Television

Communications 233

Economics

Advertising Local, national spot, national network

Taxes (reception fees)Government supportSubscriptionDecoder costs

Categorical

VHF vs. UHFPublic vs. privateNetwork affiliate vs. independentCable vs. terrestrialDirect vs. cable

Broadcast transmission

MicrowaveSatellitesWire transmission (cable)Fiber opticsDirect Broadcast SatellitesMultichannel Distribution Service Low-power TV

Local vs. national

American broadcasting began as local radio stations

Later pulled together to form networks

Evolved into television networks

Network affiliation

Local stations are generally affiliated with networks

IndependentsOwned and Operated (O&O’s)

Network affiliation

Produces content for local stations, who then get:

network advertising revenuenational spot advertising revenue local advertising revenue

Ownership of networks

NBC -- General ElectricCBS -- WestinghouseABC -- DisneyFox -- Rupert Murdoch of News Corp.WB -- Time WarnerUPN -- Viacom (Paramount) and

Chris Craft/United

Ownership patterns

Group ownershipIndependently owned stationsMultiple system operators (cable)Public TV stations

Program development

Production companiesSyndication

Off-network programs First-run syndication Barter syndication

Ratings

Households Using TV (HUT)Rating (% of all households)Share (% of HUT)

Impact of TV on other media

Newspapers Loss of evening papers Loss of national advertising Move toward visual design Move toward interpretive reporting

Impact of TV on other media

Movies Demassification Impact of TV and VCR on titles

Impact of TV on other media

Recordings Focus on music in terms how how it will

show on MTV and similar channelsRadio

Demassification

Impact of TV on other media

Magazines Loss of national, undifferentiated

advertising Forced specialization

Impact of TV on other media

Books Change in use of discretionary time

from reading to watching Book manuscript as a screenplay and

ultimately TV fare Selection of authors in terms of their TV

personalities

Legal environment of broadcasting

Federal Communications Commission

Ownership of the airwavesContent changes over time

On the TV horizon

Digital television (high definition)Growth in direct broadcast satellitesExpanded pay-per-viewFragmenting audiencesInternet delivery

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TV-viewing choices by decade

1960s1970s1980s1990s2000s2010s

Web site for digital TV

http://www.pbs.org/opb/crashcourse/http://www.digitaltelevision.com/http://www.howstuffworks.com/dtv.h

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