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Global Vision
With the
deregulation of television networks in western Europe and the ex-communist
eastern European countries and Russia there is now a thriving trade in both
programmes and formats.
The newly
commercialised networks generally have far fewer restrictions and have to
compete with rival networks for viewers - even in many cases against
broadcasters operating in neighbouring countries, so all look for maximum
viewing figures for the least money spent. Since the best programmes command
the most money, many poorer countries have to make do with buying old or less
popular programming, but most countries rich or poor often decide just to
licence a programme format for local production. This is the case especially
with quiz show formats where language and cultural differences would otherwise
prove to be a barrier.
Some have been
very popular – "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" for example has been licensed
to over 60 countries, and most of these countries make use of the same
graphics, sound effects and even many of the same questions that the original
British show uses. Another very popular programme type for export is the
wildlife documentary – they can be cheap to produce and a commentary in a
local language can easily be added. The activities of wild animals are often
popular with viewers of all ages, as well as these documentaries having a long
shelf life (unlike, say, current affairs).
The invention
of broadcast-quality video tape recording by Ampex in 1956 finally enabled
television programmes to easily be recorded in order to be repeated, archived
or transported. It was previously possible to record programming using film
but it was expensive, time consuming and the film itself could not be reused
if a recorded scene didn't turn out as expected. Prior to 1956 film was the
only choice for stockpiling programmes; indeed film was still used for many
applications well into the 1970s since there was no need for the complex and
expensive standards conversion that was required with videotape for sending
programmes abroad to many other countries. Editing programmes was extremely
difficult with early video recordings; splicing tape - an imprecise method of
editing which could cause the tape to snap – also prevented its re-use. With
an eye to the costs and troubles of videotape, directors were often very
reluctant to stop a video recording mid-scene unless absolutely necessary.
Live
broadcasts from other countries were attempted using undersea cables as early
as the 1950s and a link between Dover and Calais was established with
standards conversion between the British 405-line and French 819-line
monochrome systems implemented by pointing a 405-line camera at an 819-line
monitor. It wasn’t until 1962 when Telstar-1 was launched that regular live
programme exchanges became truly feasible. The aftermath of the assassination
of President Kennedy was the first major news story to be covered by satellite
and suddenly the rest of the world became a lot more accessible.
However, it
took the launch of geostationary satellites like Early Bird, in a fixed
position in the Clarke Belt, to make this sort of communication possible 24
hours a day rather than just twenty or so minutes. Regular live exchanges of
programme material then became practical as well as possible, but there was
still the issue of standards conversion to overcome. Different countries
(through accident or design) ended up using different standards of
transmitting television programmes, especially prior to the 1960s when the
United Kingdom was still exclusively using the pre-war 405-line system
developed by EMI.
The bulk of
mainland Europe adopted 625-line systems based on post-war CCIR
recommendations, whilst France stuck – on monochrome and on its first network
only - with 819-lines. Many others such as the USA and Japan went with a
525-line system instead, though not until the American networks had spent
years arguing about the standard. As well lines there were the differing
number of frames per second to contend with - 50 per second in the UK versus
60 in America, which further complicates any attempt to do basic standards
conversion. Simply pointing a camera at a monitor using a different frame rate
results in an unacceptable flickering of the picture. And when line standards
and frame rates are sorted, the complexity of the different systems used for
transmitting colour pictures must be taken into account.
A solution to
the problem of conversion first came when the BBC developed a Field Stores
Converter which was first used for the Mexico Olympics in 1968; this was later
followed by the DICE converter developed by ITN in 1972. These early
converters were very complex and were the size of large wardrobes; nowadays it
is possible to buy domestic quality converters for less than £100 that are
housed in a small box.
All this shows
that the trade in television programming has come a very long way since ITV
first showed the likes of Dragnet back in the 1950s. Thames Television even
chose its name partly on the basis of making the task of programme sales
abroad easier. The establishment of the World Intellectual Property
Organisation in 1970 enabled people and organisations to jealously guard the
world copyright of programme formats, hence helping further establish a global
trade in both formats and completed programming. The cost of making programmes
may have fallen dramatically in the last few years, but good television is
still expensive to make – but far more enduring to watch.
David Hastings
Compilation © 2002 Transdiffusion Broadcasting System
Text © 2002 David Hastings. All rights reserved. Used with permission
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