The Networks Face Competition (1980-

2000)

The Age of Synergy

• Hollywood studios continue to cash in and make television programming.•With advent of VCR and Cable they start considering• Ancillary Markets• Desire for merger grows• Networks can no longer be independent entities•Must consider other media

Mark Fowler and De-Regulation

Mark Fowler

• Loosened ownership caps• Leads to MSOs (Multiple-Station Owners)•Metromedia• Capital Cities• Parallel to impulse towards merger

Mark Fowler

• Appointed FCC chair by President Reagan• Believer in de-regulation• Felt enough new frequencies on UHF, plus Cable removed

need for “public service” programming. No more scarcity of programming.• Cut “public service” requirement• Felt Broadcasters 1st Amendment rights trumped viewers

Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984• Allows unregulated fees• Cable providers allowed monopoly in areas• Can program what they want• Can expand as ownership caps loosened• 1985—Cable in 50% of American homes (1/6 in 1975)• Networks share of market down to 75% (90% in 1975)

Fowler and the Networks

• Allowed them more content control• Certainly pro-business/corporate• Lifting caps and encouraging cable meant• Networks may no longer be independent• Could be part of larger media companies

1985--Merging Begins

• General Electric (former founder of RCA), major defense contractor and appliance maker, buys RCA and NBC• Capital Cities buys ABC• Pushes news to be more profitable•Wall Street investor Laurence Tisch buys 25% of CBS

FCC repeals Fairness Doctrine

• Challenged by Fowler—Per de-regulatory philosophy• 1985--FCC decides in violates Broadcasters 1st Amendment

rights•With cable etc., no longer needed• Claim it caused avoidance of controversy by demanding

“balance”• 1987—Repealed. Leads to all-right wing talk radio• 1992—Move to revive—Blocked by Rush Limbaugh et al.

Programming in the 80s

Types of Programming

• Network• Pay Cable—HBO (1978)—Monthly fee and commercial-free,

basically uncensored content• Basic Cable—Consumer pays monthly for a basic “tier” of

channels (with commercials)• Pay Per View• PBS—In depth news, documentary. Rather “white”

HBO

Basic Cable

• Niche Formats or Narrowcasting—Sports, Music, News, Spanish Language programming—become the model• Superstations—TNT and TBS (owned by Ted Turner)• Local stations distributed nationally

Music Television (MTV)

• Veejays and radio on television model

ESPN CNN

Univision

Public Access Programming

Public Access Programming

Network Programming in the 1980s

•Resurgence of the Sitcom•1. Cheers (NBC 1982-1993)—Classic workplace

comedy.•Boston bar where Sam (jock) and Diane (intellectual)

clash.• Seen as quality show• Leads to Frazier

Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelly Long)

Cosby (NBC 1984-1992, Carsey-Werner)

Cosby

• Huge success• Helped NBC’s ratings• Also considered “quality”• Show black family can be “typical” have universal problems.• Oddly enough—That idea was revolutionary in 1980s

Roseanne (ABC 1988-1996, Carsey-Werner

Roseanne

• Dealt with working class woes• Focus on money

Drama

•More formulaic dramas continue—Cops, lawyers, doctors• Feminist spin—Cagney and Lacey (CBS)—on “buddy” cop

show with relatively unglamorous women• Originally cast with less attractive actresses, glammed up.

Hill Street Blues (NBC 1981-1987 Steven Bochco)

Hill Street Blues

• Greenlit by Fred Silverman in brief tenure at NBC• Produced by MTM• Brings serial format to “quality” night-time programming• Low ratings at first but multiple Emmy Awards, well-reviewed• Deals with racial tension and urban crime• Has pseudo-documentary style—Very influential

Daytime Television—Aimed at women• Phil Donahue Oprah Winfrey

News

• 1980—Nightline (ABC) premieres with Ted Koppel. Grows out of Iran hostage crisis.

1981—Dan Rather replaces Walter Cronkite on CBS evening news

Peter Jennings (ABC) Tom Brokaw (NBC)

Late Night

• Johnny Carson stays popular on NBC.• Cuts back to one hour• NBC again tries an “off-hour” and puts David Letterman on

“Late Night” at 12:30• Huge success with younger, college viewers who think Carson

too old-fashioned• Tone—Ironic, Sarcastic• Seems to mock everything and everyone

Letterman and 1st guest

Stupid Pet Tricks

Saturday Night Live (1975—Present)

• NBC again tries off-hours programming• Debuts with “Not Ready for Prime Time Players”• Raunchy, often tasteless humor• Revives live, comedy variety format• Launching Pad of many famous actors, comedians

Original Cast (1975)

Spontaneity Possible

Radio in the 1980s

• Shock Jocks—Howard Stern• Political Extremists—Rush Limbaugh• Rise of more intelligent news on NPR

Stern on Letterman (mid-1980s)

Young Limbaugh

• Benefits from end of Fairness Doctrine

More Economic Shifts (1986-2000)

End of Early 1970s regulations

• Early 1990s—Fin/Syn and PTAR both junked.• Networks could produce as much programming as they

wanted and enjoy world-wide syndication rights• Prime Time could, but didn’t, return to 7:00• One exception to de-regulatory mania—Children’s Television

Act of 1990—Demanded educational shows for kids as part of (weakened) public service obligation• Often aired late afternoons

3 New Networks

• Fox• UPN• The WB

Fox (1986--)

Fox

• Launched by conservative newspaper publisher and owner of 20th-Century Fox, Rupert Murdoch

Fox

• Uses Metromedia (an MSO) stations plus buys up indie channels as affiliates.• Starts as prime-time only on Sunday night (1986)• 5 nights/week by 1990, 7 nights/1992• Appeals to youth (14-35), urban male, and African-American

viewers (25 % of viewers in 1995) underserved by networks• Programs have younger, edgier, more urban feel

Married with Children (1987-1997)

• Anti-sitcom. Removes most redeeming traits of characters. Little warmth, sentiment

The Simpsons (1989-Present)

• Longest running prime-time fictional program

In Living Color (Keenen & Damon Wayans, 1990-1994)• Spoofed television from African-American perspective• Introduced Jennifer Lopez –Fly Girl• Hip-Hop sensibility

UPN and WB both founded in 1995

• Both run by former Fox executives• Get less desirable indie stations• Also go after African-American audience (Fox cools on black

viewers in mid-1990s)• Now merged into CW

Network Economics and Programming in the 1990s

Still #1

• Networks were still #1 in 1990s• In fact, ad rates went up •With fragmentation they looked like the only consensus left• Looked big in proportion to smaller cable channels, newer

networks• 69% of viewers in 1995 (90% in 1975, 75% in 1985)

CBS

•Westinghouse buys out the synergy deaf Tisch• 60 Minutes is major ratings success• News division still most prestigious

NBC

• Home of best sitcoms—Cosby, Golden Girls, Cheers, Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld• Spawns CNBC and MSNBC• Buys shares in A&E and Bravo

Seinfeld (NBC 1989-1998)

• “Show about nothing”—actually about minutiae•Masterfully structured episodes• Created by Jerry Seinfeld—plays self—and Larry David (basis

for George Costanza)• Last time a network show would be so prominent• So central to American culture• Finale was major event

The classic shot

ABC

• Roseanne and Monday Night Football are big hits• Bought by Disney in 1995• Buys in to ESPN and (like NBC) A&E

Cable in the 1990s

Growing steadily

• In 2/3 of homes by 1995 (1/6 in 1975, ½ in 1985)• One regulation—”Must Carry”—cable station must carry all

over-air UHF/VHF stations in a market• “Must Carry” then repealed• “Must Carry” reinstated with two options• 1. The station is carried• 2. The station gets $ or another channel (chosen by networks

who knew they’d never be skipped over—would infuriate customers)

Oligopoly

• Cable companies have monopolies• Increasingly own cable channels• Give preference to channels they own• Still are not creating much original programming in 1990s

until very end of decade

The Telecommunications and Digital Millennium Copyright ActsBoth signed by Bill Clinton

Telecommunications Act of 1996

• Amazing deal for media corporations• 1. Further relaxed ownerships caps—One company could

own unlimited radio stations nationwide and multiple stations in one market. Boon to Clear Channel and Infinity• One company could own up to 35% of television stations

nationwide• 2. Cross-ownership allowed—One company could now own

tv and radio station in same market, own tv and cable in top 50 markets

Telecommunications Act of 1996

• 3. Broadcast license renewal extended from 6 to 8 years, renewal process made easier• 4. The Digital Spectrum given free to broadcasters• 5. After brief regulation, cable rates again de-regulated• Parts of it are more regulatory• 6. The Communications Decency Act—Mostly applied to

Internet as t.v., radio are self-censored. Overturned as unconstitutional by Supreme Court

Telecommunications Act of 1996

• 7. V-Chip placed in all televisions after 1999, synchronized with television ratings—TV-7, TV-14, TV-MA etc• 8. The Must Carry rule comes back in full force• 9. Cable Right of Refusal—Because of #8, cable channels

could refuse programming for obscenity, indecency.• Used against public access programming

V-Chip in use

Friend of the Media Industry

What happens?

• Further mergers• 1999—Viacom (Paramount, MTV, Nickelodeon and other

cable companies, Simon & Schuster, Infinity Broadcasting, 5 amusement parks, UPN) buys CBS• 2000—AOL buys Time-Warner-Turner then EMI Records

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)• 1. Easy ability to share, download intellectual property—

songs, shows, movies—on Internet leads to industry panic• The DMCA makes breaking anti-piracy devices a crime• Puts file-sharers like Napster out of business

DMCA

• 2. Fear of easy and High-Quality reproduction (beyond the cassette tape) by recording industry• DMCA allows higher fee charged to Internet Radio stations

(which went up as listenership rose) for music since they’re easier to copy• Drives some independent and college stations off air• 3. Extends copyright time period drastically