Television, Cable & Specialization in Visual Culture

Television, Cable & Specialization in Visual Culture Chapter 8 Mass Media Industries

How many logos can you ID? http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/17-05/puzzle4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Top+Stories%29

The Impact of Television on American Life • Continually evolving to adapt to changes in technology, business models, and viewer demands. • Since its inception in the 1950s, TV has provided a touchstone for national events. • New platforms have increased accessibility to TV but …. • Dynamic quality of TV today.

The Early History of Television • Evolution of the medium • Early inventions included the “scanning disk” • Two notable individuals emerged during this “development stage” • Philo T. Farnsworth and Vladimir Zworykin – patent wars • Each sought to develop a way to send pictures through air waves to a distant point. • http://www.farnovision.com/chronicles/tfc-prehisto.html

The Entrepreneurial Stage:Setting Technical Standards • Before an industry could develop, certain agreements were necessary. • The National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) organized to represent the interests of the major constituents. • 1941 FCC adopted an analog standard for broadcast (525 line image).

Broadcast Technology A standard-definition video using the NTSC method, traditionally used for analog television broadcasting, has 525 scan lines (480 effective scan lines) per frame.

1930s • TV was written about in trade magazines i.e. Science Magazine • 1937 RCA Test Chart

Mass Medium Stage • FCC, 1940s, assigned certain channels to airwave frequencies. • Limited by geographic area (signal interference). • After WWII (TV delayed), by mid-50s, more than 400 TV stations nationally. • Color TV followed but black & white sets prevailed.

Controlling TV content • As TV took off, broadcast networks tried to exert more control over programming. • Like radio, TV was dominated by single sponsors.

Changes • TV extended the program times from 15 from radio to 30 minutes and an hour. • Appearance of the “magazine” format with multiple segments. • Today and Tonight shows. • Began to run adverts in different time segments.

Quiz Show rigged • By the end of the decade, 22 shows airing. • The most notorious “rigging” was on the show Twenty-One & Charles Van Buren • Resulted in quiz shows being banned from prime time.

Introducing Cable CATV –Community antenna television

Evolution of Network Programming • Information: Network News • By the 60s, the 3 networks had 30 minute nightly news shows. • Affiliate stations would rebroadcast in different time zones. • Cable networks began to draw off viewers, CNN.

How do affiliates work? • http://www.fox.com/affiliates.php • O&Os are owned and operated affiliates usually in the largest media markets. • WABC, WCBS, WNBC, WNJU (Telemundo), WNYW (Fox). • Largest markets will also have network affiliates. • Tribune Broadcasting’s WPIX serves as the NY affiliates for the CW Television network, which does not have an O&O in Chicago. • Independently owned & under no obligation to show programming.

TV killed the radio star • Comedy – most programs were aired live and did not survive. • Kinescopes • Film – I Love Lucy • Videotape invented and the birth of reruns followed. • Sketch –Legacy of vaudeville, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, today SNL • Situation (Sitcom)

Entertainment Drama • Anthology Drama brought live theater to viewers, known as teleplays. • Often presented complex, hard to solve human problems which advertisers didn’t like. • Episodic Series – main characters week to week, different problems. • Chapter Shows – self-contained stories. • Serial Programs – open-ended, soap operas, hybrid shows mixing drama with comedy.

Talk Shows & TV Newsmagazines • Tonight Show – • http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show • 60 Minutes • Reality TV (don’t be fooled, these programs are scripted). • Public TV • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXEuEUQIP3Q

The Evolution of Cable Programming • Competition to the networks came from cable in the form of HBO – Home Box Office & WTBS, Ted Turner’s Atlanta based station. • Each provided a mix of old and new programming. • Narrowcasting enabled cable companies to offer “packages” that provided different options of programming & services for a price.

Cable Programming • Basic Cable/Expanded Cable • AMC’s Breaking Bad • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MeAfh4la08 • CNN • MTV • Premium Channels • Pay per view • Video on demand

Regulatory Challenges • Restricting broadcast networks control of prime time • Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR) reduced networks control from four hours to three. • Meant to encourage more local programming, public affairs, and news. • Instead played reruns, quiz shows, infotainment. • Financial Interest and Syndication Rules or fin-synprohibiting networks from forming their own syndication companies to just replay reruns.

Reining In Cable’s Growth- (haha) • Initially, the FCC blocked cable from showing distant TV programming (out of state). • National Association of Broadcasters lobbied Congress to restrict cable’s growth. • 1970s, satellites made cable programming accessible. • FCC made must-carry rules (local programming). • Access channels free to local citizens, educators, • Local governments. • Leased channels-citizen broadcasting

Cable, is it print? Or broadcast? • Cable categorized itself an electronic publisher. • Others said they were Common carriers – services such as phone companies. • 1979 landmark case of Midwest Video, U.S. Supreme Court upheld lower court decision that cable companies control content. • Run on franchises ensued.

Telecommunications Act of 1996 • Eliminated restrictions that kept ownership of stations to eight (8) in a market. • Act deregulated cable and other forms of mass media, including radio and television. • Also allowed regional and national phone companies to enter into the cable market. • Instead of competition, monopolies have emerged, Comcast. • Networks are the biggest player on cable.

What say you? • Susan Crawford, The Captive Audience • http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/

Television, Cable & Specialization in Visual Culture