Britain has always been a bit slow when it comes to Television Channels and choices. When TV programmes were starting to be made, it emerged that the British Broadcasting Company was going to be the most successful in terms of reach and range, so the Government effectively bought it and made them the State provider.
Anyone owning a Television in the 1920s to 1930s, and they were few and far between, had the choice of one channel. The service was suspended during the war and only saw an uptake in TV purchases with the death of George VI and the Coronation of Elizabeth II. There was still only one channel, the BBC. You had to have a TV Licence. Things stayed like this until 1955, when the Government approved the creation of Independent Television (ITV). This is a “free to view” channel as programmes are paid for by adverts. There is no way you can just get ITV programmes. You still have to pay the Licence Fee. A TV aerial will also be needed. TV aerial installation Bristol based company, https://aerial-installations-bristol.co.uk/ can help with today’s needs. This took the Channel total up to 2.
The BBC decided to launch a second Channel, BBC2, in 1964. It was to be totally in colour and would feature more groundbreaking and innovative programmes. Now there were three channels. The fourth, Channel 4, was launched in 1982. It was much more daring than the BBC. Finally, Channel 5 was launched in 1997 as a populist programme provider, similar to ITV.
To the people of North America and the rest of the world, 5 Channels of choice seemed to be ludicrous. For starters, they couldn’t understand why everyone had to have a licence to own an entertainment system. As British Holidaymakers started to go abroad, they were astounded to find that the remote control had a purpose beyond the number 3. If they went to the USA, it was in the hundreds, and there were channels on every conceivable subject.
Do more channels mean better television? Some argue that the increased competition means that producers have to make better content to attract viewers. However, on the other side, the opposite view is that only popular shows like soap operas and game shows will get made. This means that nothing new or groundbreaking will come out.
