TELEVISION Chapter 6

Gaining Popularity…. 1948: 1% of American households had a TV set 1953: more than 50% Early 1960s: more than 90% of all homes have a television set

1. Technological Innovations and Patent Wars 2. Controlling Content Creating a Medium… Three major historical developments that helped make TV a medium: 1. Technological Innovations and Patent Wars 2. Controlling Content 3. Rise and Fall of Quiz shows

Technological Innovations Late 1800s: German inventor Karl Braun invented the cathode ray tube, which combined the camera and electricity 1880s: German inventor Paul Nipkow developed a scanning disk to portray images Cathode Tube Nipkow Scanning Disk

Patent Wars 1923: Vladimir Zworykin invented the iconoscope—first television camera tube to convert light rays into electrical signals (received patent in 1929) 1927: Philo Farnsworth: transmitted the first electronic picture by rotating a straight line on a scratched square of painted glass by 90 degrees A fight between Zworykin and Farnsworth for a patent ensued, but Farnsworth received the patent for the first electronic television 1934: Philo Farnsworth demonstrated the television at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, but the famous debut of television occurred when RCA debuted the television at the 1939 World’s Fair

Philo Farnsworth

Technical Standards NTSC (National TV Systems Committee): Set analog standard for all TVs until 2009 when replaced by digital signals (binary codes); now HDTV When TV licensing gained popularity, government had to assign channels, but interference caused government to freeze licensing from 1948-1952 NTSC sorted issues out, so FCC began issuing licenses again in 1952, and by mid-1950s, more than 400 stations were in operation and TV became a mass medium About 1,700 television stations are in operation today

Color TV 1952: FCC approved a CBS color TV system but didn’t work on many TV sets 1954: RCA introduced color system that sent TV images in color and allowed older TV sets to receive color as black and white This system became the standard for color TV NBC broadcast a few shows in color in the 1950s but wasn’t until 1966 when the consumer market for color had taken off and the major networks began broadcasting evening line-ups in color

Controlling Content When TV began, programs were controlled by sponsors, just like radio Sponsorship: Pat Weaver became president of NBC, extended programs to 30 minutes and raised sponsorship costs Also introduced “magazine” format and the television spectacular -- 1952: Today Show --1954: The Tonight Show --offered 30/60 seconds advertising spots

The Rise and Fall of Quiz Shows Quiz shows were cheap to produce and very popular…but RIGGED! 1955, CBS aired $64,000 Question on primetime (8-11 PM EST), sponsored by Revlon, whose profits skyrocketed in four years from $1 to $10 million 22 quiz shows aired on network TV by 1958 Twenty-One, sponsored by Geritol, had most notorious rigging scandal with professor Charles VanDoren Congressional investigations, bad press, and rumors of cheating ended quiz shows on TV

Quiz Show Scandals Quiz show investigations revealed sponsorship pressure of rigging the shows. The results: Put an end to the major role of sponsors in creating TV content Brought distrust of media among Americans Quiz shows kept out of primetime for 40 years

Developing Cable TV First concept of cable was Community Antenna Television (CATV), available in areas where mountains or tall buildings blocked TV signals Breakthrough for cable TV was the launch of communication satellites, Anik (Canada, 1972) and Westar (US, 1974) First cable network to use satellite for regular transmission of TV programming was HB0, which showed commercial-free movies and live boxing matches for a monthly fee

Cable vs. Broadcast TV Cable took audiences away from traditional broadcast TV: --Cable has better signal reception and introduced narrowcasting (specialized programming for diverse groups), which attracts advertising --Cable offers more access to community (Anyone can have a show!) --Continues to increase as a result of high-bandwidth fiber-optic cable and digital cable

DBS: Direct Broadcast Satellite Satellite services have competed with cable, especially in rural areas Transmits signal directly to small satellite dishes Resulted in cable’s popularity dropping to 44% by 2012 DirecTV and Dish DBS companies offer same services as cable, sometimes at a cheaper rate Now digital signals on OTA (over the air) channels and online streaming options (Amazon and Netflix) have taken away customers from cable and satellite subscriptions

Technology and Convergence in TV Biggest technological innovations of Digital Era are the non-television delivery options, which allow us to skip real-time broadcasting and watch programming on our own time TV has adapted to the Digital Turn and is being reinvented, and is growing in viewers as well, just at different times, in different places, and on different screens…

Home Video 1975: VCR/videocassettes; 1975: Beta, 1976: JVC came out with VHS DVDs eventually took over and in 2007 came HD Blu-Ray DVDs DVR Home video led to video rental and time shifting (watching shows on our own time)

The Third Screen: The COMPUTER View videos online (most popular: YouTube) iTunes and Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Also, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon offer VOD (Video OnDemand) and streaming services Netflix—42 million subscribers in 2016 Netflix CEO said that more than 66% of their subscribers were now streaming movies and TV shows online Roku box, gaming consoles allow streaming of programming Modern TV sets are Internet-ready, and the television set is now a converged device

The Fourth Screen Smart phones and mobile video 2014 Nielsen Report said 84% of smartphone and table owners use devices as an additional screen while watching television at the same time Mobile devices are changing the way we view content and create content and where we watch video

Programming Trends… Entertainment moved to LA due to Hollywood, and news programming remained in New York 1951: I Love Lucy became the first TV program filmed before a live studio audience—many shows used movie film to record shows Comedy shows are the most durable types of programming (SitComs) Dramas became a regular type of programming (This Is Us, Scandal)

Growing Trends Reality TV: From late 1990s, gave everyone hope for a chance of “Fifteen Minutes of Fame”, audiences can relate as they represent the public ---Attractive to networks because it’s cheap to produce, no paying actors MTV’s Real World: longest running program on MTV Spanish-language TV: Univision is most popular network with more than 60 stations in the U.S. Telenovelas: most popular type of programming

Public Broadcasting 1967 Public Broadcasting Act: created the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and Public Broadcasting System Space dedicated to educational programming (Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Masterpiece Theatre, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood) Government funding and underwriting: govt. keeps cutting budget, also has a declining audience (children’s audience saw 22% drop from 2010-2014)

Syndication Syndication-Leasing stations or cable networks obtain exclusive rights to air TV shows Usually broadcast during fringe time (early fringe: programming immediately before evening’s prime-time schedule) and (late fringe: following the local evening news or late-night talk show) Syndication Types: a. Off-network syndication (reruns): older programs no longer run during network primetime, usually when a program builds up four seasons worth of episodes --Huge profits b. First-run syndication: Any program specifically produced for sale into syndication (Wheel of Fortune, Oprah, Ellen, Dr. Phil)