Media Cultures 2, a researched case study of a factual television programme or series

Aims / Context
The emphasis of the Media Cultures strand in this second term of the MA is on the business aspects of television, and in particular on the financing and operations of small production companies, with further emphases on income generation, the market- focused design of programmes and other moving- image and web-delivered products, and the ways in which sustainable revenue streams can be generated from them. The unit also looks at the laws relating to contracts, copyright and ownership. It prepares you to research and develop the detailed business plan that you will offer for assessment in the fourth term of the course.
Assessment requirements
This unit is assessed holistically
You will submit a 2,500-word essay based on a researched case study of a factual television programme or series (to be agreed with your tutor) discussing its costs and likely revenue sources. You are not expected to know details of the income that the programme/s has/have generated, as that is certain to be commercially-sensitive information, but you should offer your own comparator-based estimate of where the programmes and all of its variants and other associated sources of income might be marketed (using research wherever possible,) in what volumes and for what likely revenues over a five-year period.