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Public broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station. In some countries, public broadcasting is run by a single organization (such as the ] in the UK and the ] in Australia), broadcasting national and regional radio and television services. Other countries have multiple public broadcasting organizations operating regionally (such as the ] in Germany) or in different languages. In the United States, public broadcasting stations are always locally licensed, but range from stations that mostly broadcast programming from national member stations such as the ] (PBS) and ] (NPR), to member stations that broadcast content of local interest. Public broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station. In some countries, public broadcasting is run by a single organization (such as the ] in the UK and the ] in Australia), broadcasting national and regional radio and television services. Other countries have multiple public broadcasting organizations operating regionally (such as the ] in Germany) or in different languages. In the United States, public broadcasting stations are always locally licensed, but range from stations that mostly broadcast programming from national member stations such as the ] (PBS) and ] (NPR), to member stations that broadcast content of local interest.


Historically, in many countries (with the notable exception of the US), public broadcasting was once the only form or the dominant form of broadcasting.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} Commercial broadcasting now also exists in most of these countries; the number of countries with only public broadcasting declined substantially during the latter part of the 20th century.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} Historically, in many countries (with the notable exception of the US), public broadcasting was once the only form or the dominant form of broadcasting.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} Commercial broadcasting now also exists in most of these countries; the number of countries with only public broadcasting declined substantially during the latter part of the 20th century.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} In the ]s public broadcasting was the only allowed form and heavily ] and used for ] purposes.<ref>A Country Study: Soviet Union (Former), Library of Congress, Chapter 9 - Mass Media and the Arts (Joshua Spero) http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/sutoc.html</ref>



The biggest public broadcaster worldwide by budget (6.3 billion euros in 2009) and employees (23,000) is the German ARD<ref></ref> followed by the British BBC.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} Other large public broadcasters are ] and ]. The biggest public broadcaster worldwide by budget (6.3 billion euros in 2009) and employees (23,000) is the German ARD<ref></ref> followed by the British BBC.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} Other large public broadcasters are ] and ].

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Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets that receive some or all of their funding from the public. Public broadcasters may receive their funding from individuals through voluntary donations, a specific charge such as a television license fee, or as direct funding by the state.

The extent to which public broadcasters can be considered "non-commercial" varies from country to country. In the United States most public radio and television stations are licensed as non-commercial educational (NCE) broadcasters, yet many stations transmit underwriting spots (resembling television advertisements on commercial broadcasting but with some content limitations) in exchange for corporate contributions. In some other countries public broadcasters are permitted to transmit television advertisement.

Public broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station. In some countries, public broadcasting is run by a single organization (such as the BBC in the UK and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Australia), broadcasting national and regional radio and television services. Other countries have multiple public broadcasting organizations operating regionally (such as the ARD stations in Germany) or in different languages. In the United States, public broadcasting stations are always locally licensed, but range from stations that mostly broadcast programming from national member stations such as the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR), to member stations that broadcast content of local interest.

Historically, in many countries (with the notable exception of the US), public broadcasting was once the only form or the dominant form of broadcasting. Commercial broadcasting now also exists in most of these countries; the number of countries with only public broadcasting declined substantially during the latter part of the 20th century. In the Soviet Unions public broadcasting was the only allowed form and heavily censored and used for propaganda purposes.

The biggest public broadcaster worldwide by budget (6.3 billion euros in 2009) and employees (23,000) is the German ARD followed by the British BBC. Other large public broadcasters are China National Radio and China Central Television.

Defining public broadcasting

There is no standard definition for public broadcasting, although a number of official bodies have attempted to identify key characteristics. Public-service broadcasters may transmit programming intended to inform, or of cultural value; the aim of much commercial broadcasting is to provide content that attracts a large audience, maximizing revenue from advertising and sponsorship. However, publicly funded broadcasters may transmit popular programs with little informational or cultural value; and commercial broadcasters may be obliged by the terms of their license to transmit programs considered to be of value, but with appeal to only small audiences. The distinction between public and commercial is not always clear; UK Channel 4 is ultimately publicly-owned but largely commercially self-funded, and transmits much entertainment but is subject to a public service remit.

In 1985, the UK Broadcasting Research Unit (1981–1991) defined public service broadcasting as involving

  1. Geographic universality — The stations' broadcasts are available nationwide, with no exception. Generally, the "nationwide" criterion is satisfied by either having member stations across the country (as is the case with PBS) or, as is the case with most other public broadcasters around the world, the broadcaster's use of sufficient transmitters to broadcast nationwide (as with ABC Radio National across Australia).
  2. Catering for all interests and tastes — as exemplified by the BBC's range of minority channels (BBC Four and BBC Radio 3).
  3. Catering for minorities — much as above, but with racial and linguistic minorities. (for example S4C in Wales, BBC Asian Network, Radio-Canada, and Australia's multicultural Special Broadcasting Service (SBS)).
  4. Concern for national identity and community — this essentially means that the stations mostly part-commission programmes from within the country, even if more expensive than importing shows.
  5. Detachment from vested interests and government in which programming is impartial, and the broadcaster is not be subject to control by advertisers or government. Even when a broadcast medium is removed from corporate and government interests, critics argue that it may nonetheless have a bias towards the values of certain groups, such as the middle class, the politics of the incumbent government, or in the case of partially or wholly commercially funded networks, the advertisers.
  6. One broadcasting system to be directly funded by the corpus of users — For example, the licence fee in the case of the BBC, or member stations asking for donations in the case of PBS/NPR.
  7. Competition in good programming rather than numbers — quality is the prime concern with a true public service broadcaster. Of course, in practice, ratings wars are rarely concerned with quality, although that may depend on how "quality" is defined.
  8. Guidelines to liberate programme-makers and not restrict them — in the UK, guidelines, and not laws, govern what a programme-maker can and cannot do, although these guidelines can be backed up by hefty penalties.

Not all of these points apply to public broadcasting in other countries.

Advantages and disadvantages

Economics

Public broadcasters may receive all or much of their funding from general tax revenue or from an obligatory television licence fee. Public broadcasters do not rely on advertising as a source of revenue to the same degree as commercial broadcasters, or at all; this allows public broadcasters to transmit programmes that are less saleable to the mass market, such as public affairs shows, radio and television documentaries, and educational programmes.

An argued rationale for public broadcasting is that it exists to provide coverage of interests for which there are missing or small markets. Public broadcasting is argued to supply those topics which are argued to be of social benefit but that would otherwise not be broadcast due to believed unprofitability. The public is claimed to be willing to pay for such programming, but markets fail to provide it. Typically, such underprovision is argued to exist when the benefits to viewers are relatively high in comparison to the benefits to advertisers from contacting viewers. This frequently is the case in undeveloped countries that normally have low benefits to advertising, which helps explain their tendency to have public broadcasting. However, concern exists that public broadcasting can crowd out potential private broadcasting. One study compared classical and jazz music programming provided by private radio to that provided by public radio. It found that in large markets, public broadcasting appears to displace private entry. Additionally, publicly funded broadcasting does not necessarily mean that the optimal level will be produced. A government failure can arise in which the cost of public funding exceeds its benefits.

Cultural policy

Additionally, public broadcasting may facilitate the implementation of a cultural policy (an industrial policy and investment policy for culture). Some examples include:

  • The Canadian government is committed to official bilingualism (English and French). As a result, the public broadcaster, the CBC employs translators and journalists who speak both official languages and it encourages production of cross-cultural material. Quebec separatists argue that this is also a policy of cultural imperialism and assimilation.
  • In the UK, the BBC supports multiculturalism and diversity, in part by using on-screen commentators and hosts of different ethnic origins. There are also Welsh-language programmes.
  • In New Zealand, the public broadcasting system provides support to Maori (native New Zealander) broadcasting, with the staed intention of improving their opportunities, maintaining their cultural heritage and promoting their language.
  • In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is legally required to 'encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia' and 'broadcasting programs that contribute to a sense of national identity' with specific emphasis on regional and rural Australia'. As well as the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is still encourage and provides through the spirit and sense of multicultural richness and the unique international cultural values within the Australian society.

Vested interests

Public broadcasting, unless its independence is vigorously upheld, can become a tool of government. Similarly, private networks can promote the policies of their owners and suppress other viewpoints, alleging it is in the public interest. Conflicts are common: the state alleges that private broadcasters are attacking it in the interests of the owners, and controls them or takes them over.

Implementation of public broadcasting around the world

The model, established in the 1920s, of the British Broadcasting Corporation – an organization widely trusted, even by citizens of the Axis Powers during World War II – was widely emulated throughout Europe, the British Empire, and later the Commonwealth. The public broadcasters in a number of countries are basically an application of the model used in Britain.

Modern public broadcasting is often a mixed commercial model. For example, the CBC has always relied on a subsidy from general revenues of the government, in addition to advertising revenue, to support its television service. This means they must compete with commercial broadcasting. Some argue that this dilutes their mandate as truly public broadcasters, who have no commercial bias to distort their presentation.

The rest of this section looks at some specific implementations of public broadcasting around the world.

Asia

India

In India, Prasar Bharati is India's public broadcaster. It is an autonomous corporation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Government of India and comprises the Doordarshan television network and All India Radio. Prasar Bharati was established on November 23, 1957 following a demand that the government owned broadcasters in India should be given autonomy like those in many other countries. The Parliament of India passed an Act to grant this autonomy in 1990, but it was not enacted until September 15, 1997.

Nepal

Public Service Broadcasting in Nepal

Pakistan

In Pakistan, the public broadcaster is the state owned PBC which is short for "Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation." It consists of PTV (Pakistan Television) and Radio Pakistan. In the past PBC was funded publicly through money obtained from television, radio and VCR licensing. Pakistan entered into Television Broadcasting age with a small pilot TV Station established at Lahore from where transmission was first beamed in Black & White with effect from 26 November 1964. Television centres were established in Dhaka, Karachi and Rawalpindi/Islamabad in 1967 and in Peshawar and Quetta in 1974. PTV has various channels trasmitting throughout the world including PTV National, PTV World, PTV 2, PTV Global, PTV Bolan etc. Radio Pakistan has stations covering all the major cities, it covers 80% of the country serving 95.5 Million listeners. It has world service in seven languages daily.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the sole public service broadcaster. Although a government department under administrative hierarchy, it enjoys editorial independence. It operates seven radio channels, and produces television programmes and broadcast on commercial television channels, as these channels are required by law to provide time slot for RTHK television programmes.

RTHK would be assigned a digital terrestrial television channel within 2013 to 2015, when the new broadcasting building is completed in Tseung Kwan O.

Japan

In Japan, the main public broadcaster is the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), sometimes informally referred to as Radio Tokyo by English speakers. The broadcaster was set up in 1926 and was modelled on the British Broadcasting Company, the precursor to the British Broadcasting Corporation created in 1927. Much like the BBC, NHK is funded by a "receiving fee" by every Japanese household, with no commercial advertising and the maintenance of a position of strict political impartiality. However, rampant non-payment by a large fraction of households has led the receiving fee to become something of a political issue. NHK runs two national terrestrial TV stations (NHK General and NHK Educational) and three satellite only services (NHK BS-1, BS-2 and the hi-definition NHK Hi-Vision services). NHK also runs 3 national radio services and a number of international radio and television services, akin to the BBC World Service. NHK has also been an innovator in television, developing the world's first high definition television technology in 1964 and launching high definition services in Japan in 1981.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, the public broadcaster is the state owned RTM which is short for "Radio Televisyen Malaysia" (Malaysian Radio and Television). RTM was previously funded publicly through money obtained from television licensing, however it is currently state subsidised as television licences have been abolished.

At present, RTM operates 8 national, 16 state and 7 district radio stations as well as 2 national terrestrial television channels called TV1 and TV2. RTM has also done test transmissions on a new digital television channel called RTMi. Tests involving 2000 residential homes in the Klang Valley began in September 2006 and ended in March 2007.

KOREA

Korean Brocasting System KBS, Munwha Brocasting Corporation MBC, Education Brocasting System EBS,

Europe

In most countries in Europe, state broadcasters are funded through a mix of advertising and public money, either through a licence fee or directly from the government.

Croatia

Croatian Radiotelevision (Template:Lang-hr, HRT) is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. As of 2002, 70% of HRT's funding comes from broadcast user fees with each house in Croatia required to pay 79 HRK, kuna, per month for a single television), with the remainder being made up from advertising.

Estonia

ERR (Estonian Public Broadcasting) organizes the public radio and television stations of Estonia. ETV (Estonian Television), the public television station, made its first broadcast in 1955, and together with its sister channel ETV2 has ca. 20% audience share.

France

Following World War II, the RTF (Radiodiffusion-télévision française - French television and radio broadcasting) was created to operate the only two channels of television in France. The RTF was transformed into ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française - French television and radio diffusion office), a more independent structure, in 1964. The ORTF saw the birth of a third channel in 1972, two years before the dissolution of the structure in 1974. From this date to 2000, each channel had its own direction structure. The first channel (TF1) was sold to the private sector in 1987 (in these years, the channel which had the most audience was the other public channel Antenne 2). In 1986 a French/German public channel was created, ARTE, originally broadcast on cable and satellite, the fall of the private channel La Cinq freed some frequencies that it had used each day after 19:00. In 1994 a new public channel, La cinquième was created to use the remaining time on the same frequencies. La cinquieme and ARTE subsequently shared the same channels with the exception of satellite, cable, and internet channels where both could be broadcast all day long. In 2000 all the public channels were united into one structure, France Télévisions.

Germany

Following World War II, when regional broadcasters had been merged into one national network by the Nazis to create a powerful means of propaganda, the Allies insisted on a de-centralised, independent structure for German public broadcasting and created regional public broadcasting agencies that, by and large, still exist today. In addition to these nine regional radio and TV broadcasters, which cooperate within ARD, a second national television service—actually called Second German Television (Template:Lang-de, ZDF)—was later created in 1961 and a national radio service with two networks (Deutschlandradio) emerged from the remains of Cold War propaganda stations in 1994. All services are mainly financed through license fees paid by everybody who keeps a radio, TV set, PC or mobile phone with internet access "ready for use", and are governed by councils of representatives of the "societally relevant groups". Public TV and radio stations spend about 60% of the ~10 Bil. € spent altogether for broadcasting in Germany per year.

Ireland

In Ireland a system of TV licencing and advertising to fund public services operates. RTÉ the incumbent offers a range of free to air services on TV and Radio. The Sound and Vision Fund is operated by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, this fund receives 5% of the licence fee. The fund is used to assist broadcasters to commission public service broadcast programming. It is open to all independent producers provided they get a free to air or community broadcaster's backing, including TV3, Today FM, BBC Northern Ireland, RTÉ, Channel 4, UTV etc. An off-shot of RTÉ, TG4 is an independent Irish language broadcaster that is funded by the government through subsidy, and through advertising revenue.

Italy

The Italian national broadcasting company is RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana, born as URI in 1924. RAI transmits on analogue television on three channels, named Rai Uno, Rai Due and Rai Tre, but also broadcasts via satellite and is involved in radio, publishing and cinema. RAI has the largest audience share (45%) of any Italian television network. Proceeds derive from a periodical standing charge and from advertising. The main competitors of RAI are Mediaset, the biggest national private broadcaster, divided in three channels, and La7, owned by Telecom Italia.

Montenegro

RTCG (Radio Television of Montenegro) is the public broadcaster in Montenegro.

Netherlands

Main article: Netherlands Public Broadcasting

In the Netherlands a different system is used from most other countries. Public-broadcasting associations are allocated money and time to broadcast their programmes on the publicly owned television and radio channels. The time and money is allocated in proportion to their membership numbers. The system is intended to reflect the diversity of all the groups composing the nation.

Poland

Main article: Polish Public Broadcasting

The main public broadcasters are Telewizja Polska (TVP) television and Polskie Radio. TVP operates three nationwide channels: TVP 1, TVP 2 and TVP Info. It also broadcasts couple of digital channels via satellite and 16 regional affiliates. Polskie Radio operates four radio stations available throughout the country. There are also 17 state-owned radio stations broadcasting in particular regions.

United Kingdom

Main article: Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has a strong tradition of public service broadcasting. In addition to the BBC, established in 1922 and perhaps the finest example of public broadcasting, there is also Channel 4, a commercial public service broadcaster, and S4C, a Welsh language broadcaster in Wales. Furthermore, the two commercial analogue broadcasters ITV and Channel 5 also have significant public service obligations imposed as part of their licence to broadcast.

Scandinavia

National public broadcasters in the Scandinavian countries were modelled after the BBC and established a decade later: Radioordningen (now DR) in Denmark, Kringkastingselskapet (now NRK) in Norway, and Radiotjänst (now Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Television) in Sweden (all in 1925), and YLE in Finland in 1926. All four are funded from television licence fees costing (in 2007) around €230 (US$300) per household per year.

Spain

In Spain, being a highly decentralised country, two public broadcasting systems coexist: a national broadcasting television, Radio y Televisión Española (RTVE), that can be watched all around Spain, and many autonomic TV channels, only broadcasted within their respective Autonomous Community. Televisión Española was founded in 1956, during Franco's dictatorship. It broadcasts two different TV-channels: TVE1 (a.k.a La Primera or La uno), that is a wide-range audience general channel; and TVE2, (a.k.a La dos), that tends to offer cultural programation, as well as sport competitions. Till 2008, RTVE was founded both with public funding and with private advertising; however, the Spanish government has recently decreed that starting in September 2009, RTVE's channels shall be founded with taxpayer's money and with private founding raised from the rest of Spain's private TV stations, thus removing advertising from the broadcaster. A TV licence fee has been suggested, but with little popular success.

Moreover, each of the autonomous communities of Spain have their own public broadcaster, usually consisting in either one or two public channels that tend to reproduce the model set up by Televisión Española: a general channel and a more cultural related one. In the Autonomous Communities that have their own official language besides Spanish, those channels may broadcast not in Spanish, but in the other co-official language. For example, this occurs in Catalonia, where Televisió de Catalunya broadcasts mainly in Catalan. In the Basque Country, Euskal Telebista (ETB) has three channels, two of which broadcast only in basque (ETB 1 and ETB 3), whereas the other (ETB 2) broadcasts in Spanish. In Galicia, the Television de Galicia and the G2. All the autonomic networks are publicly founded, and also admit private advertising.

North and South America

Argentina

Despite a moderate state presence in television media since the 1970s, it never had a strong history of European style public service radio or television. The private sector has taken the leading role in the development of television networks. In opposition, state broadcasters tend to be either very weak and under-funded, such as the Argentinian Canal 7, formerly known as ATC

Canada

In Canada, the main public broadcaster is the national Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (the CBC), which operates two television networks (CBC Television and Télévision de Radio-Canada), four radio networks (CBC Radio One, CBC Radio Two, Première Chaîne and Espace musique) and two 24-hour news channels (CBC News Network and RDI) in both of Canada's official languages. CBC's television operations are funded in part by advertisements, in addition to tax dollars from the federal government (Newsworld and RDI are funded entirely by commercials). CBC's radio operations are commercial-free. In recent years, the CBC was frequently battered by budget cuts and labour disputes.

In addition, several provinces operate public broadcasters; these are not CBC subentities, but distinct networks in their own right. These include the English-language TVOntario and the French-language TFO in Ontario, Télé-Québec in Quebec, SCN in Saskatchewan, public radio station CKUA in Alberta, and Knowledge in British Columbia. Some of the provincial broadcasters operate through conventional transmitters, while others are cable-only channels.

Alberta also has a semi-public television network, Access, which is licensed to provide some public service programming but is owned and operated by a commercial broadcaster. The network, formerly a public broadcaster operated by the provincial government, was sold to CHUM Limited in 1995. CJRT-FM in Toronto also operated as a public government-owned radio station for many years; while no longer funded by the provincial government, it still solicits most of its budget from listener and corporate donations and is permitted to air only a very small amount of commercial advertising. One television station, CFTU in Montreal, operates as an educational station owned by the Université de Montréal. Some other universities have dedicated cable channels to broadcast educational programming, but no other university in Canada operates a conventional broadcast television station.

Some local community stations also operate non-commercially with funding from corporate and individual donors. In addition, cable companies are required to produce a local community channel in each licensed market. Such channels have traditionally aired community talk shows, city council meetings and other locally oriented programming, although it is becoming increasingly common for them to adopt the format and branding of a local news channel.

Canada also has a large number of campus radio and community radio stations.

Chile

The closest model to the British BBC is that of Chile's Televisión Nacional, an open channel which serves the entire country (including Easter Island and Antarctica bases). Televisión Nacional, popularly known as channel 7 because of its Santiago frequency, is governed by a seven-member board appointed by the Chilean Senate. It is meant to be independent of political pressures, although accusations of bias have been made, especially during election campaigns.

United States

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The Gregory Hall on the campus of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign hosted an important meeting of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters in the 1940s that spawned both PBS and NPR.

Public broadcasting in the United States is as old as broadcasting itself. Most early public stations were operated by state colleges and universities, and were often run as part of the schools' cooperative extension services. Stations in this era were internally funded, and did not rely on listener contributions to operate; some accepted advertising. Networks such as Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin Public Radio began in this way.

The concept of a "non-commercial, educational" station per se does not show up in U.S. law until the 1940s, when the FM band was moved to its present location; the part of the band between 88.1 and 91.9 MHz is reserved for such stations, though they are not limited to those frequencies. For example, WFIU-Bloomington, Ind. has its FM frequency at 103.7 MHz. Houston's KUHT was the nation's first public television station, and signed on the air in 25 May 1953 from the campus of the University of Houston. This phenomenon continued in other big cities in the 1950s; in rural areas, it was not uncommon for colleges to operate commercial stations instead (e.g., the University of Missouri's KOMU-TV, an NBC affiliate).

In the United States, public broadcasting is decentralized and is not government operated, but does receive some government support. The majority of funding comes from community support to hundreds of public radio and public television stations, each of which is an individual entity licensed to one of several different non-profit organizations, municipal or state governments, or universities. Sources of funding also include on-air and online pledge drives and the sale of underwriting "spots" (typically 15–30 seconds) to sponsors. Public radio and television stations often produce their own programs as well as purchase additional programming from national producers and program distributors such as National Public Radio (NPR), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Public Radio International (PRI), American Public Television (APT), American Public Media, and Public Radio Exchange (PRX). U.S. federal government support for public radio and television is filtered through a separate organization, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

Public broadcasting is sometimes also referred to as public media, in an effort to capture the expansion of public broadcasting content from radio and television into digital technologies, in particular the web and mobile platforms. While some consider public media to be analogous to public broadcasting, others use the term more broadly to include all noncommercial media.

Individual stations and programs rely on highly varied proportions of funding. Program-by-program funding creates the potential for conflict-of-interest situations, which must be weighed program by program under standards such as the guidelines established by PBS. Donations are widely dispersed to stations and producers, giving the system a resilience and broad base of support but diffusing authority and impeding decisive change and priority-setting.

According to CPB, in 2009 18.1% of the aggregate revenues of all public radio broadcasting stations were funded from federal sources, principally through CPB. Counting all sources such as state and local, 42.9% of revenue was tax based. Other large sources of income was subscribers (27.6%), business (16.4%), and foundations (7.9%).

Television

In the United States, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (formerly National Educational Television) television network operates on a largely viewer-supported basis (see telethon), with commercial sponsors of specific programs. Over time, sponsorship announcements ("underwriting") have slowly transformed into something resembling regular (commercial) TV advertisements, though they are usually shorter and have a more muted tone than what normally appears on commercial and cable TV, and many organizations still only receive a short thanks for their contributions. Underwriting may only issue declarative statements (including slogans) and may not include "calls to action". Most communities also have Public-access television channels on local cable television systems, which are generally paid for by Cable television franchise fees and sometimes supported in part through citizens donations.

US public broadcasting for television has, from the late 1960s onward, dealt with severe criticism from conservative politicians and think-tanks, which allege that its programming has a leftist bias.

Radio

A public radio network, National Public Radio (NPR), was created in 1970, following the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 which established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This network (generally exclusive of Pacifica Radio, described below) is colloquially though inaccurately conflated with public radio as a whole, when in fact public radio includes many organizations. Independent local public radio stations buy their programming from distributors such as NPR; Public Radio International (PRI); American Public Media (APM); Public Radio Exchange (PRX); and Pacifica, most often distributed through the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS). Around these distributed programs, stations fill in varying amounts of local and other programming.

Public radio stations in the U.S. tend to broadcast a mixture of news and talk radio programming along with some arts, culture, and music. Some of the larger operations split off these formats into separate stations or networks. Public radio's music stations are probably best known for playing classical music, although other formats have been used, including the time-honored "eclectic" music format that is rather freeform in nature common among college radio stations; jazz is another public radio programming staple, dominating the airwaves in the major markets L.A. and New Jersey, KKJZ 88.1 FM and WBGO 88.3 FM. Also, XM Satellite Radio provides a station of public radio programs licensed from all three content providers.

Local stations derive most of the funding for their operations through regular pledge drives seeking individual and corporate donations, and corporate underwriting. Some stations also derive a portion of their funding from federal, state and local governments and government-funded colleges and universities (in addition to receiving free use of the public radio spectrum). The local stations then contract with program distributors and also provide some programming themselves. NPR produces some of its own programming such as Morning Edition; Weekend Edition; and All Things Considered. PBS, by contrast, does not create its own content. NPR also receives some direct funding from private donors, foundations, and from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Some other public networks, such as Pacifica Radio], are almost entirely member-funded and do not receive significant sponsorship from corporations or governmental sources; Pacifica Radio is known for a general body of programming of (what is considered) a mainly leftist social and political viewpoint, with many programs, especially news and public affairs shows, critical and/or challenging of trends and issues in mainstream government, society and corporations.

Venezuela

Recently, under the initiative of the Venezuelan government of president Hugo Chávez, and with the sponsorship of the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua, the news and documentary network teleSUR was created with the intended to be an instrument toward the "concretizing of the Bolivarian idea" through the integration of America, and as a counterweight to what the governments that funds it consider a "distorted view of Latin American reality by privately run networks that broadcast to the region". There is an ongoing debate on whether teleSUR will be able become a neutral and fair news channel able to counter the huge influence of global media outlets, or whether it will end up as a propaganda tool of the Venezuelan government, which owns a 51 percent share of said channel.

Oceania

Australia

In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is owned by the Australian Government and is 100% taxpayer funded. The multicultural Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), another public broadcaster, now accepts limited sponsorship and advertising. Imparja is an Aboriginal community broadcaster in Australia that receives funding from the Federal Government. Most of its programs are bought from Australia's commercial broadcasters, and it only airs a small amount of local content.

In addition, there is a large Australian community broadcasting sector, funded in part by Federal grants via the Community Broadcasting Foundation, but largely sustained via subscriptions, donations and business sponsorship. As of June 2005, there were 442 fully-licensed community radio stations (including remote Indigenous services) and a number of community television stations (most operating as Channel 31 despite being unrelated across different states). They are organised similarly to PBS and NPR stations in the US, and take on the role that Public access television stations have in the US.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the former public broadcaster BCNZ (formerly NZBC) was broken up into separate state-owned corporations, Television New Zealand (TVNZ) and Radio New Zealand (RNZ). While RNZ remains commercial-free, about 90% of funding for TVNZ comes from selling advertising during programmes on their two stations. TVNZ continues to be a public broadcaster; however like CBC Television in Canada it is essentially a fully commercial network in continuous ratings battles with other stations.

Programmes offered on TVNZ include popular US-produced shows like Desperate Housewives, ER, Lost, Cold Case, and Dancing with the Stars. TVNZ operates five stations: TV ONE, TV2, TVNZ 6, TVNZ 7 and TVNZ Sport Extra and hold majority ratings in the country. Because of its high ratings some of the most expensive advertising slots in the country are on TV ONE and TV2. TVNZ 6 and 7 are fully-funded and advertisement-free.

The Government owns a network of reserved channels for non-commercial regional access broadcasting, and some of them have been awarded to local community trusts to provide public service and access television. Examples are Triangle TV in Auckland and Wellington; and Channel 7 in Taranaki.

List of public broadcasters

American

Argentinian

Brazilian

Canadian

Chilean

Colombian

National
Regional
Local

Costa Rican

Cuba

Ecuadorian

United States

Uruguay

 Radio Clasica
 Radio Uruguay
 Radio Nacional

Venezuelan

Many American countries

  • teleSUR — Reaches the entire continent, Europe and Northern Africa. Owned by La Nueva Televisora del Sur, a public company sponsored by several American countries.

African and Middle Eastern

Asian

Taiwan

Hong Kong (China) SAR

Macau (China) SAR

Indonesia

Malaysia

Singapore

Brunei Darussalam

Asian Legends

Oceanian

Australia

East Timor

New Zealand

European

See also

References

  1. A Country Study: Soviet Union (Former), Library of Congress, Chapter 9 - Mass Media and the Arts (Joshua Spero) http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/sutoc.html
  3. UK Radio Times website, listing current programs; the publicly-funded BBC channels transmit much entertainment of no particular value
  4. BRU definition of public service broadcasting
  5. Anderson & Coate. Market Provision of Public Goods: The Case of Broadcasting. National Bureau of Economic Research. January 2000.
  6. Anderson & Coate. Market Provision of Broadcasting: A Welfare Analysis. Review of Economic Studies. October 2005.
  7. Berry & Waldfogel. Public radio in the United States: does it correct market failure or cannibalize commercial stations? Journal of Public Economics. February 1999.
  8. Brown. Economics, Public Service Broadcasting, and Social Values. The Journal of Media Economics.
  9. Charter of the Corporation (ABC). AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION ACT 1983 - SECT 6..
  10. ^ Example of public broadcaster said to be subject to state control - The Guardian newspaper 10 July 2009 - Venezuela cracks down on 'media terrorism': Government revokes over 200 radio licences and forces television channels to broadcast many of president Chávez's speeches. Same reference says Chávez "greatly expanded the state's media empire to challenge strident anti-government coverage in privately-owned media" - there are contradictory viewpoints
  11. Example of public broadcaster said to be subject to state control - Index on Censorship - Union of Italian state broadcaster journalists: "we no longer want nor can accept that our state TV, paid for by each and every Italian family, is the only TV in the world to support the personal economical/political interests of our prime minister Silvio Berlusconi
  12. Funding Arrangements
  13. "About Us: 50 Years of HoustonPBS History". KUHT - HoustonPBS. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  14. http://www.current.org/
  15. http://www.freepress.net/media_issues/public_media
  16. Guidelines for programs distributed by PBS.
  17. Aufderheide & Clark.Public Broadcasting and Public Affairs. Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. 2008
  18. http://www.cpb.org/stations/reports/revenue/2009PublicBroadcastingRevenue.pdf
  19. "Latin leader rebels against US-centric news" – Christian Science Monitor (Retrieved on January 8, 2009)
  20. Bruce, Iain (28 June 2005). "Venezuela sets up 'CNN rival'". BBC News.
  21. "The TVNZ Charter". Retrieved 2011-02-20.

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