1. Chapter 7: Television and Cable

2. A brief history of TV, cable, and satellite TV
Diffusion of TVs after World War II
VHF and UHF
NTSC standard
Cable TV
TV networks

3. The rise of cable TV Early 1970s: distant signals
HBO and the rise of cable networks
Superstations and basic cable
Franchising requirements
MSOs
DBS

4. TV faces competition Networks decline in the 1990s Basic cable climbs
Independent stations remain steady & behind

5. Industry organization
The TV industry
Networks increasingly supply their own programming
TV programming strategy
Genres for each segment
Coordinated with time of the day

6. The TV industry, continued
TV advertisers
National, national spot, local
Networks/Affiliates
O & O’s
Independents
Buy mostly syndicated programs
Public TV

7. Network ownership and group station owners
NBC owned by General Electric
ABC/CapCities merged with Disney
CBS & Viacom merge
Fox Broadcasting Corp. Owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
UPN is owned by Chris Craft and Viacom
WB TV is owned by Time Warner

8. Audiences for Cable & TV
98% of US households have color TV
97% of US homes passed by a cable network – 67% subscribe
Cable and independents reduce network TV audience share
Cumulative viewing of cable programming is significant

9. Pros & Cons of Television
More people have television in their homes than have a telephone. More homes have a television than have a front porch!
5 Pros & 5 Cons
What do you think this says about our society?

10. The organization that established the TV standard of 525 lines & 30 fps is:
Underwriters Laboratory
National Television Systems Committee
Federal Communications Commission
Project Abilene

11. Which of the following TV genres was NOT copied from the movies?
Action adventure
Science fiction
Talk shows
News

12. Which of the following is true of TV advertising revenues?
Network revenues are much higher than cable
Revenues have been declining since their peak in the 1980s
Revenues are capped by the FCC
Networks no longer rely on advertising for profits

13. Why did the FCC freeze TV licenses from 1948 to 1952?
It was an effect of the Cold War
To give the FCC time to mandate the 525 line standard
To allow for the development of TV coverage in all areas
So network owners could convert their broadcasts to HDTV

14. How does syndication work?
Stations and syndicators split ad revenues
Syndicators pay stations to carry programs
Stations pay syndicators, but keep all the revenues
Syndicators give away re-runs as “thanks” for a successful run

15. Which of the following groups is MOST likely to subscribe to cable?
Senior citizens
Prisoners
College students & singles in their 20s
Young families

16. Which technology first made it possible to bring in television signals from distant cities?
Satellite
Fiber optics
Coaxial cable
microwave