3/23/09

Com and Info 150 3/23/09 Chapter 13: Television TV forced other media to re-invent themselves in the 1950s and 1960s. Now new technologies are forcing TV to reinvent itself. John Malone and DirecTV (p313) Satcoms v. telecoms & cable ?satcoms? have little capability for audience interactivity Triple Play: television, Internet and telephone delivery through a single system Television is pervasive. Nearly every U.S. household has at least one TV Viewership: 7 hours per day in a typical U.S. household Approximately 110 million U.S. households Television has influence Michael Novak: Television tutors the unformed mind and teaches it how to think Its effects are incremental over multiple exposures People?s images of the world are based on what they see on television (p. 317) Philo Farnsworth: Invented television. Transmitted the first live moving image in 1927 David Sarnoff: head of RCA and NBC. Advanced Farnsworth?s invention to the marketplace TV?s Dual Infrastructure: A combination of local stations working with national networks. Also referred to as the two-tier system. (p318) Networks NBC (David Sarnoff) Originated the late night talk show genre with the tonight show Originated the morning news format with the today show Owned by general electric since 1985 CBS (William Paley) Built an audience by converting popular radio soap operas to TV Edward R. Murrow established a news legacy I Love Lucy revolutionized TV series production Multiple camera angles Filmed and edited like a movie Filmed in California CBS is now part of Viacom ABC Mickey Mouse Club Wide World of Sports Monday night football Tightly edited and scripted productions were unique in the 1960s Now part of Disney Dumont: fourth network tried to compete in the 1950s FOX Launched in 1986 Focused on youth targeted programming Didn?t have a news division in order to keep costs down Signed on independent stations as affiliates Outbid CBS in 1994 for NFL contract, showing Fox was a serious fourth network p319 CW WB and UPN combined in fall 2006. C stands for CBS and W stands for Warner Brothers My Network: put together by fox to offer programming to the WB or UPN station that didn?t get the CW affiliation !On network was what PAX used to be CABLE p319-322 Cable TV Began in remote smaller towns where over the sir reception ws deficient CATV: community antenna television There was no perceived need for it in bigger cities Today, 2/3 of U.S. TV households have cable Gerald Levin and HBO (p320) Levin changed HBO from a pay-per view to a monthly subscriber system Levin gambled by investing millions in satellite access fees Ted Turner?s ?Superstation? Turner realized cable systems needed programming that would make them unique to over-the-air. MOS ? Multi-system operations Companies that operate cable systems in multiple markets. Emerged in the 1970s-80s Effects of ownership meld p322 Cross promotion Additional distribution New revenue Corporate protection Regulation I?m sorry I missed this slide? Satellite Delivery Stanley Hubbard and DBS: Direct Satellite Service p324 Two dominant companies are DirecTV (15.5 million subscribers) and EchoStar?s Dish Network (11 million subscribers) Satellite markets against cable, which markets against satellite. Video on Demand and TiVo are examples of time shifting technology Started with video recorders Watch when you want to Skip commercials TiVo attempts to anticipate the kind of programs you want and record those for you Other new content delivery methods: Video ipod Webisodes Cell phone delivery P325 One effect: conventional time blocks aren?t an issue A dominant method for VOD revenue hasn?t emerged p328 Subscriptions Per download Free, in order to promote other products What does this mean to you? A growing need for video content National Advertising p328-329 The basic unit is the 30 second spot. Upfront: Advance commitments, mostly by ad agencies, to buy network ad time 80% of the networks? commercial time slots are sold in the upfront process Make-goods: additional spots given if audience expectations aren?t met for spots bought upfront Networks can change premium rates for programs that attract higher-income audiences. Cable Revenue p329 Revenue for cable systems Subscription revenues Selling local ad spots Revenue for cable networks Ads Per household fees from cable systems U.S. Public Broadcasting p329 - Government funding has diminished - Most funding come from foundation grants, corporate sponsors, and viewer support - Corporation for public broadcasting: channels government money into public television and radio - PBS network of noncommercial over the air stations - Programming different: PBS doesn?t produce programming. Stations buy programs from each other. Future trends p331 The industry is adjusting from the traditional model of: network/local station/cable channel Time shifts: watch what you want, skip the commercials Space shifts: watch on mobile devices, you don?t have to be in front of a tv, 30 minute blocks are no longer required. ?mobisodes? may be as short as 1 minute Advertising shifts: product placements, webisodes: short videos that entertain and promote the product. Available for web viewing. Converting to Digital Television Now set in june 2009 It is expected people will buy converter boxes and continue using their old analog sets Local stations have been operating two transformers in recent years, this will stop The old analog bandwidth will have new uses As analog signals are used for other purposes. It will conflict with uses such as wireless microphones that also use UHF and VHF frequencies.