Public Service Broadcasting in Britain

This chapter focuses on the evolution of the BBC as a public service in the post-war era, marked by competition with private “independent” channels, by the development of new transmission technologies (satellite, digital, etc.), and by the wholesale reconfiguration of the media landscape with the arrival of the internet and social media. It details the crisis which public service broadcasting (PSB) has been going through since the early 1990s in terms of organisation, financing and its role in British society, therefore begging the question: “What is the purpose of a national public service broadcaster?” In order to provide some answers, this contribution traces the historical development of PSB with a focus on the political context and its influence on broadcasting legislation.