TV and the InternetLearning Outcomes

Explain the ways in which the Internet has impact on TV in terms of production, distribution and consumption practices.

Identify different types of paratextual products that have arisen for television programmes over recent years and situate them within the wider industrial, technological and sociocultural trends within the media landscape.

Time-shifting technologies

New viewer consumption

practices

Online paratexts

New distribution

methods

New exhibition devices and platforms

What is IPTV?

IPTV = Internet Protocol Television (e.g. BT Vision)

Allows the delivery of television content/video-on-demand services over a broadband connection.

“security, interactivity and reliability” – International Telecommunications Union Focus Group

Features of IPTV:

• Supports interactivity

• Time-shifting

• Personalisation

• Low bandwidth requirements

• Accessible on different devices(O'Driscoll, 2008: 2-3)

VODSelect and watch video

content (e.g. BT Vision, BBC

iPlayer, YouTube)

Internet TVInternet TV

uses the public

Internet to deliver video

content to end users

(e.g.iPlayer)

IPTVUses secure

dedicated private

networks to deliver

content to consumers

(e.g. BT Vision)

You can find a set of slides from the BBC on this subject matter here!

Time-shifting and Scheduling

…while individual programmes may be the ‘building blocks’ of television, the schedule is the ‘architecture’, giving structure and meaning to ‘blocks’ of programmes on a given channel (Ellis, 2000 quoted in Casey etl al, 2002 :203)

Time-shifting and Scheduling

Predictability is important, as one of the core aims of scheduling is to assist broadcasters to capturing the biggest audience possible, thus maximising advertising revenues…perhaps the most important skill of a scheduler is to match programmes to audiences watching at different times of the day (Casey et al, 2000: 204-205)

Does scheduling matter?

How important are traditional scheduling techniques (block-booking, bridging, hammocking, day-parting, counter-programming, tent-poling, theming etc.) in the era of IPTV, VOD and Internet TV services?

Paratextual content online

In addition to television programmes being made available online, many television programmes now also have websites which contains additional paratextual content.

This can extend the narrative worlds of the television programmes, provide viewers with more information about the television programmes , and offer opportunities for interactivity.

Conker Media: A Company Case Study

• Conker Media is a digital production company creating content for TV, online, mobile and social media.

• Subsidiary of LIME Pictures, who is a part of the All3Media group.

All3Media Group

Lime Pictures

Conker Media

Has 20 production

and distribution companies operating within its corporate structure.

Television production company, based in

Liverpool. (e.g.

Hollyoaks)

Digital media company

(cross-platform) –

based in Liverpool.

Waterloo Road: A case study

Waterloo Road (television

programme)

Waterloo Road Reunited (online drama – webisodes)

Waterloo Road Reunited (blog)

Waterloo Road Reunited (Twitter)

The Internet and TV Viewing Practices

• Online games/competitions linked to TV programmes (e.g. Million Pound Drop)

• #’s for programmes to encourage ‘conversation’ (e.g. Question Time)

• Facebook pages for programmes (e.g. Top Gear)

• Using emails, tweets, Facebook posts and so on as programme content (e.g. The One Show)

SEMINAR PREP:In order to prepare for this week’s seminar you must:a. Set-up a Twitter account and follow

COMM234..b. Read Anstead, Nick and Ben O'Loughlin

(2011) ‘The Emerging Viewertariat and BBC Question Time: Television Debate and Real-Time Commenting Online’ in The International Journal of Press/Politics, Volume 16, Number 4, pp440-462.

references

O'Driscoll, Gerard (2008) Next generation IPTV services and technologies [electronic book], Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley-Interscience.

Casey, Bernadette, Neil Casey, Ben Calvert, Liam French, and Justin Lewis (2002), Television Studies: The Key Concepts, London: Routledge.

Anstead, Nick and Ben O'Loughlin (2011) ‘The Emerging Viewertariat and BBC Question Time: Television Debate and Real-Time Commenting Online’ in The International Journal of Press/Politics, Volume 16, Number 4, pp440-462.

http://www.waterlooroad.co.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waterlooroadreunited/

references

http://www.all3media.com/home.php

http://limepictures.com/

http://www.conkermedia.com/

Hansen, L. Derek, Ben Shneiderman, and Marc A. Smith (2011) Analysing Social Media Networks with NodeXL: Insights from a Connected World, Morgan Kaufmann, Burlington.