The Transformation of Public TV Companies into Digital Services at the BBC and RTVE

Medina-Laverón, Mercedes and Ojer-Goñi, Teresa The Transformation of Public TV Companies into Digital Services at the BBC and RTVE. Revista Comunicar, 2011, vol. XVIII, n. 36, pp. 87-95. [Journal article (Paginated)]

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English abstract

Some authors question the existence of public television companies in the new environment of digitalization, Internet proliferation, growing competition and audience segmentation. However, others believe they should act as a driving force in the process of convergence and even that the new media present an opportunity to redefine the public broadcasting service (PBS) remit. The current challenge for the public media companies is to deliver their content through the maximum number of devices, not only via television sets but also broadband and mobile devices. Over the years, the BBC has adapted to new market situations and has implemented solutions that have been adopted by other public and private broadcasters around the world. The objective of this article is to show how the BBC has taken up the leadership of transforming public TV companies into online services in order to maintain market share; and how it has influenced Spain’s public TV broadcaster, RTVE. The methodology is based on internal and external documents of both corporations, and the findings are complemented by interviews with online service managers at RTVE. We conclude that these public companies have adapted their activities to the new technologies and have developed interactive services to reinforce their public service mission

Spanish abstract

Algunas voces cuestionan la permanencia de las televisiones públicas en el nuevo entorno digital, caracterizado por una mayor presencia de Internet, más competidores y la fragmentación de la audiencia. Sin embargo, hay otros que creen que deberían actuar como una fuerza motriz en el proceso de convergencia e incluso que los nuevos medios representan una posibilidad de redefinir la misión de las televisiones públicas. El reto actual de las corporaciones públicas es proporcionar los contenidos a través del mayor número de soportes posibles, no solo a través de la televisión, sino también a través de Internet y dispositivos móviles. Un rasgo de la BBC es haberse adaptado siempre a los cambios del mercado y muchas de sus soluciones han sido transferidas a otras empresas de comunicación tanto públicas como privadas de todo el mundo. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar cómo la BBC es uno de los modelos en los que las empresas televisivas se han fijado para transformar sus servicios digitales a fin de mantener su existencia en el mercado, y conocer cuál ha sido su influencia en la televisión pública española RTVE. La metodología emplea - da radica en el análisis de los documentos internos y externos de las compañías y entrevistas realizadas a los responsables de los servicios digitales de RTVE. Las conclusiones apuntan a destacar que estas compañías han adaptado sus actividades a las nuevas tecnologías y han desarrollado servicios interactivos como refuerzo de su misión de servicio público

Item type:	Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords:	Online services, Digital services, Innovation, Transformation, Public television, Servicios online, Servicios digitales, Innovación, Transformación, Televisión pública.
Subjects:	B. Information use and sociology of information > BA. Use and impact of information. E. Publishing and legal issues. > EA. Mass media. H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HI. Electronic Media. H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HP. e-resources. H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HQ. Web pages. H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HR. Portals.
Depositing user:	Alex Ruiz
Date deposited:	07 Oct 2012
Last modified:	02 Oct 2014 12:23
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/10760/17754

References

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