Richard E. CaplanThe University of Akron

8. Television

Christopher BurnettCalifornia State, Long Beach

Widespread Presence

• Huge social impact • Average viewing 8 hrs/day

– Per household

• Blamed for– Decline in literacy– Rise in crime – Trivialization of politics

• Praised for– Window to the world– Sense of unity in time of

crisis

AP

/Wide W

orld Photos

A Complex Program Delivery System

• Programs delivered by antenna, cable and satellite

• 1600 TV stations in U.S.– 75% commercial– 25% non-commercial

• Programming exists to connect the largest possible number of people to advertising

• An advertising medium– $2 million for 30 sec. on the

Super Bowl

Kevin W

inter/Getty Im

ages

“American Idol”

Time spent viewing TV

Illustration 8.1

“Visual Radio” becomes “Television”

• Nipkow disk, 1884– “electrical telescope”

• General Electric broadcasts first dramatic TV production, 1928

• Vladimir Zworykin– Visual electronic signals

• Philo T. Farnsworth– Cathode ray tube

• 1939 World’s Fair– TV’s commercial debut

• NBC and CBS, first networks

Television Takes Over Radio

• TV jumped from 19%-41% audience in one year, 1949

• News with Pictures– Edward R. Murrow, CBS– David Brinkley, NBC

• Entertainment Programming– Quiz Shows– Variety Shows– Situation Comedies– Drama – Westerns– Detective Stories– Movies– Soap Operas– Talk Shows

• 7pm-11pm: Prime Time

Edward R. Murrow

John

Spr

inge

r C

olle

ctio

n/C

orbi

s

Quiz Show Scandals

• Quiz show craze, 1958• $64,000 Question

– Many imitators

• Programming produced by the advertising sponsors themselves

• Charles Van Doren– Played on Twenty-One– Won $129,000– Admitted he was fed the

answers

• Ended advertiser programming

Charles Van Doren (right) on “21”

©B

ettmann/C

orbis

TV Ratings

• A.C. Nielsen• Ratings

– Percentage of the total number of households watching a particular television station

• Share– Percentage of households watching television that are watching

a particular television station

• Sweeps – Sweeps months February, May, July and November – Broadcasts showcase the best programs

• Demographics – Specific information on age, occupation and income of audience

The TV “Ratings”

Illustration 8.2a

TV “Share”

Illustration 8.2b

TV Dominates the Airwaves

• 1960s produced questions about TV– Uncritical viewing– Scandals aftermath

• Newton Minow– FCC Chairman, 1961

• Encouraged responsibility

• Broadcasters are public trustees

• The Television Age

• Called TV programming a “vast wasteland”

The New Yorker Collection 2005/ cartoonbank.com

Public Television

• National Educational Television, 1963

• Public Broadcasting Act of 1967– Corporation for Public

Broadcasting - CPB– Public Broadcast Service

• PBS.org

• Sesame Street

• Masterpiece Theater

– Federal funds and Corporate donors

– Decline in Funding

Claro C

ortes IV/R

euters/Corbis

Satellite

• Color TV– Dominant by 1965

• 1968 Apollo moon broadcast• Telstar I

– 1st trans-Atlantic satellite TV broadcast• July 10, 1962

• Geosynchronous orbit – 22,000 miles – 30,000 phone calls, 3 TV channels

• CNN and DirectTV

Television and National Politics

• John F. Kennedy– 1st TV President– 1960 Nixon-Kennedy Debates– Assassination coverage

• Nixon v. the press– Watergate– Hearings and resignation

• Ronald Reagan– The Great Communicator– C-Span– Iran-Contra

TV and the 21st Century

• Images of Grief

• Diana, Princess of Wales– Traffic death, 1997

• Terrorist Attacks– World Trade Center and

Pentagon, 2001

• Live from Iraq– First war broadcast live, 2003

– “Embedded” reporters 9/11/01 Ground Zero

Doug K

anter/AF

P P

hoto/Getty Im

ages

Working In Television

• Sales– Advertising

• Programming– Content

• Production– In-house programs

• Engineering• Traffic

– Airing the ads• Promotion• Public affairs• Administration• Jobs Link

Stations

• O&O– Network owned and operated

• Affiliates– Network programming, but not network owned

• Independents– About 1/3 of commercial television stations – Mostly UHF

– Old movies, reruns, syndicated programs • Syndication

– Independently produced programming

The Business of Television

• Station Ownership– Telecommunication Act of 1996– New rules of ownership– Concentration

• Networks’ Shrinking Role– 1986 revenue decline– 1978, 90% primetime audience– Down to 50%

• Ratings Accuracy– Nielsen’s “people meters”– Measurement issues

• National Association of Broadcasters

Network Share of Primetime Audience

Illustration 8.3

Cable Industry

• Community antenna television (CATV), late 1960s• 2500 CATV systems by 1970• FCC regulations• Home Box Office (HBO) 1972

• TNT, 1976 and CNN 1979

• 60% U.S. homes have basic cable• From cable to satellite, 1994

– Direct Broadcast Satellite• Over 200 choices available

Where people watch TV at home

Illustration 8.4

Spending on Cable & Satellite

Illustration 8.5

TV’s Changes

• TV’s Impact on Sports– 1964, CBS paid $28 million for NFL

rights– 1990, cost of $3.6 billion

• Even higher today

– TV funds much of professional sports

– Expansion to cable (ESPN and others)

• Spanish-Language TV– New audience– Univision draws more viewers than

all English language networks– Telenovelas

©20

06 N

BA

E/F

erna

ndo

Med

ina/

NB

AE

/Get

ty I

mag

es

TV and the Future

• Digital Television– Digital Video Recorders

(DVRs)– Set-top box– Time-Shifting– Total viewer control

• High-Definition TV– HDTV– Twice the resolution

• Forecasting the Future– Merging telephone and

cable (fiber optics)

AP

/Wide W

orld Photos

Critical Discussion

1. As times and technologies have changed, is it possible for TV news people to make the same kind of impact as Edward R. Murrow did?

2. What is motivating The Neilsen Company to start ratings of viewers outside their homes? What impact will the change have, short- and long-term?

AP

/Wid

e W

orld

Pho

tos