1. Media & Society: TELEVISION Pre 1948 Development Corporate, not individual achievement Philo Farnsworths image dissector Delayed due to World War II

2. Periods of Broadcasting I. Network Radio (1922-1948) TV industry foundations set program genres set Communications Act of 1934: sets up Federal Communications Commission as central governing body

3. II. Early Television (1948-1955) Postwar expansion License Freeze (1948-1952) Sixth Report and Order results in intermixture of UHF and VHF stations Three network system becomes entrenched

4. Early Television, continued. Du Mont Network briefly exists Advertisers as producers Live TV prominent Big studios stay out of TV Quiz Show scandal is catalyst for change

5. III. Network Age (1955 – 1980) True TV broadcasting Two strategies: LOP: least objectionable program LCD: least common denominator

6. IV. Rise of Cable (1980 - 1990s) CATV: community antenna television Reagan deregulates in 80s narrowcasting Greater opportunities for diverse content

7. V. Post-Network TV Telecommunications Act of 1996 Increased horizontal and vertical integration Return to in-house production and co-ownership Shifting revenue streams Two key trends: More and more narrowcasting More and more time shifting How will the TV industry respond to shifting viewer tastes and habits?

8. How might these change your TV viewing habits? How might these change TV content? DVRs, TV On-demand HDTV TV on DVD

9. Industry Structure Broadcast Who owns TV stations/affiliates? 1.O & Os: owned and operated 2.Station groups 3.Independents Cable Cable networks Superstations Premium Channels

10. Ratings Nielsen National ratings: overnights Sweeps periods Rating = % viewing show / TV households Share = % viewing show / HUTs (houses using television) Nielsen journal example

11. WHO CONTROLS TV? Vertically integrated conglomerates: combine production, distribution, other properties under single corporate umbrella The Big Five CompanyBroadcast TV Production StudiosCable (sample) Time Warner The CWWarner Bros.HBO, CNN, TNT DisneyABCDisney StudiosESPN, Disney ViacomCBSParamountMTV, Spike, Nick News Corp (Fox)Fox20 th Century FoxFX, Fox News NBC UniversalNBC, TelemundoNBC UniversalMSNBC, Bravo

12. Does vertical integration threaten the diversity of content and viewpoints? Outside mainstream often not found on TV Increased diversity if content profitable… but on narrowcasted cable channels which cost $$$

13. PROGRAMMING STRATEGIES watch television rather than particular programs Executives seek to maintain a consistent flow of viewers through a daypart

14. Scheduling strategies: Counterprogramming: attract different audience; ex: sitcom vs. crime drama Block programming: shows with similar appeal together for certain demographic; ex: family sitcoms DEMOGRAPHIC: audience segmentation based on social or personal characteristics, such as age, sex, education, or income.

15. Making TV Meaningful, or at least pleasurable. Ien Ang: Instead of What are the effects of pleasure? What is the mechanism of pleasure? How is it produced and how does it work?

16. What do fans find pleasurable in Dallas? Dallas can be read on two levels: 1. the level of denotation (the literal content) 2. the level of connotation (the associations and implications which resonate from the storyline and characters). Ang says fans enjoy "emotional realismof melodrama.

17. Can you apply these different types of readings to other programs? Denotative vs. Connotative Examples: Reality TV: Survivor, American Idol Sports Think about these as ways to understand what we watch or why we watch what we watch.