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A guide to the nature, purpose, and place of public service television within a multi-platform, multichannel ecology.Television is on the verge of both decline and rebirth. Vast technological change has brought about financial uncertainty as well as new creative possibilities for producers, distributors, and viewers. This volume from Goldsmiths Press examines not only the unexpected resilience of TV as cultural pastime and aesthetic practice but also the prospects for public service television in a digital, multichannel ecology. The proliferation of platforms from Amazon and Netflix to YouTube and the vlogosphere means intense competition for audiences traditionally dominated by legacy broadcasters. Public service broadcasters?whether the BBC, the German ARD, or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation?are particularly vulnerable to this volatility. Born in the more stable political and cultural conditions of the twentieth century, they face a range of pressures on their revenue, their remits, and indeed their very futures. This book reflects on the issues raised in Lord Puttnam's 2016 Public Service TV Inquiry Report, with contributions from leading broadcasters, academics, and regulators. With resonance for students, professionals, and consumers with a stake in British media, it serves both as historical record and as a look at the future of television in an on-demand age.Contributors includeTess Alps, Patrick Barwise, James Bennett, Georgie Born, Natasha Cox, Gunn Enli, Des Freedman, Vana Goblot, David Hendy, Jennifer Holt, Amanda D. Lotz, Sarita Malik, Matthew Powers, Lord Puttnam, Trine Syvertsen, Jon Thoday, Mark Thompson

Media and democracy, like Cagney and Lacey or Starsky and Hutch, are inseparable. You just cannot have one without the other. The free exchange of ideas, information, and symbols that nourish citizens and replenish the system as a whole has long been seen as a central foundation of democratic societies. Indeed, a complex normative paraphernalia has emerged to describe the key responsibilities placed on media in the emergence and sustenance of democracy: as an independent watchdog and monitor of unchecked power, a tribune of the people, a defender of minorities, a fourth estate, and a public sphere. The free media is said to provide the oxygen, the lubrication or indeed the sinews of a fully functioning and robust democracy., A mídia e a democracia, assim como Cagney e Lacey ou Starsky e Hutch, são inseparáveis. Não se pode ter um sem ter o outro. A livre troca de ideias, informações e símbolos que alimentam os cidadãos e reconstitui o sistema como um todo tem sido há muito vista como uma das bases de sociedades democráticas. De fato, uma parafernália normativa complexa emergiu para descrever as principais responsabilidades dadas à mídia no surgimento e manutenção da democracia: como um vigilante de poderes desconhecidos, uma tribuna para a população, um defensor das minorias, um quarto poder e uma esfera pública. Diz-se que a mídia livre fornece o oxigênio, a lubrificação ou, mesmo, que é os tendões de uma democracia funcional e robusta.