Unit 5—Televison, Cable and Mobile Video

A Short History of Television Early pioneers include Philio Farnsworth and Vladimir Zworykin. In 1939 RCA made the first true public demonstration of TV in the form of regularly-scheduled 2 hour NBC broadcasts. WWII intervened the construction of commercial stations. By the end of the 1950’s 90% of U.S. households had a TV. The content and character of TV was fixed in the 1950’s: Genres carried over from radio. New formats were feature films and talk shows. Broadcast journalism became very powerful. The major TV networks were able to reach most of the U.S. and came to dominate the medium.

A Short History of Television Spot commercial sales (vs. sponsoring an entire program) may have put an end to the “golden age of television”: the incentive, perhaps, for advertisers to demand high quality programming was gone. “I Love Lucy” used film cameras, editing, taped reruns, and syndication. It also moved the TV universe from New York to L.A. Edward R. Murrow used his program to fight back against the McCarthy red scare.

Nielsen Ratings Selects 15,000 households to represent the country. Uses a peoplemeter to let each member of the household record his or her viewing. Convergence is changing how data will be gathered (personal peoplemeter). Also uses sweeps period; may soon be a thing of the past. Rating: number of households tuned in divided by ALL households. Share: number of households tuned in divided by all households tuned into TV AT THAT TIME.

The Coming of Cable By systems were providing cable to more than 850,000 homes. Today there are more than 7,000 cable systems serving more than 65 million homes (nearly 60% of all households).

Television and Its Audiences In 1962 Congress required that all TV sets have VHF and UHF receivers. This would be important with the coming of cable. The 1960’s saw profound political changes and discussions about how television should be used (Newton Minow’s “vast wasteland” speech). Some figures about modern TV watching: The average home has more than 2.7 TV’s. A TV is on in a home for an average of more than 8 hours per day. The average person watches more than 4 hours of TV per day. 83% of Americans get most of their news from the TV. The average 30 second prime-time spot cost $100, % of Americans see TV as the most influential ad medium.

The Scope and Nature of the Broadcast Television Industry TV is still dominated by a handful or major broadcast networks, which link affiliates for the purpose of delivering and selling viewers to advertisers. Almost all the nearly 1,400 commercial stations in the U.S. are tied to a major network. Networks control much of what is seen on local stations, independent stations, and cable channels through the control of content, production, and distribution.

How a Program Gets on the Air 4,000 proposals are looked at, 100 pilots are filmed, 20 or 30 make it to the air, 3 or 4 will succeed as hits. Pilots are tested through research and audience opinion and may demand changes. A network invests very little of its own money during the developmental stage. Producers tend to put in a lot of money in hopes of making a HUGE windfall during syndication: critics argue this keeps the quality of shows low. There is little incentive to push the boundaries and do something new and creative. There is also first-run syndication too: game and day-time talk shows for example. New technologies are lowering the major networks’ overall share of the audience.

Cable and Satellite Television Cable’s share of the prime-time audience first exceeded that of the Big Four in 2001 and has ever since. There are basic and premium cable channels. Operators are increasingly carrying channels because their owners (multiple owners include Time Warner) insist that they do. There are calls for a la carte pricing: arguments are that programs for niche groups and minorities would disappear. For premium channels it is original programming that is attracting viewers. There is also satellite TV, dominated by DirecTV (owned by News Corporation) and Dish Network (owned by publically- traded Echostar): cable’s rising rates are drawing viewers to satellite, especially now that satellite carries local channels

Trends and Convergence in Television and Cable VCR’s: 95% + homes have/had one; most content taped from TV comes from networks. DVD: eliminated VCR’s as a technology. DVR: Nearly ¼ of all households have them, and by % will have them. They have changed the way people watch TV and the way advertisers operate. Digital Television: all stations went digital in February Television and Video on the Internet: more and more homes have broadband connections, allowing them to view TV and video via the computer. Viewers can rent downloads, buy them, or watch them for free.

Trends and Convergence in Television and Cable Interactive Television: digital cable television, and digital compression has allowed: Video-on-Demand: choosing content whenever a viewer wants. One-click shopping: order the product from the TV. Local information on demand: localize information you are viewing. Program interactivity: become part of the show. Interactive program guides: help plan viewing. Phone-Over-Cable: has met with resistance from consumers unhappy with cable companies but bundling would allow faster Internet service (although it puts a lot of power into the hands of one company). Mobile Video: will become a $1.5 billion business by Companies are heartened by the success of Sony’s PSP.