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MIP05
Serving Audiences in the Post-Broadcast Era: NewContent and Distribution Strategies in European PSB Corporations
G. Lowe
1
1
University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
This panel brings together views from media economy, technology and content production within European PSB corporations to explore complementary
and also potentially conflicting views on the future of television in the multiplatform context. It combines macro- and micro-level analysis to key questions
concerning public service ideology. Together the papers address a fundamental question: Are the new audience strategies a way to solve the challenges
of PSB in the transition to PSM, or are they problematizing the purpose of public service media? The papers approach this problem by analyzing strategic
documents, economic data, and interviews with journalists and executives. The fields of research cover media and communication studies, journalism
research, media policy, economy and management. Over the past decade there has been a lot of analytic discussion about changes in the media industry in
the development of multiplatform provision.This especially includes on-demand streaming, personalization of media distribution, pluralization of audienc‑
es and individualization of consumption habits. Younger audiences have eagerly adopted the new possibilities that technology and markets have offered.
Public service media corporations have developed new strategies for approaching audiences, reforming both their contents and distribution channels to
accommodate varied preferences. New strategies can be either understood as a major ideological shift from traditional public service values – or they
can be taken as innovative means to adapt public service values in a new kind of situation. Is personalization, for example, just a more developed version
of segmenting or is it ruining the whole idea of universalism? The authors and the chair of the panel represent international partnership and cooperation in
the context of the research project Broadcasting in the Post-Broadcast Era: Policy, Technology, and Content Production (funded by the Academy of Finland
for 2013–2017).
PN 173
Creating a Concept Book for Public Service News Production: From Broadcasted Universalism to Segmented Multiplatform Services
J. Hokka
1
1
University of Tampere, School of Communication- Media and Theatre, Tampere, Finland
Comprehensive television schedule has for long been an essential tool in implementing public service values. Public service companies have typically
offered a variety of genres and topics in prime time, creating both the mass audience and public sphere. Yet, from the 1980s and 90s onwards public
service companies have orientated towards segmentation of the audience. Furthermore, in the age of social media they have increasingly turned away
from universalism towards deeper segmentation and personalization. This paper explores, what kind practical consequences this trend of segmentation
and personalization has to journalistic work in the public service companies. Further, how do the journalists themselves react to the transformations in
their practice? What are the threats and possibilities of this trend to the traditional public service objectives and values, such as universalism and equality?
The paper presents a case study from YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company that has been in the frontline among public service broadcasters in adopting
new methods and serving the audience through social media platforms. The focus is in one particular project in YLE, a concept book of multiplatform
publishing for journalists. The working group of journalists is right now drafting new audience segments for the News and Current Affairs. In the end of this
development process, the concept book should define in detail how journalists will approach these audience segments, determining the use of different
platforms, different types of news stories, moment of publication and even the tone of writing. Thereby, once the concept book is implemented it will have
major effects on the everyday practice of the journalists. The concept book project has begun in January 2016. I have actively participated in the weekly
gatherings of the working group and also, in the spirit of participatory observation, had my contribution to the process. As a result, I have been able to build
trustful relationship with the group, and the members have expressed their opinions freely. At the same time, more than any other method, participant
observation has givenme closer insight into the current changes in the public service sector. At the time of writing the research project is very much work-in-
progress. Still, already the early findings indicate that this study will provide an important contribution to our understanding of how journalists themselves
perceive the transformation from public service broadcasting to public service media.
PN 174
Saving Broadcasting to/from Death: (Mis)Calculating the Future Economics of Multiplatform Distribution
M. Kops
1
, M. Ala-Fossi
2
1
Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
2
University of Tampere, School of Communication- Media and Theatre CMT, Tampere, Finland
The decisions on the use of the radio spectrum as well as the broadcasters’ choices on the media distribution platforms in Europe are increasingly based
on market economics, which is a relatively narrow perspective on the use of public resources for public communication. For example in the UK and in Fin‑
land, the public service broadcasters are planning to reduce the number of their terrestrial television channels in order to reduce their expenses, while in
Germany the cost-efficiency of the digital terrestrial television service has been challenged by the commercial broadcasters. Both the BBC and Finnish YLE
produced their broadcast distribution services at cost price until the late 1990s when these companies were forced to sell their terrestrial networks to private
companies operating for profit. This is part of the reason why BBC Three will be replaced by online-only service in March 2016 and YLE hopes to replace
broadcasting in the future with mobile services. In Germany, the main TV platforms are satellite and cable and the fixed costs of terrestrial network for
commercial broadcasting are high in relation to the additional profits generated. This paper argues that the current European media and spectrum policies
as well as the broadcasters’multiplatform strategies are too much focused on market economics and neglecting the social value of spectrum use in provision
of universal access to broadcast contents, free at the point of reception. It does this both from an allocative perspective that focuses on the efficient usage
of resources and from a distributive perspective that aims to include all members of society into public communication and public opinion and decision mak‑
ing. Although these forms of public value admittedly are hard to quantify they must be taken into account by media politics which is bound to the common
welfare.This is especially true for the choice between broadcasting and broadband, which not only affects the benefits and costs of distribution, but also has