Production and Scheduling

Production

You must know the difference between 'producer broadcasters' and 'publisher broadcasters'. 

Producer Broadcaster: Typically this would include the BBC and ITV. Both companies are broadcasters and produce some of their own content.

Publisher Broadcaster: Typically this would include Channel 4 and C5, neither of whom make their own programmes. Both commission independent companies to make content for them.

There is an excellent guide made by Channel 4 about their commissioning process to be found here.

Remember that 25% of all output by the BBC and ITV companies has to be commissioned out to independents.  The increase in digital production has meant smaller independent producers have struggled to maintain profit in a landscape of smaller budgets. Mergers between the independents have mirrored the mergers between the ITV companies after 1990. This has led to 'super-indies' who have benefited from the economies of scale that merger brings. Companies like talkbackthames and Endemol and Ten Alps tend to produce programmes that have very similar content.

Scheduling

Scheduling is the point at which the production of television and consumption by an audience intersect. Once a particular slot within the schedule has been decided, the broadcaster will then market that programme in whatever way it sees fit.  The model that has dominated television has been the 'mixed schedule'. This kind of approach gives audiences a varied diet where they are likely to find something that appeals throughout the course of the day or the evening. Programmes within the schedule are structured to give viewers elements to hold onto. Certain programmes will go out at the same time of day for instance or be shown at the same time each week. This effect has sometimes been referred to as 'broadcast flow' and has a synergy where the sum of the whole experience is more than the sum of the individual programmes within the schedule.

However, in an increasingly digital world the trend has been towards 'narrowcasting' where tv companies identify specific 'niche' audiences to broadcast to. The same type of show may well be screened one after the other, or be shown at several points throughout the day, or be shown night after night at the same time.

An excellent example of a companies scheduling can be seen at the channel 4 website right here.