Television Corporation Research Articles

WATT v GENERAL TELEVISION CORPORATION PTY LTD and Others

WATT v GENERAL TELEVISION CORPORATION PTY LTD and Others

From Public to Private: TV in Singapore

Since the mid-1980s, the Singapore government has engaged in a program of privatisation. This has seen the largely interventionist government regime established by Lee Kuan Yew voicing its willingness to stand aside to give a greater role to the private sector - a significant step given that government's participatory role in the Singaporean economy since coming to power in 1959, and the empowerment of the public sector with the First Development Plan 1961-64. Of specific interest to this paper is the 'privatisation' of the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) in October 1994, and the creation of the Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS). This new entity controls Channels 5 and 8, Singapore's dominant terrestrial channels, commanding an audience share of more than 80% between them. I intend to trace the history of TCS, particularly the English language Channel 5, from the early days of Radio Television Singapore (RTS), through to the formation of SBC and to corporatisation in 1994. This will reveal that privatisation has taken a particularly Singaporean path in that it sees the government, through controls administered by government-linked companies, still able, in the words of Birch, 'to maintain its rhetoric of control and containment'.

Roundtable

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsMavic Cabrera-BallezaMavic Cabrera-Balleza is a Communications Program Associate with Isis International, Manila, Philippines.Moneeza HashmiMoneeza Hashmi is a producer with Pakistan Television Corporation.

Reframing the TVNZ Debate

In 1989, New Zealand's public television corporation was restructured as a state-owned commercial telecommunications enterprise. Its news department became a self-funding 'strategic business unit' or profit centre within an organisation which was now concerned with establishing itself as a serious contender in the international telecommunications market. The debate over TVNZ news has typically revolved around the question of how well audiences are informed by such programming, and the differences in public service and commercialised news discourse and the implications for public opinion on political issues. In this paper, it is argued that understanding of these important issues is impaired because the underlying model of news fails to contextualise television news in the actualities of its social uses and meanings within the everyday world.

Media Credibility: A Case Study of RTM 2 and TCS 5 English-Language News Broadcasts

abstractThis paper evaluates media credibility in Malaysia and Singapore through a case study of Radio Television Malaysia’s Channel 2 and Television Corporation of Singapore’s Channel 5 English-language news broadcasts. A qualitative content analysis of the two stations’ news broadcasts over a week-long period indicates that whereas in the developmental journalism framework the two broadcasts appear to be credible, they may not measure up to the watchdog or Fourth Estate journalism criteria of credibility. Implications of new information technology for ‘guided’ media systems are considered. The study was done within the framework of media ideology in the two countries.

Spanish Media Law: Changes in the Landscape

Post-Franco Spain inherited a broadcasting structure unique in Europe: a mixed commercial and public radio system and state-run national television financed by both public funds and advertising. News content in all sectors was tightly regimented by the government. Newly-democratic Spain broadened the scope of public television and created regional television corporations in the `Autonomous Communities'. Despite agreement in principle that broadcasting should be democratized, in practice public television remained dominated by the political parties in power. Subsequent legislation approving commercial television led to a battle for advertising and audiences and has sparked a financial crisis in state television and undermined its identity as a truly public service. The financial crisis, the growing national importance of the now federally-organized `Autonomous Community' network, and the phenomena of local and cable television, demand a fresh approach to Spanish broadcasting policy.

What are people like who respond to television offers of further information? The case of the Bodyshow series

In some Western populations television is the principal source of health information. Such dependence on the media for health information is cause for concern when the reliability of health information is considered, and media promotion of 'unhealthy' products such as tobacco, alcohol and confectionery. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation television series Bodyshow, broadcast over 17 weeks in mid-1988, was the first general preventive health series screened on Australian television. This study aimed to assess the demographic profile of viewers of the Bodyshow series who responded to invitations for further information, the extent of exposure of these viewers to the series, and their perceptions of the series. The study involved a random sample survey of 500 people selected from 2080 New South Wales viewers who wrote to the ABC requesting further health information. A response rate of 79 per cent was achieved. Respondents were predominately female and married, aged 25 to 39 years, lived outside Sydney, and were well educated. Respondents had seen the majority of episodes and were overwhelmingly positive about the series. Popular aspects were the information provided, the 'human interest' segments and the nutrition information. Unpopular aspects were the Friday night time-slot and the artificially glamorous 'middle class' presentation. The study demonstrated that there is clearly an audience for a self-help preventive health television series. Television has considerable unrealised potential for education, particularly regarding nutrition.

A Positional Gambit: Shaka Zulu and the Conflict in South Africa

'Shaka Zulu', the South African Broadcasting Corporation's television miniseries, premiered in South Africa in late 1986. Within a year it had been seen by a remarkable 100 million viewers in South Africa and abroad. Equally astonishing was the series' cost (24 million dollars). Hailed by some critics as a rare instance of African history from an African perspective, and slated by others as racist propaganda, the series remained in the public eye well beyond its screening times. In this article, the author examines the significance of'Shaka Zulu' through reference to the series' production history and to its political setting. She situates the miniseries within the context of the contests over the production of history in South Africa in the 1980s. She analyses the series' script, explores its'rich and awkward commotion of production', and assesses the multiple intentions of the producers and the possible ways of its reception, both in South Africa and abroad. This provides a lens through which to scrutinize the nature of hegemony and power in South Africa, and'the contests which produce, reproduce and change historical knowledge'. Notes, ref. (p. 450-454).

The Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem of the STC (Satellite Television Corporation) Direct Broadcast Satellite

Abstract Highlighted in this paper are the special design features incorporated in the Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem (ADACS) of the STC Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) presently under construction at RCA Astro-Electronics in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. The design has evolved from the control concepts developed for the RCA Satcom and Anik B spacecraft, which, in normal on-orbit operations, use the RCA Stabilite ® three axis attitude control principle. However, the heritage design had been significantly altered to improve the pointing capability as well as to improve control automony. The main feature of the communication payload which drove the design of the DBS control subsystem is the use of six 220 Watt traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs). This, in turn, requires considerably larger solar arrays, extending approximately 7.9 meters from both the north and south panels of the satellite and supplying 2.6 kwatts of power to a dual bus system of 100 and 35 volts. The communication antenna itself, with a 2.2 meter aperatuce, extends 1.7 meters outward from the satellite's west side. The modal characteristics of the flexible solar arrays and the relatively high disturbance torques, generated by the thrusters on one hand and the microwave emission from the antenna reflector on the other, made heavy demands on the ingenuity of the control designers. Design innovations such as autonomous bias torque estimation and thruster impulse matching ate described together with the corresponding pointing accuracy improvements.

Downlinks for DBS: Design and Engineering Considerations

The design of the downlink in a DBS system requires optimization of a set of complex interrelated objectives. This paper describes the objectives, demonstrates the interrelationships, and discusses the process of selecting system design parameters to best balance the objectives of the DBS business entity. The Satellite Television Corporation's (STC's) system design is presented as a case study. Performance requirements are stated in terms of consumer perceived picture quality and rain-fade protection. The requirements are generated by a subjective testing program. The system objectives are formulated consistent with performance requirements, competitive products, and economic reality. To meet the objectives, four major design parameters can be adjusted: satellite power, satellite antenna beam shape, home equipment performance, and signal format characteristics. This paper deals with the first three of these parameters. The manipulation of these parameters to meet system objectives is illustrated by the STC case study. It is demonstrated, for this sample system, that the choice of design parameters varies across the targeted service area, depending on demographics, competition, consumer expectations, weather, and other factors. However, in general, the STC design provides antenna sizes of 0.6-0.75 m for 92 percent of TV households, extremely high clear-sky picture ratings, and a sufficient rain-fade margin to provide acceptable levels of service outage.

First-Generation RCA Direct Broadcast Satellites

In October 1982, the Satellite Television Corporation (STC), a subsidiary of the Communications Satellite Corporation (Comsat), contracted with RCA Astro-Electronics to design, develop, and manufacture the first direct broadcast satellite for use in the United States. The contract is for two spacecraft with an early 1986 launch from either Kourou, Guiana, or Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The program is on schedule with all designs finalized, component qualification virtually complete, and the first spacecraft undergoing integration. Although the system will be implemented in phases, some recent design changes will permit the two collocated satellites to deliver six DBS channels to the entire conterminous United States (CONUS), three channels per satellite. Orbital location will be 110° W longitude, which is one of the eight orbit locations specified for the United States at the Regional Area Radio Conference (RARC) in 1983. Each channel is designed to generate 220 W of RF power in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band at the beginning of life; an allowance is made for TWTA efficiency degradation with life to provide 200 W of RF power at the end of life. The three channels per spacecraft are provided whenever the spacecraft is illuminated by the sun, with no requirement for eclipse operation. Each spacecraft has the capability to transmit in either of two different coverage configurations: it can provide coverage to CONUS or to half-CONUS at an increase in e.i.r.p. of approximately 3 dB. This provides additional margin should STC need the higher e.i.r.p. in the future or provides for a flexible time-zone coverage of the United States.

Direct broadcast satellite service by satellite television corporation

Direct broadcast satellite service by satellite television corporation

Direct Broadcast Satellites: An Interview with Hartford Gunn

The use of satellites to broadcast television programs and provide other information services directly to the home has been recently approved by the Federal Communications Commission. This new technological innovation is known as direct broadcast by satellite (DBS) and will go into limited operation during 1984. The Satellite Television Corporation (STC), a subsidiary of COMSAT, is the company that will be providing the first national satellite to home television network in the United States. In this interview with Hartford Gunn, Vice‐President of Program Development for STC, the concept of DBS is explored. As discussed in this interview, DBS holds potential for librarians. There is no doubt that another element in the telecommunications web is coming into place as we move further into the Third Wave.

Ariane: NASA's European rival

The successful test launch of two three‐quarter ton satellites in the European Space Agency's (ESA) Ariane rocket last June firmly placed ESA in competition with NASA for the lucrative and growing satellite launching market. Under the auspices of the private (but largely French‐government financed) Arianespace company, ESA is already attracting customers to its three‐stage rocket by offering low costs.According to recent reports [Nature, 292, pp. 785 and 788, 1981], Arianespace has been able to win several U.S. customers away from NASA, including Southern Pacific Communications, Western Union, RCA, Satellite Television Corporation, and GTE. Nature [292, 1981] magazine in an article entitled ‘More Trouble for the Hapless Shuttle’ suggests that it will be possible for Ariane to charge lower prices for a launch than NASA, even with the space shuttle.

The Body in Question

Based on a British Broadcasting Corporation television series, this imaginative, beautifully illustrated historical overview of important developments in medicine looks like a "coffee-table" book and reads like an adventure story. It is, however, a serious work that carries, among others, two important, albeit controversial, messages. Miller contends that medicine's progress owes less to therapeutic advances than to discoveries of how the body functions and that these insightful discoveries derive from metaphors usually extrapolated from mechanical models. Harvey's discovery of the circulation was evoked by the model of fire pumps, Sherrington's discovery of neural autoregulation by that of automated machines. Whether or not one agrees with Miller, one need not forego the pleasure of reading his book, which, although not intended primarily for physicians, cannot fail to interest and delight them.

De parlementsverkiezingen in radio en TV (BRT)

The 1974 election-period has been sustained intensively by the BRT (Belgian Radio and Television Corporation). The Board of Directors decided to do sa in order to accomplish the corporation's task of objective information.The political parties also used intensively the extra air-time accorded by the same Board of Directors, for their clection-campaign. As for all political parties all over the world, radio and even more television air-time, is seen as an indispensable instrument for diffusing party-coloured information.

Recordings of British Broadcasting Corporation Radio and Television Broadcasts for Use in Education and Training

Recordings of British Broadcasting Corporation Radio and Television Broadcasts for Use in Education and Training

Civil Procedure: Jurisdiction: Service of Process on Foreign Television Corporation

Civil Procedure: Jurisdiction: Service of Process on Foreign Television Corporation

Two-way Television

WHEN the possibility of television was recognised, the first application that suggested itself was to show the image of a person hundreds of miles away. A natural development was to superpose a television on a telephone system so that the hearer could both see the speaker and hear him talking. This latter method is used daily by the B.B.C. in the television radio broadcasts. A successful experiment showing the combination of ordinary telephony with two-way television was demonstrated to the Press in Paris on May 19, and an account of it appeared in the Times on the following day. The television apparatus used was supplied by the Baird Television Corporation. Infra-red rays are obtained by filtering artificial light through ebonite screens. They fall on both the speaker and the hearer. Only invisible rays are used to produce the electrical impulses in the connecting wires. At the ends of the line they are converted into light rays and focused on screens. It is difficult for either the speaker or listener to realise that his head and shoulders are in full view of the other. The visual screens are ten inches long by five inches broad. As the scanning disks make 750 revolutions per minute, 12½ complete images per second appear on the visual screen. At this speed there is little flickering. The features are easily recognisable and the play of expression on the face is remarkably clear. The movement of the lips can easily be followed. If necessary, the ‘fineness’ of the images could be improved by increasing the number of dots. In the near future, public communication combined with television on a commercial basis will be started between Paris and Lyons. The Baird-Nathan Company is exploiting this system in France, and later on it is hoped to connect Paris and London in this way. A form of two-way television was demonstrated in New York by the Bell Telephone Co. on April 9, 1930 (NATURE, May 31, 1930).