draws on original research to focus attention on those key cultural intermediaries, the television executives working within a sector that is undergoing significant upheaval driven increasingly by the intervention of technology companies and shifting patterns of media consumption. The chapter argues that while television in the UK faces recognisably generic challenges around technological disruption, increased competition and funding uncertainty, that how these challenges specifically manifest themselves often depends on your location as an organisation within the broader media ecosystem. Throughout the chapter, there is a focus on how the public service, multi-platform BBC has responded to change and competition for talent from social media platforms such as YouTube. The chapter also investigates how All 4 the OTT service that is part of the PSB Channel 4 stable and UKTV, a network of free-to-air channels receiving no public funding and having to survive in the increasingly crowded advertising marketplace; as well as, how large and smaller independent producers are all adapting to industry change.