22 Television 113 What9s on TV tonight? Watching television is by far one of the most popular pastimes in Britain, even if it comes at a cost: the TV licence is about £170 a year. There is a wide range of television channels, both public and private, covering a variety of genres and interests. Let9s find out about the main channels across the nation. BBC 1 : Set up in 1936, it covers the whole range of what television offers, but is particularly renowned for programmes of general interest: sport, light entertainment, current affairs , and children9s programmes. BBC 2 : It tends to show more serious programmes: news analysis and discussion, documentaries, drama, operas, concerts, and some sports. It plays an important role in the government9s Open University courses. ITV : Launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition and reduce the monopoly of the BBC, it is the oldest commercial network in the UK. It covers light entertainment, drama, game shows, films, sport, and other popular programmes. It shows commercial adverts to finance the channel. Channel 4 : Created as an alternative to BBC2 in 1982, it devotes about half its broadcasting time to informative programmes. It shows commercials, too. Channel 5 : Launched in 1997, it is a general entertainment channel that shows internally commissioned programmes 3 i.e. programmes specifically produced for the channel 3 and relies on programmes imported from the United States. Private channels : Sky, Virgin Media and BT, just to name a few, provide a wide range of pay TV channels, offering sport, entertainment, films, and news. In the US there are over 600 TV stations, but the major networks are ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN. 132 Topic 6 " SCREENS 1 READING Say which channel& 1 is used for distance learning. 2 was founded in the 50s to compete with public channels. 3 provides informative programmes. 4 you should watch if you like programmes coming from the US. 2 114 LISTENING WRITING PAIR WORK Listen to a recording about the key moments in the history of the BBC and take notes. Then, in pairs, create a table to summarise them. Include information about: when, what, and extra info. 3 WRITING GROUP WORK Prepare a text similar to the one above to talk about the main American TV channels, ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN. glossary current affairs: attualit Open University Open University (OU) is a public research university and the largest university in the UK by number of students. The majority of the students study off-campus; many of its courses can also be studied anywhere in the world. The OU first broadcast in January 1971 on BBC 2: the new university reached out to its first students through the innovative use of television and radio and proved that it was possible to teach university level subjects to students at a distance.