Mass Media and Society

Chapter 9: Television

Feb. 19, 2014

Chapter 9:Television

• Origins of television• Television and culture• Issues and trends• Influence of new

technologies

Origins of TV

• 1939: NBC first broadcasts regularly

• 1950s: First Golden Age of Television

• 1945: 10,000 sets; 1950: 6 million; 1960: 60 million

Rise of cable TV

• By 1962, 800 systems with 850,000 subscribers

• Pay service HBO founded in 1972

• Deregulation provided by 1984 cable act allows expansion; 53 million households by end of ’80s

Digital and HD

• U.S. switches from analog to digital fully in 2009

• High-Definition Television popularized; by 2010, nearly half of U.S. audience watch in HD

• HD viewers watch 3% more prime time(7-11 p.m.)

Television and culture• Domestic comedy in

1950s: “Leave it to Beaver” etc. depict generic idealized families

• Leave out minorities; don’t address social issues; focus on middle-class whites exclusively

1960s and 1970s

• 1960s: TV news brings reality home (Cronkite)

• Sitcoms popularized (“Bewitched,” “Beverly Hillbillies”)

• 1970s: Sketch comedy (“SNL”); programming diversifies somewhat

TV in the 1980s• Some call early ’80s

Second Golden Age (scripted dramas like “Hill Street Blues”)

• CNN, ESPN, MTV “Cosby Show,” “Family Ties”

• BET launches in 1980• Content more violent and

more sex-related

1990s and 2000s

• More specialized cable channels

• Programming migrates online (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube)

• Conversation increasingly dominated by those outlets, HBO, ESPN, MTV

Netflix disrupts• Netflix pays to license

content from networks: streaming and rentals

• Subscriptions: 31 million in U.S. (HBO: 28 million)

• Getting into original programming

• Interconnected with networks, cable

Hulu and YouTube• Hulu: streaming site

created by NBC, Fox, ABC; 5 million subscribers

• YouTube: owned by Google

• YouTube is busiest “TV platform”: 6 billion hours of video a month watched by 1 billion unique visitors

TV and culture

• TV news comes to forefront during crisis (9/11)

• Partisan news networks influential

• Social issues (“Ellen”)• Reality television

Industry trends

• Corporate sponsorship• Networks rise and fall• Fox rises to rival big 3 in

early 1990s (ABC, NBC, CBS)

• Big four share of market falls from 43% in 1994 to 27% in 2009

Industry trends• Cable continues to eat

into network market share• Narrowcasting: Channels

focus on specific audiences (sports, news, fashion, hobbies)

• Cable pushes the envelope on explicit content; so do networks

New technology• Satellite TV: DirecTV vs.

Dish Network; both compete with cable

• DVRs popularized• Internet: Streaming

content competes with TV• VOD (video on demand)

becomes more common• Interactive TV

Revenue sources• Networks: advertising,

licensing content• Netflix and

HBO/Showtime: subscriptions (HBO/Showtime license content)

• Cable companies: subscriptions to cable TV, broadband Internet

Revenue sources• Cable networks:

Advertising, carriage fees (charging cable companies to broadcast network content)

• YouTube: Advertising• Hulu: Subscriptions,

advertising, licensing content

Revenue and trends• Local TV affiliates: local

advertising, charging cable operators

• Ownership trend in cable is toward consolidation

• Cable companies offer single “pipe” for TV, Internet, phone

Third Golden Age• Complex, years-long

dramas (“Sopranos,” “The Wire,” “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad”)

• Starting mid-1990s• Anti-hero protagonists• Culturally influential• Freedom of cable/pay TV

Major threats to TV• Advertising declining:

DVR users skip ads; viewers use ad-free services more

• Viewers streaming more video, using devices such as game consoles; giving up cable subscriptions