A Comparative Analysis of television channels FIVE and BBC Essay Example for Free

A Comparative Analysis of television channels FIVE and BBC Essay Television is a powerful media source, bringing stories to billions across the globe. It has been called the most awesome God-less force in the modern world and it is now seen as a major part of everyday life. The average person spends 4 hours a day watching TV becoming roughly 1/3 of a persons typical waking hours. Television is a constructed view of reality, sometimes exaggerated extremely, solely to create entertainment. In the UK, there are five major terrestrial television channels, (four organisations) with some being vastly more successful than others. The BBC is the only organisation not to make money from advertising. Their money is generated from the TV Licence fee, and this type of broadcasting is known as Public Service Broadcasting. Channel 5 is perhaps seen as the least successful of the five TV channels, possibly due to the fact that it is the youngest. The channel began in 1995, but it was not able to broadcast nationally as many of the populations televisions could not receive it. The company offered to retune every TV that couldnt receive it, before the big launch in 1997. A long advertising campaign was launched, known as Give Me Five in an attempt to draw in viewers. On the 30th March, 1997, Channel 5 was launched at 6pm, attracting an audience of 2. 4 million people, a figure higher than the launch of Channel 4, fifteen years earlier. This new channel neither had the money or reputation to buy and broadcast potentially successful material. Perhaps getting off to a bad start, the main schedule consisted of home and cookery programmes, cheap US exports, and late night pornography. However, Channel 5 did receive praise for its news programming, and soon the ratings became consistently acceptable. The channel gained more money, and was soon able to buy better quality shows, such as Home Away. In 2002, Channel 5 underwent a major image modification. The name changed from Channel 5 to simply, Five, and progressed itself as a serious rival to the other 4 channels. However, the channel has not been without its flaws. For example, Friends spin-off series, Joey, was bought by Five in 2005. Despite a high-profile launch and ad campaign, the program received poor ratings and was eventually cancelled. Similarly, other shows such as Robot Wars and CD:UK proved to be a flop for the channel. These unsuccessful shows have seemingly increased the channels poor reputation. In the channels first year of broadcasting, five receives its lowest audience shares of 2. 3%, but this can be expected from a debuting channel. Fifteen years earlier, Channel 4 received even lower audience shares on its opening night, although it could be argued that people watched less television in the 1980s. The audience shares increased, and peaked in 2004. The channel has the lowest audience share of the terrestrial channels, but, in its defence, Five is not received in all of the UKs homes. Like all of the other terrestrial channels, Five now has sister channels, Five US and Five Life. These two channels are both somewhat successful, but other sister channels, such as ITV2, E4 and BBC Three are proving to be more viewed. Nowadays, Five is able to branch out and buy successful US shows such as Prison Break and House, as well as buying programmes from other channels in 2008, Five bought Neighbours from the BBC. The BBC was established in the early 1920s, but it was not until 1936 that the channel began its regular television broadcasting as a public service TV channel. However, it was further suspended after WWII began, until 1946 when the permanent service was established. The BBCs mission was to inform, educate and entertain and is still taken into account today. The BBC broadcasts a wide variety of programmes on both of its channels, BBC1 and BBC2. The BBCs major programme is EastEnders, the popular primetime soap. On a weekly basis, the soap receives the highest rating of all terrestrial shows, with only the ITV1 soap, Coronation Street, (and occasionally reality shows such as The X Factor and Dancing On Ice) playing as its rival. Other BBC shows, such as Top Gear, Doctor Who and Little Britain have all been a success throughout the last decade, further improving the channels ratings and reputation. In an attempt to branch out and widen its audience, the BBC has recently made some unlikely purchases. In 2007, the channel brought the successful US show Heroes to BBC2. The show quickly became a phenomenon, and is different from what would usually be broadcast on BBC2. The BBC continues to dominate terrestrial TV, by finding ways to bring in more viewers. The programmes vary from food, to lifestyle, to documentary, to political. The BBC is now contending with ITV in the reality market, as it now features shows looking for new west-end stars, and the ever popular series, Strictly Come Dancing. BBC1 receives the highest audience share of the 5 channels, with an average of 26%. It is seen as the main channel, and regularly receives high ratings. This major organisation has the money to do whatever it pleases, and this has shown over the last decade. The BBC now has 8 channels BBC1, BBC2, BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News 24, BBC Parliament, CBBC and CBeebies. These 8 channels prove to cater for everyone. BBC Three is the most popular of the sister channels, frequently receiving new material such as Lily Allen and Friends and Gavin Stacey. The channel is a lighter version of BBC1, with a more comedic element. The BBC now broadcasts internationally. A new channel, BBC America, was launched in 1998, and has carried programming from the BBC to the USA, such as Torchwood and The Graham Norton Show. BBC America is part of two international channels, the other being BBC World. A recent feature of the BBC, BBC iPlayer, has recently been introduced. It has become an on-demand online video player, with unlimited access to BBC shows. The iPlayer is proving extremely popular, with more than 3. 5 million programmes downloaded in its opening week. However, despite the BBC being a major empire, the company relies on the licence fee. It is the only channel not to rely on income through advertising. The core belief of public service television is that it is free from the pressures of commercial TV, and, as its income is guaranteed, public service TV is freer to explore. But this does not mean it can become complacent. High audience shares are still needed because, if they were to fall, the licence fee would be in serious jeopardy. For years, there has been a debate as to whether public service broadcasting should continue. Naturally, the BBC wishes for it to continue, whereas others disagree. The BBC has very little to do to secure its funding, whereas the commercial companies have to work to get their income. The opponents of public service television argue that it is simply another form of taxation. With the arrival and expansion of satellite and cable, some people have no interest in the public service channels. For the BBC, public service broadcasting means that certain pressures are put upon them, but their income is fixed. The BBC could be said to have better quality shows due to them receiving easy money, and it also means that their programmes can be longer, due to the fact that they dont have to make time for advertising. However, for Channel 5, public service television means that there are no pressures. The channel can show what they want (within reason) but their income is variable. Unsurprisingly, the commercial channels are against the licence fee, as it seems unfair. It seems as if the media are in constant debate over whether the licence fee should continue, as many people pay considerable sums for services in which they have no interest in.

Canada: The Quiet Revolution in Quebec :: Canadian Canada History

Canada: The Quiet Revolution in Quebec The English-French relations have not always been easy. Each is always arguing and accusing the other of wrong doings. All this hatred and differences started in the past, and this Quiet revolution, right after a new Liberal government led by Jean Lesage came in 1960. Thus was the beginning of the Quiet Revolution. Lesage had an excellent team of cabinet ministers which included Rene Levesque. The Liberals promised to do two things during the Quiet Revolution; one was to improve economic and social standards for the people of Quebec, and the other was to win greater respect and recognition for all the French people of Canada. The Liberals started a program to take control of hydro-electric power companies. French-Canadian engineers from all over Canada returned to Quebec to work on the project. Slogans during these times were "we can do it" and "masters in our own homes". The government also started to replace programs the Church previously ran, which included hospital insurance, pension schemes and the beginning of Medi-Care. For these programs, the Quebec Liberals had to struggle with Ottawa for a larger share of the tax dollars. One of the greatest reforms was the modernization of the entire school system. The Church used to own the schools of Quebec. Most of the teachers were Priests, Nuns and Brothers. They provided a good education but Quebec needed more in business and technology. Lesage wanted a government-run school system that would provide Quebec with people in engineering, science, business and commerce. With the new freedom of expression, lots of books, plays and music about French culture were all developed in Quebec. French contemporary playwrights were very famous during that time. However, not all was going well in Quebec. The French-English relation was going bad. Many studies showed that French-Canadian Quebecers were earning the lowest wage in all of the ethnic groups in Canada. Other complaints were that the top jobs in Quebec were given to English speaking Canadians. Canada was going through the worst crisis in its history, and unless equal partnership was found a break-up would likely happen. Some Quebecers thought that separation was the only solution. They thought that as long as Quebec was associated with the rest of Canada, French-Canadians would never be treated equal. The FLQ (Front De Libà ©ration Du Quà ©bec) was founded in 1963. It was a smaller, more forceful group of separatists. They were a collection of groups of young people whose idea was to use terrorism to

Motivational Approach

Motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of effort toward organizational goals, conditioned by the effort's ability to satisfy some individual needs (Robbins, 168). For some business analysts, employee motivation is a good way to increase productivity in an organization. When people get motivated, they will have a reason to put more efforts on what they are doing. Motivation is a crucial management tool in lifting the organization's work force's ability. There are many different ways to motivate employees. Employers can motivate their workers as individuals, groups, teams, or the organization as a whole. Motivation takes forms like offering rewards, improving working conditions, or employee recognition. However, which approach should employers try? Team-based reward systems have been raised as an issue in work management areas. Many people prefer team-based reward systems to an individual approach. San Diego Business Journal, issued on Oct. 6, 1997, published an article titled â€Å"Team-Based Productivity Incentive System.† This article summarized the ideas that supported the team-based approach. The author, Bob Harrington, opposed the individual reward system. As he stated, individual reward systems create unnecessary competition and reduce cooperation between employees. It also reduces creativity because employees will only do what is necessary to get rewarded. Moreover, Harrington said team-based incentives influence individuals to work well together and cooperate with one another. No longer are employees and management measured purely against financial information. Instead, outstanding performance is based on a combination of items that measure the strategic objectives of the corporation. This paper will see if the team-based incentive systems are the best approach for business environments as Harrington discussed. Medical insurance and educational opportunities, among others are all common benefits in compensation programs for many manufacturers. Many people argued that these benefits attract and retain employees, but have little to do with work performance. Some also believe that if these benefits are spread out among workers in general, these kinds of work incentives will not guarantee good performance. Well Pay vs. Sick Pay is an example of how an incentive program reinforces wrong behavior and reduces productivity. Manufacturers with incentive systems that reward employees for achievements and growth can increase their competitiveness and profitability in today's global market. Yes, it is true that organizations need to have incentive systems to satisfy their work force. Team-based incentive systems such as gain sharing, profit sharing, etc., become increasingly popular in work environments. People now are required to work as a team, and altogether help each other to achieve an objective. Your work is my work, and your responsibility is mine. People will become more cohesive as working in a group or a team. Team-based incentives offer several advantages. However, I do not totally agree with Harrington that individual incentive systems do not have any good influence over workers' performance. Some people are extremely successful when they work on their own. People, who are raised in an individualistic culture, might not benefit from working in a group. So, individual incentive systems do play an important role in increasing a work force's productivity as long as the employers know how to use this reinforcement system properly. If organizations set a standard to measure individual achievement and reward that individual on what he (she) perform, then, the individual incentive system might work as well as the team-based one. Moreover, managers need to realize that team-based incentive systems might cause Social Loafing effect in the work force – the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually (Robbins, 260). Motivations are necessary in a working environment to increase the productivity of the work force. Reward systems must create a win-win situation for employees and employers. Team-based incentive systems might work very well and are a preferred process for many organizations in today's work market; however, managers should adopt individual incentive systems in many cases, when employees are more skillful, efficient, and effective as working individually. The major purpose of the incentive system is to motivate and organize employees.

Acquisition Program Baseline (APB) component - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 641 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2019/10/10 Did you like this example? Basically, the APB is regarded as a document that defines the benefits, costs, schedule of an acquisition program and performance parameters while identifying milestones for gauging the program’s progress (Girard, 2015). The APB, in this case, is developed by the program manager (PM) before the actual start of the program. Therefore, the APB allows the PM to make an effective track of the program’s goal against any formal baseline (Girard, 2015). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Acquisition Program Baseline (APB) component" essay for you Create order The tracking will, therefore, alert the PM to any potential underlying problem that might arise in order to operate the program in an effective way so as to keep the program within its goal. The object of this work is to gather information in relation to the operational status of the ASA-ALT in relation to the APB components. The APB parameter values highly represent the program that is targeted to be produced or deployed. Considering the delivery of the systems in relation to the evolutionary acquisition strategy, the APB is associated with parameters for the next block (Girard, 2015). Following this, only those the APB contains specific parameters that are not associated with the thresholds. Therefore, if the threshold is not met at any point, the ASA-ALT will consider reevaluating the program and focus of different alternative concepts or approaches based on the program design. The summation of the performance parameter should exist as a minimum number that is needed to characterize the major drivers of the general operational performance process and supportability (Girard, 2015). Based on this, the value of a threshold or objective in the APB should not be different from the threshold value. With the increase in time, the number of performance parameter tends to increase in time (Girard, 2015). Thus, the ASA-ALT PM will use a minimum number of well-defined operational level, performance measurement in order to get information on the needed capability on the program. Additionally, the schedule parameters on the ASA-ALT will minimally involve the initiation date of the program, important decision points and the achievement of the initial operating capability (Girard, 2015). In relation to this, the ASA-ALT will, therefore, evaluate program schedule criteria that involve crucial date on the program’s schedule. The cost parameter is also taken into consideration through which it is broken down into various type of costs. These cost parameters include the evaluation cost, procurement costs, and military construction cost. Similarly, the operating and support and the cost incurred in the acquisition of items with operations and maintenance funds are taken into consideration. The Army is faced by cost parameters whereby cost figures reflect realistic estimates of the total program that is associated with a thorough assessment of risk. The impact on the underlying costs can be mitigated by the PM through refinement of the procurement costs in relation to the contractor actual costs associated with component advanced developments system demonstration and system integration (Girard, 2015). The PM will, therefore, involve a refined estimate in the following submittal of the APB. Based on this, the amounts budgeted will not at any point exceed the total cost thresholds in the APB (Girard, 2015). The existing cost parameter is applicable to additional payments to the military and the acquisition cost of the items procured with the defense working capital funds. The program deviation exists when the PM has the reason in believing that the current estimate for the program indicates that a performance, schedule and the threshold cost value will not be achievable (Girard, 2015). Thus, the PM shall immediately inform the Total Army on the occurrence of such deviation. Also, the PM should give adequate and reliable reasons for the occurrence of such program deviation while stating the preferable actions to be undertaken in bringing the program back within the baseline parameters. If the program deviation persists, a new APB level program will be conducted for the Total Army with additional review of the PM baseline.