Broadcasting Finance in Transition A Comparative Handbook

This is an important study of the crucial issue of alternatives in commercial and public support of broadcasting in the U.S. and Europe. The Peacock Committee on Financing the BBC, a committee sponsored by the British government, commissioned Jay Blumler and Tom Nossiter to investigate the impact of alternate ways of financing the BBC on the range and quality of broadcasting. They then commissioned papers on broadcasting financing in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan to answer the question: "Should the BBC allow some commercial support in financing?" This is an essential collection for broadcast policy-makers and researchers.

This book represents an important contribution to the crucial issue of the alternatives in commercial and public support of broadcasting in the US and Europe. Half of the reports originated with the Peacock Committee on Broadcasting in Britain and thus have an authoritative relation to policy as well as research. The Peacock Committee of Financing the BBC, a committee sponsored by the government, commissioned Jay Blumler to investigate alternative (commercial) ways of financing in other European countries and the US to answer the question of whether the BBC should allow some commercial support in its financing.