Consumer-orientated regulation is designed to encourage media plurality and to ensure that a diversity of broadcasters operate within the media landscape. It is a regulatory system in which choices regarding content are largely devolved to audiences and where media makers are given as much freedom as possible to make the media that audiences want to consume.

Citizen based regulatory systems outline a civic role for the media and encourage media makers to produce content that contributes to the social and cultural health of the societies in which they operate.

What impact did the 2003 Communications Act have on media regulation?

The 2003 Communications Act was designed by the British Labour government in order to create modern Regulatory System’s within the UK and help the television industry become competitive with the globalized media landscape. This means that independent television production companies were freed up in order to create content that was more commercially viable, resulting in a more Consumer based regulatory system.

What is the drawback of a self-regulated system?

If Media companies do their own self-regulation than it may be easy for them to act within their own interests which is not always within the public’s interest.

What is the difference between consumer-orientated regulation and citizen-based regulation?

Consumer-orientated regulation is initially designed to encourage media plurality and to ensure that a diversity of broadcasters operate within the media landscape.

Livingstone and Lunt argue that citizen-based regulation provides a content focused framework that directs media makers to “contribute to the enrichment of cultural and social life and the potential for self-development of individuals, groups and communities”.

In other words…citizen-based regulation takes everyone into account.

What impact did the 2003 Communications Act have on media regulation?

Communications Act designed by Labour government in order to modernise the UK’s regulatory systems and help UK TV industry to become more competitive in globalised media landscape of late 20th century. The Communications Act significantly diluted public service requirements of TV broadcasting. Independent TV production companies were freed up to produce content that was more commercially viable. This resulted in production of programming lacking civic-minded republicanism that had been fostered within previous regulatory frameworks.

What is the drawback of a self-regulatory system?

Most media organisations construct their own self-regulations which isn’t beneficial and doesn’t help to resolve issues (possibly put forward by members of the public) regarding their media.

Hesmondhalgh	Case Studies
maximizing costs and minimizing risks – horizontal and vertical integration	Capital -> produced by KUDOS which is a part of news corp, horizontally integrated through partnering with BBC for broadcasting and production
Serialization	Companies are likely to continue serials if they are successful as it minimizes risks of losing out on profits. For example Deutschland 83 has 3 seasons and one sequel from 2018 ‘Deutschland 86’
Star Formatting	The use of popular stars in order to lure in a certain audience that possibly enjoys seeing that particular star. Capital uses a famous actor called Toby Jones, who is likely to reel in a certain audience to the show

Star formatting – foregrounding of star power in order to gain an audience – Sarah Lund (The Killing)

Genre formatting – genre is the category of a certain type of media (film, book, etc..), the format is how the genre is structured – crime, mystery, thriller, drama (The Killing)

Steralisation – includes a prequel/sequel – No Offence has 3 seasons and The Killing has 4

Multi-sector integration – vertical & horizontal integration – The Killing was originally shown on DR (a Danish broadcasting corporation) but is now available on Amazon Prime and BBC (and was shown on Netflix)

Theory	Quote	Killing / No offence
The media is a high risk business	“the cultural industries constitute a particularly risky business”	cultural references, ie locations filmed in, native language/actors
Media businesses rely on changing audiences consumption	“audience tastes continuously adapt making it difficult to produce material that guarantees satisfaction”	The Killing was originally an American Tv show, DR (Dutch) and ZDF Enterprises (German) made their own version
Remakes	“the media industry further reduces risk by recycling archived material that has enjoyed successes”	^
The media is resilient on marketing functions	“controlling messages delivered by reviewers or publicity partners of other companies is very difficult”

1. Read the Hesmondhalgh H/O
2. Fill in the table on Hesmondhalgh
3. Read the Livingstone and Lunt H/O (think about the 3 questions)

1. Hesmondhalgh
2. Livingstone-and-Lunt

Q: What is the difference between a consumer based media regulation system and a citizen based regulation system?

Consumer oriented regulation encourages media plurality and diversity. It is designed to offer a broad range of content, ideas, opinions and icons to its audiences. On the other hand, a citizen based regulation system focuses on the continuity of accuracy and that programmes deal with issues in a fair and objective manner. Civic-minded media providers also ensure not only to entertain their audiences but also to inform and educate them.

Consumer based – content produced FOR the audiences. Media makers are given a lot of freedom to make media that audiences want to consume.

Citizen-based regulation – where media producers make content that contributes to social and cultural health of the societies in which they operate.

What impact according to Livingston and Lunt did the 2003 Communications Act have on media regulation –

• Promoted independent television production by requiring the BBC and Channel 4 to commission more content from smaller production companies.
• Although this led to the production of content and media that was more commercially viable, it also resulted in the production of programming that lacks civic-minded interest or republicanism.
• Communications Act introduced OFCOM, OFCOM tried to ensure that independent media organisations didn’t dominate (good). e.g Capital was produced by the BBC and Kudos. However, Kudos is owned by Endemol and another large conglomerate. In reality Kudos isn’t a small company and is part of a larger structure.

Q. What is the drawback of a self-regulated system?

It doesn’t work.

Less government control means that media organisations are mostly free to create their own ‘codes of conduct’ which can vary drastically. Self-regulation is reliable as companies are unlikely to ‘own-up’ to something that may be deemed offensive by some. Neo-liberalist culture.

Q. How do you regulate media content and organisations on a global scale?

You don’t.

One way to regulate media is to regulate technology alongside media as technology currently cannot be regulated.

Hesmondhalgh	Capital	Deutschland 83
Changing audience consumption patterns	The representation of multiple identities, cultures and people of different socio-economic statuses will allow for a broad demographic composed of multiple different people to relate or be interested/ attracted to the show. The show incorporates features of multiple genres such as crime, mystery but also contains some elements of humour.	(It is a co-production of AMC Networks’ SundanceTV and RTL Television by the production company, UFA Fiction, with international distribution by RTL Group’s FremantleMedia International and North American distribution by Kino Lorber). As the show was originally aired in America, the audience consumption pattern may be diverted to more foreign produced or related shows.
Multi-Sector Integration	Kudos Film & Television Company. Kudos was  Formed in 1992, since 2007 it has been part of the Shine Group. In 2007 it also set up the film unit, Kudos Pictures. In 2011, the Shine Group was 100% acquired by News Corporation[1] and was part of the 50-50 joint-venture Endemol Shine Group. On 3 July 2020, France-based Banijay Group bought the studio through former’s acquisition of Endemol Shine Group. It has produced television series for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Amazon and Netflix	UFA Fiction was created through the merger of the UFA subsidiaries teamWorx, Phoenix Film and UFA Fernsehproduktion in the context of a restructuring of UFA and the strategic goal to bundle all companies under one brand in the future. AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered, Deutschland 83 is a co-production of AMC Networks’ SundanceTV and RTL Television. AMC operates the cable channels AMC (its eponymous brand), IFC, We TV, BBC America (through a joint venture with BBC Studios), and SundanceTV; the art house movie theater IFC Center in New York City; the independent film companies IFC Films and RLJE Films; and premium streaming services Sundance Now and Shudder. In addition, the company operates AMC Networks International, its global division.
Star formatting	Toby Jones is a fairly well know British actor, appearing in productions such as Captin America, Harry Potter and the Hunger Games. Therefore, with him as one of the main characters in Capital, with an already developed following and reputation, many would be attracted to watch the show initially because he is in it.	Jonas Nay ([ˈjoːnas naɪ], born 20 September 1990) is a German actor and musician known for starring as Martin Rauch in Deutschland 83, the first German-language TV series shown on American television, and its sequels, Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89. As this show first aired in America, many viewers many have been persuaded to watch some of the other shows or films the actor has appeared in.
Genre based formatting	Labelled as – Crime Drama and Social Realism	Labelled as – Drama, Romance, Thriller
Serialisation	Capital is a three-part British television adaptation of John Lanchester’s novel Capital.  Those who were fans of the original novel means that the show already has some form of audience, even prior to its production and release on the adaption.	The Sequals to Deutschland 83 are Deutschland 86 and 89, via these latter productions, an audience has already been created therefore, limiting advertisement costs whilst increasing profits through consumers.
Independent Stylising	For Capital, however, there is a less noticeable aesthetic due to broad range of characters. However, one common theme aside from the postcards, would be the cinematography and how the camera or audience is positioned multiple times behind characters, appearing to follow them, linking to the people or person who keeps sending the postcards	Deliberately shoes multiple non-stream aesthetics as the show is based in the 80s. There are two key aesthetic used to distinguish between the capitalist West, and Socialist East. Positive representation of German culture despite prejudices that may have been held due to WW2.
Internationalisation	Endemol Shine Group B.V. is a production and distribution company. The show was originally commissioned for the BBC however, it is now available to purchase and watch globally on sites such as Acorn TV via Amazon Prime TV.	This show was originally screen in America by the production company UFA fiction. The show was later distributed by the companies FremantleMedia International Kino Lorber In Germany, Deutschland 83 began to air after the U.S. run on RTL 26 November 2015.[77] There, the series lost viewers over the course of its run; the series finale had 1.72 million viewers, or approximately half of the series premiere’s viewers. As a result, German newspaper Bild called the show “the flop of the year”.[65] It premiered in Ireland on 29 November 2015, on RTÉ2.[78] All episodes were added to Australian streaming service Stan in December 2015.[79] On 14 January 2016, the series was made available for streaming in The Netherlands via Videoland.[80] It premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 3 January 2016, with the final two episodes shown back-to-back on 14 February. It has since become the most popular foreign-language drama in the history of British television with an audience of 2.5 million viewers as of January 2016.[81] The series was aired for Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan by BBC Persian in October 2017.

Hesmondhalgh: ‘The media is a risky buisiness

How do media companies maximise profit and minimise risk.

Hesmondhalgh	Case studies
Star formatting – Using a star to gain an audience.	The Killing (Sarah Lund)
Genre based formatting – This provides familiarity for audiences	The killing and no offence: Crime/police drama
Remakes – reduces risk by recycling old successful material. Provides an element of nostalgia.	Using a female detective.
Independant stylising – does the product invoke a non-mainstream aestethic?	No offence: Using people with downsyndrome is representation of a disabled cast.
Serialisation – Includes a prequel or sequel which maximises audience investment.	No Offense: 3 series The Killing: 3 series
Multi-sector integration – Vertical and horizontal integration are used.	The killing: Originally broadcast on Danish DR1. Then on amazon prime, BBC and was on netflix.

HESMONDHALGH	CASE STUDIES
Reliant upon changing audience consumption patterns	No Offence – Weekly episodes The Killing – Originally Danish but translated for foreign audiences.
Serialisation	No Offence – created 3 series, the 3rd did not do as well as series 1
Genre-based formatting	Both TV programmes have the same genre of true crime.
On demand services	Both The Killing and No Offence are available on online streaming services (Channel 4 Player & Amazon Prime)
Internationalism	Both TV programmes are available in English
Creative Symbol Makers	No Offence did not do well in their 3rd season – maybe the creators didn’t have much of a say when making this season as they wanted to stick to what they knew the audience liked previously and made them successful. Not keeping up with changing audience interest.
Star Formatting	No Offence – Included stars like Will Mellor and Paul Ritter who have already made themselves known in British TV (Mellor – Broadchurch) (Ritter – Friday Night Dinner)

HESMONDHALGH	CASE STUDIES
maximising profits and minimising risks	No Offence used the concept of serialisation as they tried to reduce risks by producing a range of series in the hope that some will be successfull.
internalisation
star formatting	The Killing uses the Canadian actor Evan bird who is best known who playing in Maps to the Stars (also gets more Canadian audiences – increasing the global internalisation of the film) No Offence used the Irish actress, Elaine Cassisdy, who was also best known who playing the lead character in the american tv series Harpers island ( could also gain audience from Ireland )
genre-based formatting	The killing has orignally danish film, which was then reproduced into an english film. This was unabled them to reshape the “product” for a new audience, a different language (danish to english)
serialisation	No Offence created a 3rd series, however it wasn’t successful
remakes
independent labelling