Research activity:

WHO ARE THE MAJOR PLAYERS IN TERMS OF NEWS PROVIDERS IN THE UK AND WHAT EXACTLY DO THEY OWN?

The BBC: public service broadcaster

It’s a non-commercial institution, it only advertises it’s own programs.

The BBC is a major player in terms of news providers in the UK.

The BBC is a 24-hour rolling news television network.

The broadcast platform - the BBC owns:

·      BBC films

·      BBC radio 1extra

·      BBC 3

·      BBC 4

All which are designed to appeal to different audiences.

The E-media platform – the BBC owns:

BBC iPlayer – audiences can watch the news streaming live, or catch up with news that they’ve missed.

The BBC official website attracts 14 million unique users every week, around two thirds of them from the UK, it is the most-read free news website, and 44th most read of every site in the world.

The print platform:

BBC News forms a major department of the BBC, and regularly receives complaints of bias, mostly of being overly left-wing. Left-wing newspapers include, the guardian and daily mirror.

ITN – commercial institution

 “British commercial television network”

ITV, the public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC

ITN owns a number of things, e.g.

CITV

ITV Breakfast

Again, all for different audiences.