Public service:
A public service company relies entirely on the TV licence fee in order for the company to receive funds, this is because a public service company like the BBC doesn’t get involved with advertisers, so they don’t to show any advertisements, which means they can’t get money this way. However, while some people prefer to be able to watch their shows without having to sit through advertisements, there are people who would prefer advertisements so they are able to go to the toilet or get something to eat during the ad break.
The BBC’s main focus was to make the channel educational for the viewers so they knew things that they actually needed to know rather than seeing advertisements about things they didn’t. By not including advertisements, this made the BBC a unique company, as they are the only company that doesn’t play advertisements.
A public service company that makes films is BBC films. BBC films has co-produced around 8 films each year, such as Fish Tank.
A public service company that makes TV programmes is BBC Television. This company doesn’t commercially advertise and despite this, they still have more than 30% of all UK viewing on their channel. This means that they are still a popular company and channel even though they don’t show any advertisements, which most people prefer.
The BBC is shown to be a public service company because they are shown playing no advertisements in between their shows, so if they aren’t receiving money from the advertisements they play, then they must be getting their money another way. After some research I found quora.com where there was a question on whether the BBC is a public sector or a private sector, to which a user called Mark Harrison responded saying that the BBC is a public sector because they receive funding from “every house or business that has equipment capable of receiving a TV signal”, which is based on their TV licence. In addition to this, the BBC also makes commercial revenue by selling programmes to broadcast stations that are not from the UK such as DVDs and videos.
BBC News article: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/06/bbc-shelves-plans-to-shut-news-channel
An article published on Friday, 6th November 2015, says that the BBC had planned to shut its 24-hour news channel, but his was then changed and the plans have been shelved. They had been planning to make the BBC News channel online-only, and also replacing it with a mobile streaming service if they need to cut costs.
Commercial:
A commercial company is a company that’s goal is to make a profit and they are funded by the advertisements that they show in between their programmes. This is how they make their money and ITV is an example of this because they get money when they play advertisements for other companies.
A commercial company that makes films is Warner Bros. Entertainment. The have made films such as Mad Max: Fury Road, American Sniper and Interstellar.
Warner Bros. is also a commercial company that makes TV shows as they have a TV production arm called Warner Bros. Television. Some of the TV shows Warner Bros. Television has made are, Will and Grace, Two and a Half Men, The Mentalist and The Big Bang Theory.
Warner Bros. News article: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/warner-bros-faces-tarzan-trouble-831921
A news article on The Hollywood Reporter from October 14th 2015 says that Warner Brothers face an issue as the film Tarzan remains unfinished due to the director being double-booked.
The ITV is a commercial company because in between the airings of their shows, they play various advertisements, which provides the ITV with money. Not only do they play the advertisements in between shows when one has finished, during the break for the show that is currently airing, advertisements are played.
ITV News article: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/30/itv-allegra-stratton-national-editor-newsnight-rohit-kacharoo
A news article from November 30th 2015 says that ITV appointed a new national editor, Allegra Stratton, after she leaves the BBC after four years.
Private:
Private companies are owned by people, but it is done privately, this is also the same for the shares that each of the people who have shares in the company. While people still own the shares, these company shares are not sold to people in the stock market.
A private company that makes films is Scenario Films Ltd. They have only made 3 films currently, and the trailers of the three can be found on their official website. The three films they have made are called: Desire, Delight and Delirium.
A private company that makes TV programmes is a company called Zig Zag Productions. Zig Zag Productions is an independent television working in London and New York that was founded in 1999. They have produced programmes like Troy, “I wanna marry Harry” and Scam City and for companies such as the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and Syfy.
Zig Zag Productions News article: http://www.onscreenasia.com/article/zig-zag-to-remake-ultimate-brain-for-cbbc/14454
A news article on OnScreenAsia from April 10th 2014, states that Zig Zag Productions are going to remake the hit Japanese game show called “Ultimate Brain” for CBBC.
Corporate:
Within corporate companies, shareholders will have their shares and their stocks traded in the stock market.
A corporate company that makes films is Columbia Pictures. Columbia Pictures released its first film ‘Pal o’ Mine’ on March 15th, 1924 and over 91 years they have produced films such as, The Smurfs, Seven Pounds, Spider-Man 3 and most recently as of November 6th, 2015, they produced Spectre.
Columbia Pictures is a corporate company and is one because it is one of the major Hollywood film companies.
Columbia Pictures News article: http://www.screendaily.com/news/production/columbia-pictures-china-film-co-ready-wedding-remake/5088680.article
A news article on ‘ScreenDaily’ from May 26th, 2015, has mentioned that Columbia Pictures are working with a China-based film company to create a remake of ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ and will open in China on Valentine’s Day of 2016.
A corporate company that makes TV programmes is 20th Century Fox Television. They have made TV shows such as Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Family Guy and Futurama.
20th Century Fox Television is a corporate company and is known as one because it is one of the Hollywood major studios so people know the company well and they have been aware of the company and what it does. The shows they make are also well known, which also helps make 20th Century fox Television a well-known company.
20th Century Fox News article: http://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/616551-the-a-team-remake-series-in-the-works-at-20th-century-fox-tv
A news article on ‘ComingSoon.net’ from September 24th, 2015, mentions that 20th Century Fox is developing a remake for the TV series “The A-Team”
Independent companies:
An independent company is a small company that works in a similar way to a private company in terms of it not being a company that has people owning shares in the company, but the shares themselves are not sold in the stock market.
An independent company that makes films is October Films. The company was founded in 1991; their first film released was ‘The Living End’, which was released on August 21st, 1992. According to Wikipedia, they haven’t released any films recently, with their last film being released on August 10th, 2001 called ‘Session 9’.
Mentorn Media is an example of an independent company that makes TV programmes. Mentorn Media is one of the biggest UK independent companies, who have produced The High School Musical and the first series of An Idiot Abroad.
October Films is an independent company because, even though it makes films and has been going for over two decades, the films they make aren’t released as often as major film companies, so people don’t look out for their films or when one is released, it wouldn’t be as big a deal as opposed to another film company that has released their film.
October Films News article: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/features/the-broadcast-interview-october-films/5078437.article
October Films, despite Wikipedia stating that they haven’t released any films recently, a news article on ‘Broadcastnow’ from October 9th 2014 says that October films is at the key stage in the company’s development after its period of rapid growth.
Mentorn Media is an independent production company because they don’t work with other film companies and do all their production themselves.
Mentorn Media News article: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/may/17/mentorn-media-question-time
On May 17th 2012, a news article on the guardian mentions how the chief executive to Mentorn Media is delighted that they have secured their contract to make flagship BBC1 current affairs programme for three more years.
Links/Sources of information –
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2038225 – BBC/Public service
http://thetvroom.com/misc/links-01-70.html – Independent Production Companies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Television – Public Service section for TV.
https://www.quora.com/Is-the-BBC-in-the-public-or-private-sector – why is the BBC a public sector
http://www.zigzag.uk.com/about-us/ – ZigZag Productions – Private Companies
http://www.scenariofilms.com/production/ – Scenario Films Ltd.
https://www.youtube.com/user/fihowe/videos – Scenario Films Ltd YouTube channel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Columbia_Pictures_films – Columbia Pictures Films.
(Links to news article sources are under their respective companies)
Joshua Sumner 