The ever-changing trends in broadcasting in the Noughties

The turn of the millennium has further accentuated Marshal McLuhan's theory of a global village. Technology has made it possible for the world to be linked through the internet and immediacy is the key word. People want access and they want it now.

In truth, mass communication media have now reshaped themselves into individual tools of communication. Radio and television stations have learnt to adapt themselves to meet the challenges imposed by a rapid changing technology.

Yet, despite the new trends and nearly 20 years after broadcasting was liberalised in Malta, local radio and television stations have continued to cement their presence on the island.

The concept of community radio stations has continued to flourish. Despite their perceived limited audience, these stations are still going strong and over the past ten years more 'permanent' community stations have mushroomed in different localities together with 'temporary' stations that operate on a seasonal basis.

According to the latest statistics published by the Broadcasting Authority (October-December 2009), nearly four per cent of the population tunes in to community radio stations. Despite coming across as a negligible percentage, this finding is interesting and revealing in its own right considering that just over half of the population tunes in to radio and that there are 13 nationwide radio stations on the FM dial competing for listenership.

Media does tend to re-invent itself to remain appealing to the various publics. Radio stations have invested in attractive websites which allow for an immediate exchange between presenters and listeners through e-mail and blogs, apart from targeting an international audience through their presence via webcasting.

Add a webcam inside the studio and hey presto, the once unknown community radio station is now a mini audio-visual component available to anyone on the planet with an internet connection.

Analogue FM radio is presently facing stiff competition from digital radio. Although still in its infancy, this new platform will continue to revolutionise the medium as technology will make it possible to have a number of stations on the same frequency allowing new players to enter the market while providing a selection of foreign stations that were otherwise unavailable on the traditional FM dial.

The introduction of Melita Cable in the early nineties provided a platform for a much wider selection of foreign television providing different genres of programming. If subscribers were willing to pay for this service, there was no longer the need to worry about rooftop aerials and boosters to try and capture as clear a signal as possible from nearby Sicily.

Local television also made inroads by setting local trends that were previously alien territory.

While breakfast shows and early afternoon shows have remained popular with the audience, their format and content changed thanks to competition in television broadcasting.

Meanwhile, more programming genres emerged requiring a niche audience amongst these informative programmes on gadgets, fashion, lifestyle and travel.

A challenge which was seriously taken on board by local television stations is drama productions. Quite a few of the local drama productions are showing good quality programming techniques. Drama programmes are very popular and recent ratings published by the Broadcasting Authority attest this claim.

The advent of digital terrestrial television ended the monopoly previous enjoyed by Melita and with two network operators on the market, the other being Go, customers could compare the packages on offer.

Globalisation brought about a new philosophy in the negotiation of television rights particularly for sporting events. Over the past ten years, customers learnt at their own expense that there is no free lunch out there when it comes to major sporting events. TVM may have competed for the exclusive rights of the UEFA Champions League and the World Cup in the 1990s but spiralling bidding costs led private networks to successfully negotiate such rights and interested customers had no other option but to pay for such "luxuries". The Broadcasting Authority was on the forefront to try and protect consumers' rights by successfully pushing for legislation governing which events of major importance should still be televised on free to air television.

Other innovative trends in broadcasting content led the Broadcasting Authority to push for new legislation to better safeguard listeners and viewers. During the decade under review, new legal notices were enacted to provide better regulation for radio and television programmes particularly in the portrayal of minors, vulnerable people and those with a disability to name but a few.

Legislators and regulators in Europe have found themselves having to re-think legislative frameworks to cater for new challenges. The Audio-Visual Media Services Directive (AVMS) was created specifically to cater for new technologies including the so-called non-linear services. These new provisions address new challenges of converging media.

Ultimately, consumers can only expect more dynamism in the industry as the years of this decade continue to roll.

This is an article in a series looking back at how technology changed our lives in the past decade.

Mr Cassar is the chief executive officer of the Malta Broadcasting Authority.