COMMON THREADS

One of the Common Threads discussed in Chapter 1 is about mass media, cultural expression, and storytelling. As television and cable change their shape and size, do they remain the dominant way our culture tells stories?

By the end of the 1950s, television had become an “electronic hearth” where families gathered in living rooms to share cultural experiences. By 2012, though, the television experience had splintered. Now we watch programming on our laptops, smartphones, and iPads, making it increasingly an individual rather than a communal experience. Still, television remains the mass medium that can reach most of us at a single moment in time, whether it’s during a popular sitcom or a presidential debate.

In this shift, what has been lost and what has been gained? As an electronic hearth, television has offered coverage of special moments—inaugurations, assassinations, moonwalks, space disasters, Super Bowls, Roots, the Olympics, 9/11, hurricanes, presidential campaigns, Arab uprisings—that brought large heterogeneous groups together for the common experience of sharing information, celebrating triumphs, mourning loss, and electing presidents. Accessible now in multiple digitized versions, the TV image has become portable—just as radio became portable in the 1950s. Today, we can watch TV in cars, in the park, even in class (often when we’re not supposed to).

The bottom line is that today television in all its configurations is both electronic hearth and digital encounter. It still provides a gathering place for friends and family, but now we can also watch a favorite show almost whenever or wherever we want. Like all media forms before it, television is adapting to changing technology and shifting economics. As technology becomes more portable and personal, the TV, cable, and DBS industries search for less expensive ways to produce and deliver television. Still, television remains the main place—whether it’s the big LED screen or the handheld smartphone—where we go for stories. In what ways do you think this will change or remain the case in the future? Where do you prefer to get your stories?

KEY TERMS

The definitions for the terms listed below can be found in the glossary at the end of the book. The page numbers listed with the terms indicate where the term is highlighted in the chapter.

analog, 198

digital, 198

prime time, 200

network era, 201

CATV, 201

narrowcasting, 202

basic cable, 203

superstations, 203

premium channels, 205

pay-per-view (PPV), 205

video-on-demand (VOD), 205

direct broadcast satellite (DBS), 205

time shifting, 207

third screens, 207

fourth screens, 209

kinescope, 210

sketch comedy, 210

situation comedy, 211

domestic comedy, 211

anthology dramas, 212

episodic series, 212

chapter shows, 213

serial programs, 213

affiliate stations, 214

Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR), 218

fin-syn, 218

must-carry rules, 219

access channels, 219

leased channels, 219

electronic publishers, 220

common carriers, 220

Telecommunications Act of 1996, 221

deficit financing, 223

retransmission fees, 224

O & Os, 224

syndication, 224

evergreens, 224

fringe time, 224

off-network syndication, 224

first-run syndication, 225

rating, 226

share, 226

multiple-system operators (MSOs), 230

multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), 230

REVIEW QUESTIONS

The Origins and Development of Television

The Development of Cable

Technology and Convergence Change Viewing Habits

Major Programming Trends

Regulatory Challenges to Television and Cable

The Economics and Ownership of Television and Cable

Television, Cable, and Democracy

QUESTIONING THE MEDIA

ADDITIONAL VIDEOS

Television industry experts discuss shifts in programming, including the fading influence of the prime-time block.

This video explores the switch to digital TV signals in 2009 and how it is changing television delivery.