scholarly journals Playing under pressure: Sport, public service broadcasting and the British Broadcasting Corporation

2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Smith

Using the UK, and particularly the British Broadcasting Corporation, as a case study, this article highlights the difficulties faced by public service broadcasters, who continue to see sports coverage as an important part of their public service remit. Following a brief account of the historical development of sports broadcasting in the UK, the article is divided into two main parts. The first part examines the main challenges faced by the British Broadcasting Corporation, namely a combination of the escalating costs of sports rights and a squeeze on its own finances. The second part of the article then moves on to focus on the continued importance of listed events legislation, which effectively guarantees that certain key national sporting events remain available on free-to-air television via public service broadcasters. The article concludes that ultimately to be able to continue to enhance cultural citizenship through the provision of a range of live sports programming public service broadcasters require more political support.

2021 ◽  
pp. 101269022110439
Author(s):  
Xavier Ramon ◽  
José Luis Rojas-Torrijos

As a crucial part of their mandate, public service media have historically used sports to construct and nurture cultural citizenship. In a landscape characterised by dwindling resources and growing competition from pay-TV channels and on-demand streaming services, concerns about how public service media will enhance cultural citizenship through new platforms, including social media, are all the greater. In the digital age, delivering diverse content should remain a foundation of public service media in their countless platforms: public media should not only concentrate on major sports but also provide exposure to traditionally underrepresented disciplines and individuals, including sportswomen and athletes with disabilities. Through content analysis, this research examines the agenda diversity offered by the British Broadcasting Corporation through its sports-centred Twitter account ( @BBCSport). The analysis of 10,821 tweets indicates how the British Broadcasting Corporation's content reinforces, rather than counteracts, the long-standing diversity imbalances in the analogue age. This case study facilitates an understanding of the nuanced relationship among public service media, social media and sports, demonstrating that more content does not necessarily ensure diversity. The football-driven, male-centred and able-bodied agenda displayed by @BBCSport signals that public service media should reframe their social media strategies to adequately contribute to fostering cultural citizenship.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Ramon ◽  
Richard Haynes

Through a mixed-method approach, we examine the sports programming offered by BBC ALBA between 2008 and 2016 and identify the value that the channel creates in Scotland through its diverse sports portfolio. In an increasingly cluttered and complex scenario where pay-TV giants Sky and BT hold a plethora of top-tier rights and BBC Scotland and STV cannot fit more sport into their schedules, BBC ALBA serves Gaelic-speaking and national audiences with a regular diet of quality sports programming. Beyond being instrumental to filling schedules, sports content has been a gateway for Gaelic, a key driver of BBC ALBA’s investment in the creative sector and a contributor to the development of grassroots sport in Scotland. However, the financial situation under which the channel operates makes it very difficult to sustain and improve its current position. This case study demonstrates that sport broadcasting offers genuine opportunities to maintain linguistic and cultural diversity in small nations, even in a context characterized by escalating competition, dwindling resources, and the proliferation of multiple viewing portals.


2021 ◽  
pp. 016224392110556
Author(s):  
Rachel Faulkner-Gurstein ◽  
David Wyatt

The platform is emerging as a key organizational form and operational logic of contemporary capitalism, intimately tied to financialization and assetization. However, discussions to date have focused on platforms and platformization in the context of the private, corporate, and technology sectors. In this paper, we develop an analysis of how platformization operates in the context of public policy. Using the UK’s National Health Service as a case study, we explore how platformization is altering the form and function of the state. The platformization of the NHS has its roots in the UK government’s strategic interest in the development of the bioeconomy. This led to the creation of a research infrastructure within the health service. Subsequently, the NHS has leveraged various assets into a range of data- and technology-focused initiatives. We argue that platformization has been a major form of neoliberalization within the NHS. The paper concludes with a discussion of what an analysis of public platformization can teach us about ongoing transformations of the state.


2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Taylor ◽  
Barbara Thomass

The historic relationship between public service media and major national sporting events is strained and/or broken across the globe. This article offers a broad picture of the recent developments in the global market for sport broadcasting and frames the debate between those who view sport as an essential element of national culture and others, for whom sport is a product best left to the marketplace. This special issue explores the place of sports broadcasting rights in the increasingly contested environment of public service media.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cao Tu Oanh

This paper explores how community engagement is implemented by the third sector organisation in public service delivery in the UK. This research applied a case-study approach involving two third sector organisations involved in public service delivery in the UK. The study’s findings revealed community engagement as an important aspect in public service delivery that fosters social cohesion and social capital and thus, the implementation of community engagement needs attention to stakeholders’ interaction, social network, and capability. The results are discussed in relation to the implications for policy, especially in relation to frameworks that can support public value enhancement.


Author(s):  
David Whetham

Between 2007 and 2011, Wootton Bassett, a small Wiltshire town in the UK, became the focus of national attention as its residents responded to the regular repatriations of dead soldiers through its High Street. The town’s response came to symbolize the way that broader attitudes developed and changed over that period. As such, it is a fascinating case study in civil–military relations in the twenty-first century. Success may be the same as victory, but victory, at least as it has been traditionally understood, is not a realistic goal in many types of contemporary conflict. Discretionary wars—conflicts in which national survival is not an issue and even vital national interests may not be at stake—pose particular challenges for any government which does not explain why the cost being paid in blood and treasure is ‘worth it’.


Author(s):  
Donald Houston ◽  
Georgiana Varna ◽  
Iain Docherty

Abstract The concept of ‘inclusive growth’ (IG) is discussed in a political economy framework. The article reports comparative analysis of economic and planning policy documents from Scotland, England and the UK and findings from expert workshops held in Scotland, which identify four key policy areas for ‘inclusive growth’: skills, transport and housing for young people; city-regional governance; childcare; and place-making. These policies share with the ‘Foundational Economy’ an emphasis on everyday infrastructure and services, but add an emphasis on inter-generational justice and stress the importance of community empowerment as much as re-municipalisation. Factors enabling IG policy development include: the necessary political powers; a unifying political discourse and civic institutions; and inclusive governance and participatory democracy.


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