The Power of Visual Culture

Television may be our final link to true “mass” communication—a medium that in the 1960s through the 1980s could attract nearly 30 to 40 million viewers to a single episode of a popular prime-time drama like Bonanza (1959–73) or a “must-see” comedy like the Cosby Show (1984–92). Today, the only program that attracts that kind of audience happens once a year—the Super Bowl. Back in its full-blown mass media stage, television was available only on traditional TV sets, and we mostly watched only the original broadcast networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC.

Things are different today as television has entered the fourth stage in the life cycle of a mass medium—convergence. Today, audiences watch TV on everything from big flat-screen digital sets to tiny smartphones and tablet screens. Back in the day, the networks either made or bought almost all TV shows, usually bankrolled by Hollywood film studios. Now everyone from broadcast networks to cable channels to Internet services like Netflix and Hulu are producing original shows.

The first major crack in the networks’ mass audience dominance came when cable TV developed in the 1970s. At first, cable channels like HBO and TNT survived by redistributing old movies and network TV programs. But then when HBO (and its parent company, Time Warner, a major owner of cable companies) began producing popular award-winning original series like The Sopranos, the networks’ hold on viewers started to erode. Originally, premium cable services like HBO (True Blood) and Showtime (Homeland) led the way, but now basic cable channels like USA Network (Royal Pains), TNT (Major Crimes), AMC (The Walking Dead), and FX (Justified) all have produced popular original programming. Cable shows routinely win more Emmys each year than broadcast networks (AMC’s Mad Men won the Emmy for Best Drama from 2008 to 2011).

What cable really did was introduce a better business model—earning money from monthly subscription fees and advertising. The old network model relied solely on advertising revenue. The networks, worried about both the loss of viewers and of ad dollars to its upstart competitor, decided they wanted a piece of that action. Some networks started buying cable channels (NBC, for example, has purchased stakes in Bravo, E!, SyFy, USA Network, and the Weather Channel). The networks and local TV stations also championed something called retransmission consent—fees that cable providers like Comcast and Time Warner pay to local TV stations and the major networks each month for the right to carry their channels. Typically, cable companies in large-market cities pay their local broadcasters and the national networks about fifty to seventy-five cents per month for each cable subscriber. Those fees are then passed along to cable subscribers.

In recent years, retransmission fees have caused some friction between broadcasters and cable companies. For example, in 2013, when fee negotiations between CBS and Time Warner broke down, the station was dropped from Time Warner’s lineup in some markets for almost a month. In the same year, the evolving relationship between broadcasters and cable TV took a dramatic turn when General Electric, which started and owned NBC (and Universal Studios), sold majority control of its flagship network (and the film company) to Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider. Comcast now produces or owns a significant amount of programming for use on both its broadcast and cable channels, and exercises better control over retransmission fees.

While the major tensions between cable and broadcasters appear to have quieted down, a new battle is brewing as the Internet and smaller screens are quickly becoming the future of television. On the surface, there seems to be a mutually beneficial relationship among streaming online services and broadcasters and cable providers—Hulu, after all, is jointly owned by Disney (ABC), News Corp. (Fox), and Comcast (NBC). Internet streaming services help cable and broadcast networks increase their audiences through time shifting, as viewers watch favorite TV shows days, even weeks, after they originally aired. But these services are no longer content to distribute network reruns and older cable shows—Hulu (Battleground), Netflix (House of Cards), and YouTube (Black Box TV) have begun developing original programming.

As the newest battle shakes up the television landscape, one thing remains unchanged: high-quality stories that resonate with viewers. And in the fragmented marketplace, in which the “mass” audience has shrunk and morphed into niche viewers, there may be plenty of room for small, quirky shows that attract younger fans who grew up on the Internet.

BROADCAST NETWORKS TODAY may resent cable developing original programming, but in the beginning network television actually stole most of its programming and business ideas from radio. Old radio scripts began reappearing in TV form, snatching radio’s sponsors, program ideas, and even its prime-time evening audience. In 1949, for instance, The Lone Ranger rode over to television from radio, where the program had originated in 1933. Amos ‘n’ Andy, a fixture on network radio since 1928, became the first TV series to have an entirely black cast in 1951. Since replacing radio in the 1950s as our most popular mass medium, television has sparked repeated arguments about its social and cultural impact. Television has been accused of having a negative impact on children and young people, and has also faced criticism for enabling and sustaining a sharply partisan political system. But there is another side to this story. In times of crisis, our fragmented and pluralistic society has embraced television as common ground. It was TV that exposed us to Civil Rights violations in the South, and to the shared pain and healing rituals after the Kennedy and King assassinations in the 1960s. On September 11, 2001—in shock and horror—we turned on television sets to learn that nearly three thousand people had been killed in that day’s terrorist attacks. And in 2013, we viewed the Boston Marathon bombing attacks on our TVs and online. For better or worse, television has become a central touchstone in our daily lives.

In this chapter, we examine television and cable’s cultural, social, and economic impact. We will:

As you read through this chapter, think about your own experiences with television programs and the impact they have on you. What was your favorite show as a child? Were there shows you weren’t allowed to watch when you were young? If so, why? What attracts you to your favorite programs now? For more questions to help you think through the role of television and cable in our lives, see “Questioning the Media” in the Chapter Review.