Television in the United Kingdom
Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels[nb 1] for consumers as well as on-demand content.
[nb 2] Since 24 October 2012, all television broadcasts in the United Kingdom have been in a digital format, following the end of analogue transmissions in Northern Ireland.
[2] Free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription providers operate, with differences in the number of channels, capabilities such as the programme guide (EPG), video on demand (VOD), high-definition (HD), interactive television via the red button, and coverage across the UK.
Broadcast television is distributed as radio waves via terrestrial or satellite transmissions, or as electrical or light signals through ground-based cables.
[11] Multiple vendors sell hybrid set-top-boxes or smart TVs which combine terrestrial channels with streamed (Internet TV) content.
Internet-based TV apps such as BBC iPlayer, ITVX and Channel 4 are available via the broadband connection of Freeview Play and Netgem devices.
[12] Many regional companies developed cable-television services in the late 1980s and 1990s as licences for cable television were awarded on a city-by-city basis.
Other international streaming services with pricing in GBP include: Acorn TV, Arrow, BroadwayHD, CHILI, Crunchyroll, Curiosity Stream, DAFilms, Dekkoo, Demand Africa, Docsville, GuideDoc, Hayu, Hoichoi, Hotstar, iQiyi, iWantTFC, Klassiki, Magellan TV, MovieSaints, Mubi, NewsPlayer+, Shahid VIP, Shudder, Spamflix, True Story, TVPlayer, WOW Presents Plus and ZEE5.
From 1998 onwards the BBC started digital TV transmissions, launching new channels and broadcasting via satellite in addition to terrestrial and cable.
Originating in 1992 with UK Gold, UKTV expanded its channels from 1997 onwards, with the BBC taking full ownership in June 2019.
ITV, branded as ITV1 or STV, is the network of fourteen regional and one national commercial television franchise, founded in 1955 to provide competition to the BBC.
Through a series of mergers following relaxation of regulation in 1990, thirteen of the franchises are now held by ITV plc, and the remaining two by STV Group.
Channel 4 has expanded greatly after gaining greater independence from the IBA, especially in the multi-channel digital world launching E4, Film4, More4, 4Music, 4seven and various timeshift services.
[34] The way Ofcom structured local television – being dependent on terrestrial transmission – was criticised in a Guardian article in 2015 for being "years behind in its thinking", as it does not account for the Internet.
A June 2018 article on BuzzFeed claimed that That's TV was created "primarily to extract money from the BBC whilst delivering little content of useful value".
Channel 5 broadcasts chat show programmes in the morning including Jeremy Vine with regular news bulletins.
[57] Primetime programming is usually dominated by further soaps, including EastEnders on BBC One, Coronation Street and Emmerdale on ITV, and Hollyoaks on Channel 4.
Sunday night schedules usually consist of dramas, light entertainment, documentaries, films, music concerts, festivals or sporting events.
[57] In 1963 Mary Whitehouse, incensed by the liberalising policies followed by Sir Hugh Greene, then director general of the BBC, began her letter writing campaign.
In 2008, Toby Young in an article for The Independent wrote: "On the wider question of whether sex and violence on TV has led to a general moral collapse in society at large, the jury is still out.
Although not widely held to be as prestigious as the BAFTAs, the National Television Awards are probably the most prominent ceremony for which the results are voted on by the general public.
Unlike the BAFTAs, the National Television Awards allow foreign programmes to be nominated, providing they have been screened on a British channel during the eligible time period.
The BBC gives the following figures for expenditure of licence fee income per month in 2021/2022:[77] As of 2002, 27,000 hours of original programming are produced year in the UK television industry, excluding news, at a cost of £2.6bn.
The channels transmitted in monochrome using the 405-line television system, with 376 visible lines, at 25 interlaced frames per second (50 fields per second), initially with an aspect ratio of 5:4, switching to 4:3 in 1950.
The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to have a regular daily television schedule direct to homes, and it was the first to have technical professions to work on TVs.
This was called the "Toddlers' Truce", in which the idea was that parents could put their children to bed before primetime television would commence; this restriction was lifted in 1957.
It is operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and aims to act in the best interests of licence fee payers.
One of the main selling points of the BSB offering was the Squarial, a flat plate antenna and low-noise block converter (LNB).
[citation needed] By 1998, following the launch of several more satellites to Astra's 19.2° east position, the number of channels had increased to around 60 and BSkyB launched the first subscription-based digital television platform in the UK, offering a range of 300 channels broadcast from Astra's new satellite, at 28.2° east position under the brand name Sky Digital.
In May 2008, a free-to-air satellite service from the BBC and ITV was launched under the brand name Freesat, carrying a variety of channels from Astra 28.2°E, including some content in HD formats.
