Issues and readings
What are the main economic characteristics of broadcasting? How have the economics of television broadcasting been altered by recent technological developments? What difference does the arrival of direct payments and additional avenues for distribution make? What are the implications of these changes for publicly funded television? What is meant by ‘market failures’ in broadcasting? In what ways may television broadcasters' strategies of networking, horizontal expansion and vertical integration (e.g. joint ownership of production and broadcasting) be encouraged by the availability of economies of scale or other economic advantages? How do US programme-makers benefit from strategies of 'deficit-funding?' What is 'windowing' and why is this an important concept in the economics of content supply?
Background reading:
Doyle, Gillian (2002), Understanding Media Economics, Sage Publications: Chaps 4 & 5.
Obligatory reading
Graham, Andrew, (1999) Broadcasting Policy in the Multimedia Age, in Graham et al (eds), Public Purposes and Broadcasting: Funding the BBC, Luton: University of Luton
Garnham, Nicholas and Gareth Locksley (1991), 'The Economics of Broadcasting' in Jay G. Blumler and T.J. Nossiter (editors), Broadcasting Finance in Transition : A Comparative Handbook, New York; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 8-22.
Owen, Bruce & Wildman, Steve (1992), Video Economics, Harvard Univ Press: Chaps 1, 2, 5.
Ferguson, Douglas (2004), ‘The Broadcast Television Networks’, in A. Alexander, J. Owers, R. Carveth, A. Hollifield and A. Greco (eds), Media Economics: Theory and Practice (3rd ed), Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 149-172.
Doyle, Gillian and Paterson, Richard (2008), ‘Public Policy and Independent TV Production in the UK’, Journal of Media Business Studies, Fall edition (unfortunately not available in the library and therefore removed from the obligatory readings)
Recommended reading
Brown, Allan & Picard, Robert (2005), Digital Terrestrial Television in Europe, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
OFCOM (2008), OFCOM’s Second PSB Review: Annex 11, ‘Market Failure in Broadcasting’, April 2008. At: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/psb2_1/
Davies, Graham [Chair] (1999) Review of Future Funding of BBC, Annex 8 Market failure