ABSTRACT

But in the increasingly commercial environment, Channel Four could not sustain the minority commitments of its early days. When its funding changed in 1996 and it was required to sell its own advertising, the pressure to attract large audiences increased. Many of the independent companies set up in the 1980s collapsed. Others became larger and more mainstream. The channel changed its tone as the extraordinary range of material, which had characterised its early years, began to

disappear. At the BBC, the Community Programme Unit became Community and Disability Programmes in the early 1990s but was closed down in 2002. Despite lip-service, the arrival of the multichannel landscape and the competitive atmosphere of the 2000s meant that commitment to minority audiences, diversity and access became less important across the industry.