CHAPTER 6

Television: From Broadcasting to Streaming

Television Today
• TV has evolved rather than died; it acts as a vital
hub in our digital media environment

• An array of content is produced and delivered by a

wide range of industry players

• Four stages of evolution

• Birth of commercial broadcasting
• Network era
• Post-network era
• Digital era
How We Got Here: The Birth of Broadcast TV
(1 of 5)

• Paul Nipkow’s rudimentary TV camera (1880s)

connected electric sensors to a mechanical spinning disk
with perforated holes

• Cathode ray tube (1890s)

• Projected electronic signals onto a glass screen inside a
vacuum tube
How We Got Here: The Birth of Broadcast TV
(2 of 5)

• Analog: technological standard based on radio waves

• Standard adopted in 1941

• RCA wins battle with CBS over color TV systems

because existing sets could receive its color images in
black and white
• In 2009, digital standard adopted
• High-definition broadcast images and sound quality
• Requires less spectrum space

• TV licensing freeze until 1952

How We Got Here: The Birth of Broadcast TV
(3 of 5)

• Characteristics of local stations

• Free of charge
• Licensed by FCC to broadcast on their specific
channel in a specific market
• Geographically divided and assigned to designated
market areas
• Light on local programming
How We Got Here: The Birth of Broadcast TV
(4 of 5)

• Broadcast networks own and operate a limited

number of broadcast stations (O&Os)

• Broadcast networks deliver programming lineups to

affiliate stations

• Independent stations are not associated with a

broadcast network
How We Got Here: The Birth of Broadcast TV
(5 of 5)

• As producers experimented with the new medium in

the 1950s, two ways of making TV shows emerged
• Live TV recorded with a three-camera live system
• Kinescope: a film camera placed in front of a TV
screen to capture a program as it aired
• Filmed TV recorded with a one-camera film system

• Modern TV often uses multi-cam production

techniques
The Network Era: The Big Three Dominate TV
(1 of 5)

• Between 1958 and the 1980s, TV industry dominated by

Big Three broadcast networks: NBC, CBS, and ABC

• Early television programs followed single-sponsorship

model
• Programs were developed, produced, and supported by a
single sponsor; networks lacked creative control

• In magazine-sponsorship model, networks manage

program development and sell spots to various sponsors
The Network Era: The Big Three Dominate TV
(2 of 5)

• Quiz-show scandal in late 1950s hastens move toward

magazine sponsorship
• Quiz shows rigged at the urging of their sponsors

• Networks expand their control over distribution

• Provide affiliates with programming to cover prime time—
the critical evening hours when viewing is highest

• Big Three develop efficient ways of producing and

distributing content
• Create structured full-day TV schedule
• Designed to make TV watching a habit
The Network Era: The Big Three Dominate TV
(3 of 5)

• Networks abandon live anthology dramas

• Anthology dramas: artistically significant plays written for
television, featuring different characters and settings each
week
• Complex and expensive to produce

• Networks focus on episodic series, a format in which

the main characters remain the same from week to week
• Chapter shows: all story lines wrap up each week
• Serial programs: story lines continue across episodes
• Hybrid series: one plotline may wrap up, but other story
arcs play out over several episodes or seasons
The Network Era: The Big Three Dominate TV
(4 of 5)

• TV production moves from NY to LA by 1960s

• Big Three rely on Hollywood production companies

• Producers create innovation-imitation-saturation

cycle
• Cloning: involves creating a new series by copying
key features of an innovative and popular program
• Spin-off: when a character from a hit series becomes
the lead in a new one
• Franchise: when producers leverage the name
recognition of a popular show to brand other series
The Network Era: The Big Three Dominate TV
(5 of 5)

• Newton Minow characterizes TV as “a vast wasteland,”

reflecting four interconnected areas of concern linked to
network control
• Content quality
• Concentrated cultural power
• Unfair competition
• Limited local control

• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) established in 1969

• Targets viewers “less attractive” to commercial networks
• Government funding vulnerable to political interference
• Increasing reliance on support from viewers and corporate
underwriting
The Post-Network Era: Competition Heats Up
(1 of 7)

• By the 1980s, cable channels emerge to challenge

the Big Three

• CATV: community antenna television

• First cable system
• Originated where mountains or tall buildings blocked
TV signals
• Two big advantages: eliminated over-the-air
interference and increased channel capacity
The Post-Network Era: Competition Heats Up
(2 of 7)

• Must-carry rules: required cable operators to

include all local TV broadcasts on their systems

• FCC requirements for the top 100 TV markets

• Access channels: nonbroadcast channels dedicated
to local education, government, and the public

• Electronic publishing: cable operators able to

choose which channels to carry
• Midwest Video case (1979)
The Post-Network Era: Competition Heats Up
(3 of 7)

• Changes in media regulations and development of

communication satellites spur the growth of cable
industry
• Cable franchise: a mini-monopoly awarded by a
city or town, usually for a 15-year period
• Basic cable channels: channels included in less
expensive cable packages
• Premium channels: channels included in more
expensive cable packages
The Post-Network Era: Competition Heats Up
(4 of 7)

• In addition to cable, new broadcast networks emerge by

the 1980s to challenge Big Three domination
• Fox, UPN, WB

• In the 1990s, cable and broadcast model face

competition from direct broadcast satellite (DBS), a
system that transmits signals directly to a satellite dish at
customers’ homes
• Cable channels scramble signals to prevent free access to
broadcasts
• Modern services include DirecTV and Dish
The Post-Network Era: Competition Heats Up
(5 of 7)

• New technology gives viewers more control over

what they watch and when they watch it

• VCRs enable viewers to time-shift: record

programs to watch at their convenience

• DVDs give consumers another way to access TV

and producers a new distribution option

• Home video game consoles begin transforming TV

sets into digital home entertainment hubs
The Post-Network Era: Competition Heats Up
(6 of 7)

• Competition changes programming strategies

• In network era, executives followed principle of

least objectionable programming: a strategy
aimed at attracting as big an audience as possible
by not turning off any viewers

• Post-network era characterized by narrowcasting:

providing specialized programming for diverse and
fragmented groups
The Post-Network Era: Competition Heats Up
(7 of 7)

• Broadcasters compete for the quality audience: the segment of

viewers advertisers pay the most money to reach
• Well-educated (middle- and upper-class) eighteen-to-forty-nine-year-
olds
• Networks begin to take risks, both financially and aesthetically

• Networks begin including more gay material in broadcasts

• Believe that quality audience were more likely to be socially liberal and
want “hip” and “edgy” content
• Gay material rarely used to attract LGBTQ+ audience; shaped how gay
characters and themes were represented

• Reality TV
• Introduces audiences to characters more like them
• Inexpensive to produce
Our Digital Era and the Business of TV
(1 of 8)

• Infrastructure of TV shaped by government policies and

corporate strategies

• Telecommunications Act of 1996

• Massive overhaul of communications law that affected
almost every aspect of U.S. television industry
• Government established a plan to switch to new digital
standard
• Removed barriers between phone companies, long-
distance phone carriers, and cable companies
• Allowed phone and cable companies to provide Internet
access
Our Digital Era and the Business of TV
(2 of 8)

• By the 2000s, thousands of independent cable

systems snapped up by multiple-systems
operators like Comcast and Charter
Communications, which own many cable systems
around the country

• By the 2010s, cable infrastructure threatened by

wireless infrastructures
Our Digital Era and the Business of TV
(3 of 8)

• Time shifting continues to change viewing habits in

the digital era
• Linear TV: broadcast TV’s and cable’s traditional
approach to content delivery, in which a show airs at a
specific time
• On-demand TV: programs are made available to
viewers to watch whenever they want
• Video-on demand: another name for streaming
services
• Place shifting: the practice of accessing stored
media from different locations
Our Digital Era and the Business of TV
(4 of 8)
• Content delivery services: companies whose business it is
to gather and distribute TV content
• Traditional broadcasters and new players like Netflix, YouTube,
Amazon, and Apple

• Two types of revenue models: advertisers and subscribers

• Ad-supported TV uses measurements to negotiate prices
• An episode’s Nielsen rating indicates what percentage of TV
households watched that episode
• An episode’s share indicates what percentage of TV households who
had their TV set turned on at that time were watching that episode
• Subscription sites rely on viewers’ subscription fees for funding
Our Digital Era and the Business of TV
(5 of 8)

• Over-the-top media services: streaming sites that allow

viewers to access TV content through an Internet
connection without having to go through broadcast,
cable, or satellite providers

• Cord cutting: consumers cutting the cord to expensive

cable subscriptions in favor of a streaming subscription

• Digital subchannel broadcast networks: provide

content for local broadcast stations’ multiplex channels
Our Digital Era and the Business of TV
(6 of 8)

• Broadcast networks, cable channels, and streaming

services race to develop original content

• Peak TV: the high amount of production in recent

years
• Industry observers argue that it is not sustainable and
anticipate a collapse once there are clear winners and
losers in content delivery battles
Our Digital Era and the Business of TV
(7 of 8)

• Syndication: leasing the right to air TV shows

• First-run syndication: any program originally produced
for sale into syndication markets
• For local network-affiliated stations, syndicated programs are
often run during fringe time: just before the prime-time
schedule and after the local evening news or a network late-
night talk show
• Second-run syndication (reruns): older programs
originally run on a specific network, cable channel, or
streaming service
• Made available to rerun on other stations, cable channels, or
streaming services, or in foreign markets
Our Digital Era and the Business of TV
(8 of 8)
• Increased access to resources and distribution systems has
democratized the creation and spread of video content
• DIY producers explore characters and story lines or develop visual
styles and narrative structures that differ dramatically from those of
mainstream TV production

• User-generated content blurs boundaries between DIY and

professional production and draws into question what counts as
TV
• Content produced on TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch

• Television ownership concentrated around a handful of

corporations
Television and Democracy
• TV has reflected and contributed to America’s cultural
shift from mass nation to niche nation

• TV during the mass nation created shared cultural

touchstones but at the expense of letting diverse ideas
and values circulate

• The loss of shared experiences and consensus

narratives likely contributes to political polarization

• Variety of content offered in the digital era is increasingly

available only to those who can afford it, undermining
the principle of free and universal access to television