Chapter 5 TELEVISION and the Power of Visual Culture

EARLY TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS  Late 1800s: cathode ray tube  1880’s: Nipkow’s scanning disk  1920’s: Zworykin’s iconoscope  1920’s: Farnsworth’s image dissector tube  1930: Farnsworth patents first electronic television

Early TV broadcasting: 1940s  1941: ten stations on VHF band  108 stations by 1948 (major cities only)  FCC concerned about frequency allocation  FCC FREEZE on new licenses  Freeze lifted in 1952: 400 stations apply for and are granted licenses

SINGLE SPONSORSHIP  Early TV programs usually conceived, produced and supported by one sponsor  Shows were extended advertisements  Sponsors, not networks, had total control over content

How networks gained control of programming  Increased program length (raised production costs for sponsors)  New concept of “magazine” programming, with sales of spot ads  Introduction of “Spectaculars” (TV specials) with multiple sponsors  Quiz Show Scandal ( )

NETWORK ERA of Television: 1950s-1970s NBC, CBS, ABC

Changes in TV industry (late 1950s)  Networks moved entertainment divisions to Hollywood  Network news operations (information divisions) remained in New York

TV’S INFORMATION CULTURE  Nightly news began in 1948 (Camel News Caravan, NBC)  modeled after radio news  primarily a verbal report by an authoritative male anchorperson  images provided support  15-minute format

TV’s ENTERTAINMENT CULTURE: THE GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION  Situation/domestic comedy  Variety shows/sketches  Anthology dramas  Episodic drama series  Continuing serials

ECONOMICS OF TELEVISION How are programs produced and distributed?

Prime-Time Production  Programs created by film studios and independent production companies  Programs licensed to networks for a licensing fee (for 2 airings)  Networks sell ad slots to advertisers  Production companies lose money on network airing, but recoup it in syndication (deficit financing)

DISTRIBUTION of TV Shows  Networks send national programming to affiliate stations  Each network has affiliates  Network ownership of affiliates (O&O’s) was limited by FCC  Local affiliates sell local ad time  Affiliates have local control and choice

SYNDICATION of TV Programs  Local TV stations and cable firms can buy syndicated programs  They acquire exclusive local market rights for specific length of time  Syndicated programs dominate hours outside prime time (fringe time)

Types of Syndication  Off-network  First-run  Hybrid

DECLINE of the NETWORK ERA  TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES  GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS  DEVELOPMENT OF NEW NETWORKS