1. WHAT IS U.S. TELEVISION NOW?
—by Amanda D. Lotz

2. Amanda D. Lotz She is an American professor in the Department of
Communications at the University of Michigan.
She has written several articles and books
about the evolution of television,
as well as the study of gender in television.
This particular article was written in 2009.

3. The author explores the adjustments that occurred in the
post-network era of T.V., which took place in the following areas: technologies, industrial formations, governmental policies, practices of looking, textual formations.
Her main goal is to trace how and why T.V. has evolved the way
it did, and in doing so, she presents an overview of what she
characterizes as the Network Era and Post-Network Era.

4. Major Points :
Political changes : The government’s power over what was
projected to the mass audience slowly diminished, as
technology evolved.
Technological changes : The arrival of the RCD, VCR and DVR,
the invention of the remote control and creation of cable.
Social changes : Prices went down and enabled households
to have more than one set per home.

5. Political Changes
“Minimal choice and control characterized our viewing experience compared with subsequent technology innovations and the modes of engagement they allowed.” (51)
"The truly profound adjustments that have already taken place in the United States and that continue to redefine the television industry occurred with minimal governmental intervention or involvement.” (55)

6. Technological Changes
Crucial developments in the post-network era involved the new practices of looking that emerged as a result of the breakdown of the linear daily schedule as a dominant organizing feature of television. (56)
The “on demand” technologies of the 1990s that allow viewers to save a range of selected content and create their own schedule represent the most fundamental break from schedules of the network era and the constraints on viewing that they imposed. (56)
"The networks have also diversified their programming base to feature some high-budget scripted programming that matches the aesthetic and narrative quality of feature film as well as more affordable unscripted “reality” programming." (58)

7. Social Changes
"In the network era, we primarily experiences television as a domestic, non-portable medium used to bring the outside world into the home." (51)
"Most homes possessed just one set, and families watched together, which means negotiations about what to watch — television viewing in the network era was largely a home-based, shared experience. (51)”

8. Main Argument:
These latter technological and industrial adjustments changed our television viewing experience, in the sense that our interaction with the medium, as well as the role it occupies in society shifted since the “network era”.

9. Key Concepts: Network era Post-network era Multi-channel transition
Practices of looking
Textual formations
Interoperability

10. Network era
The “network era” took place from 1952 to the mid-1980s. It represents the time period when television was first introduced and mainly experienced in the home setting; where program content was limited and that the action of watching was limited to the available television schedule.

11. Post-network era
The “post-network era”, which begins in this present century and is still ongoing, is characterized by a shift in the medium as the experience of watching television and the role it occupies in society changed.

12. Multi-channel transition
The multi-channel transition is defined by a period with increasing alterations in the conventional operating procedures of the television industry.

13. Practices of looking
The author suggests that the practices of looking can be thought of as “day-to-day behaviors and norms of use that have come to organize our interactions with television” (51)

14. Textual formations
The practices of looking of that time were also centered around the fact that the experience of watching was a familial one. This in turn influenced the content of the television shows, which she defines as the concept of textual formations, since the content was broad and followed universal themes in order to please the entire family.

15. Interoperability
Interoperability emerged as a result of the introduction of the process of digitization, since the latter “was the key that unlocked new portable, extradomestic uses of television”

16. Contemporary Examples
Post-network Era:
Anywhere:
Netflix:

17. Personal Reflection on the Value of these Concepts
Critics:
Lack of gender content analysis
- No hypothesis for the future of television
Related Reading:
We chose to do a parallel with Raymond Williams’ article “Television: Technology and Cultural Form”

18. Discussion Questions
In what ways do you think the experience of watching television will evolve in the upcoming years?
Do you agree with the author’s statement that television is not a dying medium, but simply one that is evolving?
Seeing how Netflix’s popularity has arisen in the last several years, will cable TV come to an end? And will channels like HBO start copying Netflix?