Klontzas, Michael. 2025. Technological Innovation, Public Policy and the BBC: From Computer Literacy to Digital Terrestrial Television. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

No full text available

Text (Technological Innovation, Public Policy and the BBC: From Computer Literacy to Digital Terrestrial Television) MCCS_thesis_KlontzasM_2025.pdf - Accepted Version Permissions: Administrator Access Only until 31 July 2028. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (1MB)

Abstract or Description

This thesis examines the role of the BBC in supporting technological innovation in the UK in a thirty-year period from the late 1970s. It examines selected initiatives of the broadcaster, what drove its engagement in different contexts, what external impact they had, and how they related to public policy. It also investigates how that role has persisted or changed in response to shifts in the BBC’s environment.

Research design and analysis are informed by two sets of theoretical concepts, drawing on theories of technology and organisation. The BBC is viewed as an institution through the lens of new institutionalist theories. This captures the significance of lasting, shared values in developing a collective self-identity within the Corporation, determining which actions were considered legitimate and appropriate.

Empirically, this study is organised around the in-depth study of two key cases of the BBC’s engagement with technological innovation: the Computer Literacy Project and Digital Terrestrial Television. Fifteen years apart and spanning three decades, analysis of these cases reveals the mechanisms behind the BBC’s actions and how they changed during that period.

Data collection is rooted in archival material, documents and elite interviews analysed against the backdrop of internal dynamics and shifts in external conditions.

This research breaks with the tradition of approaching the BBC as content maker and distributor alone. While the engineering achievements of the broadcaster are well-documented, the broader social and economic aspects of its technology-related contribution have escaped systematic scholarly attention. This study begins to fill that gap. In so doing, it raises questions about the preferred future shape of the BBC and provides a starting point for the study of comparable public service media institutions in the UK and aboard.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Keywords:	technological innovation; public policy; BBC; public service media; public service broadcasting; institutionalism; United Kingdom
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
Date:	31 July 2025
Item ID:	39386
Date Deposited:	14 Aug 2025 13:00
Last Modified:	14 Aug 2025 13:13
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/39386

View statistics for this item...

Edit Record (login required)