While the concept of what a PSB is can be garnered from the determining principles a broadcaster adopts, publicly funded broadcasting is perspicuous: it is paid for in full by the public. The best example of publicly funded broadcasting is demonstrable from the BBC as their operating budget is paid for by members of the United Kingdom through a hypothecated tax, better known as a license fee. Private broadcasters that do not follow a public...
While the concept of what a PSB is can be garnered from the determining principles a broadcaster adopts, publicly funded broadcasting is perspicuous: it is paid for in full by the public. The best example of publicly funded broadcasting is demonstrable from the BBC as their operating budget is paid for by members of the United Kingdom through a hypothecated tax, better known as a license fee. Private broadcasters that do not follow a public service mandate or receive public funds, such as Sky, operate via commercial funding from advertising revenue and adhere to shareholder interests. Others, like ITV, work as hybrid broadcasters that amalgamate commercial funding with the obligation to fulfill a public service remit; essentially an extension of public service broadcasting with the responsibility to produce and maintain high quality standards of commercial content that informs, educates and entertains. Simply put, public service broadcasting is generally mandated by the state and “was conceived and fostered within an overarching ideal of socio-political empowerment and intellectual enlightenment.” Publicly funded broadcasting embodies these same principles but has the viewer pay for them to ensure it remains “free of advertisements and independent of shareholder and political interest.”
