Broadcasting Act 1990

Broadcasting Act 1990


The broadcasting act 1990 was made to change the structure of the British broadcasting, specifically British television and was described by Margret Thatcher as "the last bastion of restrictive practices". The impact of the 1990 broadcasting act was that television or radio companies other than the regulator became the broadcasters as had been the case from 1955-1964 of the Independent Television Authority. 

The broadcasting act allowed the making of another analogue terrestrial channel on television shown in the UK which had turned out to be channel 5. It was stipulated that the channel the BBC was now obliged to source at least 25% of it's output from independent production companies. 

The broadcasting Act was a good thing because it allowed for other satellite and cable channels to introduced on television for example Sky, Virgin Media etc. Therefore it let people watch better television with more channels and more shows instead of sticking to just the terrestrial channels.
The Independent Television Commission was created by the Broadcasting act 1990 to replace the television regulation functions of the independent broadcasting authority and cable authority. It became an existing ITV network. In 1990 the broadcasting act established Channel Four Television Corporation to run Channel 4, regulated by the Independent Television Commission. 

The broadcasting act 1990 has been praised and been criticised as a key enabling force for Rupert Murdoch ambitions in Britain. The system of awarding the ITV franchise was shown to be controversial since the show Thames Television was changed to Carlton Television and was said that this was because of political reasons. Margaret Thatchers management defiance of the trade unions was admired by TV-am and was taken off air and replaced with Good Morning TV. All franchises in England and Wales are now coming under the control of ITV since 2004.