Background of tv
-Tv was scarce
-Only 3 channels - BBC 1,2 & ITV
-BBC2 not available on older tv sets
-Tv’s - Expensive ,small,unrealiable, black and white
-No broadcasting for large parts of the day- all channels closed down at night
-Changing channels- Difficult, done manually (audiences were more loyal to one programme)
-No home computing or technology to watch any other sort of programmes on
-Itv started - 1955, allow advertisements online BBC, introduced game shows
-By 1965- competition in the television market
-Itv- was financially secure, television could be highly regulated
Ownership,funding and regulation
-ITV & BBC not part of internationtional media congolomorate (company that owns a lot of companies)
-BBC- governed by Royal Charter and funded by licence-fee payers.
-ITV- network of regional tv comoanies who competed with each other to provide programmes for the channel and provided regional content for transmission area.
-Production company of The Avengers - ABC- Companies not allowed to merge(until after 1990)- British ownership was controlled by their regulator (ITA)
-ITA: Independant Television Authority
-ITV- Highly profitable and could afford larger budgets then BBC
-Profitability of ITV let ITA insist on PSB requirements
-Schedules includes PSB fare: single dramas, educationional programmes, children programmes, art, news and current affair documentaries etc.
-BBC- self regulating - function carried out by a board of governors appointed from ‘the great and the good’ group defined by those in power.
'Global TV'
- World television was controlled by the US
- British television production was protected by the rules pf PSB.
- E.g ABC's programming for November 1965, included an American series at 7.25pm.
- the schedule reached its climax with The Avengers at 9.05pm.
- British television did compete on the world market, with productions being sold to countries overseas. (90 countries in 1969)
- A deal with the ABC required the fourth series of The Avengers to be shot on film & allowed high production values for television.
- Previous series were studio bound.
- Editing was difficult and expensive so mistakes and fluffed lines were left uncorrected.
- (1966) The fifth series of The Avengers was filmed in colour, even though on ITV programs could only be shown in b&w.
- Production of international markets raised the prettied of television productions.
- Productions that had been looked down on as inferior to film as an art form.
- Seen as the process that led some television dramas gaining higher critical and artistic status then some feature films.
- Budget of series 4 of The Avengers was £56,000 per show.
- A major British spy film,The Ipcress File, had a budget of £309,000
Reaching different audiences
- Channel loyalty tended to split on class lines (ITV seen as working class).
- The rise of youth culture was suddenly 'cool' to be working class.
- The BBC was seen more as middle class.
- In mid 1960's BBC's program, The Forsyte Saga, was a set of novels. Whereas on ITV, The Avengers was seen as mush more daring, youthful, irreverent and sexy.
- BBC remind London-centric.
- ITV had production centres in the North and midlands.
- ABC studios used for the Avengers were in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire and London.
- ATV and ABC retain large production faculties in London.
- Grander television developed a distinctively northern identity in opposition to the southern establishment.
Television audiences in the mid- 60’s
-BBC1 and ITV were aimed at mass audiences, both aiming to attract viewers so that they would remain for the whole evening.
-Broadcast flow was important- audiences should be led through a series of genres and formats to provide a rounded evenings viewings
-BBC2 was an exception and was consciously niche addressing a series of different audiences across one evenings schedule
-Tent pole scheduling- putting strongest program un he middle with weaker programs either side in hope the strong program will draw in viewers
-Shows such as the ‘avengers’ allowed tent pole scheduling
-The series format dominated 1960’s television
-Narratives that resolved every episode were well suited to a channel- loyal audience, with no recording facilities
-Audiences can miss individual episodes of a series and still follow their favourite series
-There was less need to try and win loyalty to individual programmes by deploying on going serial narratives, due to the lack of competition in this era
-Television audiences were expected to be ‘light users’ (would have tv on in the background whilst they are busy doing things around the house) before prime time.
-On ITV weekdays in 1965 they scheduled programmes at specific times depending on the target audience and viewers
-the watershed at 9pm introduced in 1964 allowed for more adult programming such as the avengers.
-ITV shut down at about midnight on weekdays as thats when it was assumed that people would be in bed, and at noon on Sundays to allow families to have time for family lunches.
-The changes in Steeds character in the avengers to fit international stereotypes about English gentlemen proved to be successful, but the use of erotic imagery for example emma peel caused several episodes to be cut in America and ‘lost’ the midwest audience.
-it was the first British tv series to be shown on primetime network television in the US and achieved 28% audience share in 1966
-The mid 1960’s saw huge debates about permissiveness in society and on television
-This was a time of rapid social change exemplified by a generation gap between a wartime generation celebrating values of duty and perseverance, and a younger generation celebrating values of freedom and consumption.
-Permissiveness was seen as lowering moral standards and coarsening language by its critics as a freeing society.
Uses and Gratification
Personal identity-
-Tv audiences in 1960 were much more loyal to particular channels than contemporary audiences and used this loyalty in part to construct a sense of social identity.
-An ITV viewer sees themselves as more down to earth than BBC viewers. However BBC viewers see themselves as more cultured and better educated than an ITV viewer.
-These distinctions reflected a social context in which class was still important to people’s identity and brings a sense of belonging.
-Shows like The Avengers offered role models from the heroes:
Steed= a debonair English gentleman who has the charm to enable him to team up with Peel.
Peel= the embodiment of ‘Swinging London’ in her self confident sexuality and savoir-faire.
Social interaction and integration-
-Tv was so important in 1960 because of its scarcity.
-There was normally only be (at most) one television in the household which means the whole family would come together to watch or not watch at all.
-Programmes which are unusual and interesting would generate discussion the next day amongst the audiences.
-Audiences that used television as a substitute for real life social interaction would find these needs met by the recurrence of familiar characters.
-In the case of The Avengers a familiar central pairing with a slightly enigmatic relationship to retain audiences interest aswell as being a communicating source about Britishness to countries all around the world.
Entrainment-
-Audiences were much more naive about tv in the 1960s, a naivety that offered utopian pleasures- tv could represent a magical world of plenty into which audiences could escape.
-The Avengers offered escapism through their representation of a world of competence, sophistication, humour, and heavy hint of sexual tension and eroticism
•Spy genres were a familiar dominant genre of the 1960’s
Audience response
•Response to 1960’s tv drama may be influenced by the cult status that accrued to programmes such as the avengers - technical limitations of the programme, effect of changing conventions, and elements of representation that represent it’s 1960’s context
•The way the programme represents it’s media language and representation may create an alienating effect for modern audiences.
Online reviews:
•‘An exciting, playful and thoroughly British take on the action genre’
•The Avengers was truly a classic- it defined British television, and set the trend for future relationships between main characters.
Well done Mayan, a good summary here of the 1960s TV industry.
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