RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

cultural issues at staKe аге perceived as being of central importance. In this field the government has made a series of moves of a direct and indirect Kind which аге leađing to a relaxation of the control of the old duopoly over program prođuction, but not as yet transmission, and f acilitating the introduction of new satellite channels providing new services (o'Malley , 1988b). Since their views in this field are well developed anđ аге being implemented with some vigor , it is оеаг that the Government does not )аск a general policy in this area and therefore its lethargy with regarđ to radio reguires a more specific explanation. In order to understand these reasons we need to examine three related areas ; the nature of the changes in the ‘regulatory culture' in British broadcasting; the economics of radio broadcasting in the UK; the specificity of the idea of l community radio' in the Bntish context. The existing regulatory culture in the UK , which still tođay survives more ог less mtact from the 1950's and before , has a number of distinctive features. We can understand these most c!early by contrasting the British situation with , on, the one hand the USA and on the other the USSR . In the case of the USA the state has been extremely distant from direct control of broadcasting, with the general economic anđ legal frameworK of US life providing one set of constramts on broadcasters' program content and the FCC regulating the technical and economic life of the stations and networKs . In the case of the USSR , there has been much more direct state ownership and control of the broadcasting networK . The UK reality lies somewhat in between . We may visuallze the situation thus ;

FIGURE ONE : COMPARATIVE OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL OF BROADCASTING

The characteristic mechamsms by means of which this balance between the interests of private owners and the state were achieved were through the orgamzational form of the para-statal regulatory body anđ the iđeological form of 'public

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Ownership Scale USSR High State Input Control Scale USSR UK UK USA Low State Input USA