The BBC's role in the changing production ecology of pre-school television in Britain

This paper examines the changing production ecology of British pre-school television in light of developments since the mid-1990s and the specific role played by the BBC. Underpinning the research is the perception that pre-school television is characterised by a complex set of industry relationships and dependencies that demands content which needs to satisfy a wide range of international circumstances and commercial prerogatives. For the BBC this has created tension between its public service goals and commercial priorities. Pre-school programming began in Britain in 1950, but it was not until the mid-1990s that Britain emerged as a leading producer of pre-school programming worldwide with government/industry reports regularly identifying the children’s production sector as an important contributor to exports. The rise of pre-school niche channels (CBeebies, Nick Junior, Playhouse Disney), audience fragmentation and the internationalisation and commercialisation of markets have radically altered the funding base of children’s television and the relationships that the BBC enjoys with key players. The international success of much of its pre-school programming is based on the relationships it enjoys with independent producers who generate significant revenues from programme-related consumer products. This paper focuses on the complex and changing relationships between the BBC, independent producers, and financiers, that constitute the production ecology of pre-school television and shape its output. Within the broader setting of cultural production and global trends the paper investigates the following questions: 1) In the light of changes to the sector since the mid-1990s, what makes pre-school television significant both generally and as an ideal public service project? 2) What is the nature of the current funding crisis in British children’s television and what implications does this crisis have for the BBC’s involvement in pre-school television? 3) How is the Corporation reacting to and managing the wider commercial, cultural, regulatory and technological forces that are likely to affect its strategies for the commissioning, production and acquisition of pre-school content?

Macroeconomic information, structural change, and the prediction of fiscal aggregates

Previous research on the prediction of fiscal aggregates has shown evidence that simple autoregressive models often provide better forecasts of fiscal variables than multivariate specifications. We argue that the multivariate models considered by previous studies are small-scale, probably burdened by overparameterization, and not robust to structural changes. Bayesian Vector Autoregressions (BVARs), on the other hand, allow the information contained in a large data set to be summarized efficiently, and can also allow for time variation in both the coefficients and the volatilities. In this paper we explore the performance of BVARs with constant and drifting coefficients for forecasting key fiscal variables such as government revenues, expenditures, and interest payments on the outstanding debt. We focus on both point and density forecasting, as assessments of a country’s fiscal stability and overall credit risk should typically be based on the specification of a whole probability distribution for the future state of the economy. Using data from the US and the largest European countries, we show that both the adoption of a large system and the introduction of time variation help in forecasting, with the former playing a relatively more important role in point forecasting, and the latter being more important for density forecasting.

International Sales of UK Television Content: Change and Continuity in ‘the space in between’ Production and Consumption

Focusing on the UK, this article addresses key issues facing the international distribution industry arising from over-the-top digital distribution and the fragmentation of audiences and revenues. Building on the identification of these issues, it investigates the extent to which UK distribution has altered over a ten-year period, pinpointing continuities in the destination and type of sales alongside changes in the role and structure of the industry as UK-based distributors adapt to a changing UK broadcasting landscape and global production environment. At one level increasing US ownership of UK-based distributors and the arrival of OTT players like Netflix, highlight the tensions between the national orientations of UK broadcasters and the global aspirations of independent producers and distributors. At another level VOD has boosted international sales of UK drama. Although the full impact of SVOD on content and rights has yet to materialise, significant changes in the industry predate the arrival of SVOD.

Performance and prospects of smaller UK regional airports

This paper investigates the traffic and financial performance of smaller UK regional airports between 2001 and 2014. Fourteen airports that typically serve less than 5 million passengers per annum were selected for the analysis. A period of strong growth in passenger demand was experienced from 2001 to 2007, driven largely by low cost carriers. The period from 2007 to 2014 was characterised by declining demand, resulting in significant losses for many of the airports. Airline strategies, such as the use of an increased unit fleet size and average sector length, may further limit future prospects for smaller UK regional airports in favour of larger ones with greater local demand. The relationship between traffic throughput and the generation of aeronautical revenues seems to vary at airports. There is generally a strong and significant relationship between traffic throughput and the generation of commercial revenues and total operating costs at airports serving 3–5 million passengers, but the situation for airports serving fewer than 3 million is less certain.

Rebranding Al-Jazeera Children's Channel: The Qatarization Factor

Qatar's rulers established Al-Jazeera Children's Channel in 2005 to nurture Arab and Islamic traditions and values; the channel sought to differentiate itself by ensuring that material would conform to what its management considered to be culturally appropriate guidelines for content. However, having been set up as a child-centred, non-commercial, fully-funded enterprise that aspired to source most of its content within the Arabic-speaking region, its priorities shifted in 2011-13 towards maximizing commercial revenues through foreign imports. In light of the shift, this chapter explores the complex interweaving of commercial and political considerations behind production and commissioning processes. The channel's branding and re-branding shows how a children’s television project can be adopted to reinforce a country’s claim to regional cultural leadership, while being packaged in such a way as to depoliticize that country’s institutions and composition by rooting national identity in a combination of commercial interests and notions of traditional culture.