TV Channels

1. Research the terms 'high-brow' and 'low-brow'. What do they refer to? How can we apply them to the main TV channels?

High brow: Highly cultured or intellectual. Requires high level of thinking. Examples of high brow are newspapers, articles, documentaries etc.

Low brow: Low cultured. Requires low levels of thinking. Examples of this are magazines, televisions, newspapers, gossip etc.

    2.  Research the term 'public service broadcasting'. What does it refer to? How does it influence what appears on the main five channels?

The public service broadcasting has 5 public service broadcasters. These 5 are:

• The BBC, a public corporation, funded mainly by the television licence fee

• Channel 4, a public corporation self-funded by advertising

• S4C, a public corporation broadcasting in Wales and funded by a combination of BBC funding, government grant and advertising

• Channels 3 and 5, whose licences are held by commercial television companies funded by advertising (currently for Channel 3, ITV in England and Wales, STV in Scotland and UTV in Northern Ireland)

BBC1

BBC One's remit is to be the BBC's most popular mixed-genre television service across UK, Offering a wide range of high-quality programmes. BBC 1 fits into the concept of public service broadcasting as it is a television channel and is used to entertain people in a public service.  BBC1 broadcasts a wide range of popular programmes across a range of genres including news and current affairs, drama, comedy and entertainment.Depending on the type of show, BBC 1's average target audience would be working-class, around the ages of 16-50 and both female and male.

BBC2
BBC Two is a mixed-genre channel appealing to a broad adult audience with programmes of depth and substance. It includes the greatest amount and range of knowledge-building programming of any BBC television channel, complemented by distinctive comedy, drama and arts programming. Programmes that appear on this channel include things like Cash in the Attic, and Ready Steady Cook. I think the TV channels aim is to entertain and inform their audience as many of their shows are funny. Finally, depending on the type of show, BBC 2's average target audience would be working-class, around the ages of 16-50 and both female and male

ITV1

The programs that appear on ITV are shows such as: Britains got Talent, X Factor, I'm a Celebrity, Get me out of here and loads more. In addition, ITV would be considered as low brow because it has things like celebrity gossip, news about them etc. Its mainly about informal news; has no documentaries or articles which are considered as a high brow. A few of the major stars that are usually shown on ITV1 are Ant and Dec, Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh.  The target audience of this channel would be working-class people.

Channel 4

Programmes that appear on Channel 4 mainly focus more on soaps such as: Hollyoaks, Come Dine With Me and Countdown. Channel 4 was launched in November 1982, and their aim was to inform and entertain their viewers. Their aim was to have shows that are aimed at both the younger and older generation. They also wanted  wanted to keep their target audience as wide as possible. Channel 4 News is known for providing the latest UK and World news to their audience. Moreover,Channel 4 would be considered to be a high-brow television channel, They tell us about what's happening in the world, which is affecting us and does not share useless information to us. The target audience of Channel 4 would be young adults and the older generation. 

BBC5

Programmes that appear on Channel 5 are: Fifth Gear, Big Brother and also documentary style shows. Channel 5 is newcomer in terms of how old it is compared to its competitors; Channel 5 was launched in 1991 and has been on air for 23 years. Channel 5 is primarily known for the broadcasting of its Big Brother series, which is a reality television show which contains house-mates that live in the same house. Every week, one person gets evicted by a public-vote, and the last remaining contestant receives a large cash prize. Ideally, Channel 5 would fall under the low-brow television channel, as it is not as popular with the older generation and is not an interesting channel in terms of its news and other shows apart from its main successor; Big Brother. The ideal target audience of Channel 5 would be the younger audience and young adults. They would not be in the best of jobs and may also be unemployed, but would seem as those with not the best of grades and those that may have not as done as well in school. They would be being paid the lower ranged jobs and may be in a job that they may not find suitable. It would appeal to more the male population rather than the female generation, pushing towards a 60/40 percentage