But it does not need to be populist.

It has the money to give us something different."

-Gerry Murphy, CEO Carlton Communications, speaking to Royal Television Society

Since its inception, the BBC, the British subsidized television and radio broadcaster, has made a vow to extend programming - both physically and in terms of content - to all viewers and to broadcast material that contributes to a unified sense of life. However, since the years of the original director general's strict policies were set forth, the BBC has been leaning more and more towards entertainment controlling its airwaves, and has been found seeking to win bitter ratings battles against other stations, namely ITV1. This behavior would surely not be accepted by the original director general's ideologies, nor does it fall under the BBC's continued commitments to be a public service. So then how was the BBC allowed to launch its very first reality TV show this fall and provide blanket coverage across three of its television networks as well as one radio network for three days a week? Aren't money-grabbing, ratings-hungry programs such as Big Brother and Pop

Stars: The Rivals simply commercial, uneducational excuses for people to sit at home and watch the tube? An analysis into why this first reality show, Fame Academy, was allowed to hit airwaves on October 4, 2002 would help to clarify the current relationship had between the BBC and its public service promise and perhaps even help to tell the future of public broadcasting in the UK.

The chart shows the average number of viewers for both Fame Academy and Popstars: The Rivals since Fame Academy started on October 4, 2002. The date shown is that of the Fame Academy show {on a Friday} - the Popstars: The Rivals show is screened the following day. Although the first show saw the newcomer struggling to keep even half of the 10 million viewers from The Eastenders {which airs right before it}, massive changes in the show's production and the shaping of the singing talent has helped Fame Academy catch up. In fact, after the very disappointing first screening {disappointing in terms of ratings} BBC director general Greg Dyke was reportedly quoted calling the first Friday show "fucking crap". The more recent dates have shown extremely similar numbers of viewers between the two shows, owing to Fame Academy's ability to compete successfully for ratings. Internet forums have even posted polls online where surfers can vote for "Which is the better series?" No doubt, news of these polls - and of course their respective results - will please BBC executives who now see their Fame Academy as a strong competitor and are looking at the ratings such as those below to see how their series is doing against other major reality shows screened in the past three years.

Judging by the table and that only a total of 20 million viewers are available on an average night at 7 p.m., no one can argue against the popular dominance of these reality shows. Audience viewership is of course the first and foremost telling of a show's public success. However, honors such as the National TV Awards - the only awards of their kind voted for entirely by members of the public - also prove the massive popularity of reality TV shows. This year, on October 15, reality TV shows picked up three of the top prizes at the National TV Awards - the "people's Oscars" or the British television industry {Plunkett 2002}. So as expert Tom George from Zenith Media said, there is really no sign of abatement in the popularity of reality TV programming. There is just so much more that can be done with the format and there are so many viewers hungry to see it.

In the BBC's recent history, in which other stations have been able to compete with the corporation at a national level, there has never been a single program to amass the audience that Fame Academy, with its current trend, will get by the series finale this Christmas. The projected number, according to the same bookies that are placing odds for the show's contestants, is around 10 million - putting Fame Academy right in the middle of the ratings chart above {an accomplishment still considered exemplary, especially considering this is the BBC first attempt at reality TV}. So then, by gathering a majority of the viewing audience to watch one and the same program, and by fulfilling this audience's desires to see behind the scenes and into the lives of ordinary people, the BBC must be doing a public service. For the definition of a public service is one that helps, educates, or otherwise fulfills the wants or needs of the public at large. Although this may not have been envisioned by the BBC's original creator, it is not altogether outside of the BBC's commitments. Fame Academy exemplifies the movement of the BBC towards entertainment programming but this specific case, as well as the issue as a whole is not tenable as a means to shoot down the BBC as a failed public service broadcaster. First off, it is entertainment that the public demands. If the viewers must turn to another channel to get what they want, they w

Some common words found in the essay are:
Fame Academy, BBC British, June BBC's, Popstars Rivals, Dr Hill, Idol BBC, Brits BBC, Media London, Brian Dowling, Plunkett Guardian, fame academy, reality tv, public service, pop idol, dawley 2002, national tv, reality fame academy, popstars rivals, reality fame, abating dawley 2002, original director, element reality, bbc public service, academy popstars rivals, popularity reality tv,
Approximate Word count = 2705
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)