UK Broadcasting Systems

In the UK we have a variety of broadcasting systems, which enable us to watch the television.

Terrestrial Broadcasting

This is the kind of broadcasting, which does not consist of any satellites or any cable, but instead uses radio waves. The radio waves send out a signal, while our TV aerials pick up this signal and convert into video images on screen. These radio waves are sent out from a transmitter most likely situated in a central place (on a hill) from all the places that are being provided with its services; the closest transmitter from the BRIT school is in Crystal Palace. Although this may seem like the most beneficial option, having been used for 70 years to receive television services it does have its drawbacks. Some of these drawbacks are that as the radio waves travel in a straight line, they cannot travel over or through obstructions such as hills and another problem is that bad weather affects the signal, the last problem is that the transmitter can only send out radio waves for a limited distance so there are limits of bandwidth.

Satellite Television

Satellite television is received through out set top boxes or satellite dishes; they receive the signals which are being sent out a specific satellite in space. One UK example of a satellite company is Sky. They rent satellites which are in space, sending signals to all their satellite dishes on top of people’s houses, providing them with viewing entertainment. There are a lot of benefits for the audience from this type of viewing experience such as better signal as terrain is not in the way like with terrestrial, better picture quality; it’s available in high definition, interactive television and the big bonus of more channels.

Cable TV

Cable TV is almost self explanatory; it provides a TV service through cables. These cables are either optical fibres or coaxial cables, which are located underground. Saying this, each road will most probably almost be “owned” by a particular brand. For example my road could have all Virgin Media cables underneath, so if I ever decided to get a cable subscription, the only option I would have would be to go on Virgin media, this is a big benefit for the cable TV providers. Drawbacks for the audience are that their street may not have any cables or their street may only have the cables for the company which they don’t prefer another drawback is that this method is hard to maintain as you can’t expect them to dig up the road each time something goes wrong with your cable connection.

Digital broadcasting and Internet TV

Digital broadcasting is simply having digital signals rather than using analogue waves to broadcast to our TVs. With our technology increasingly changing, this trend is becoming more and more popular. We even have “multiplexes” which allow us to broadcast a variety of channels together on one bandwidth.

Internet TV and broadband is a very new trend, where it lets the audience be in control. If I was to miss Eastenders one night, I know that the next day I can just log onto iPlayer and watch it, with out any fuss. But one problem with this is that if I had slow connection broadband then while watching the show online it will keep stopping to ‘buffer’ or ‘load’.

All these broadcasting systems have their drawbacks as well as their advantages, but they can all obviously be aimed at different audiences and for different purposes. For example internet TV is most commonly used by teens and young adults, as we are always on the move, and only able to catch TV when it suits us whereas someone older may prefer satellite TV as they can view more than 5 channels, and be thoroughly entertained.