Television

1
Television

• Chapter 7

2
The Birth of Television

• Television, to which several countries lay claim
  as creator, began with experimental electronic
  technology in the 1920s. By the 1950s, it was a
  mass medium.
• Television has shown great volatility in
  technology, audience, content, and influence.

3
The Birth of Television

• The development of television was a technology
  depended on the same inventions and technologies
  that made radio broadcasting possible, with the
  addition of a number of significant occurrences.

4
The Birth of Television

• In 1884 German scientist Paul Nipkow developed
  the rotating scanning disk, which was essential
  to a working television system, but the disk was
  dependent on wires to carry the signal.

5
The Birth of Television

• A number of electronic corporations experimented
  with developing television systems, and General
  Electric even came up with one, but not the final
  one.

6
The Birth of Television

• The system adopted by the industry was invented
  by a high school youngster, Philo T. Farnsworth,
  but keeping his invention was a struggle.
• At the same time as Farnsworth was working on his
  system, a Russian emigre Vladimir K. Zworykin was
  working on a system for Westinghouse.

7
The Birth of Television

• Early experimental broadcasts began in 1927 and
  continued until 1941.
• In 1932 RCA spent 1 million to set up a station
  in the Empire State Building and began testing
  its system in 1936.

8
The Birth of Television

• The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor monopolized
  the attentions of the nations industries.
• When the war ended in 1945, the industry
  immediately returned to making television
  equipment, stations were established in a number
  of cities, and the public was ready to buy sets.

9
The Period of Rapid Adoption

• In 1946, when it seemed clear to everyone that
  television was ready to become a truly
  significant broadcast medium, there was a
  scramble for a piece of the action.

10
The Period of Rapid Adoption

• The FCC froze issuance of new licenses from 1948
  to 1952
• After the freeze ended, the United States became
  a nation of television viewers.
• Although several corporations were working on
  color television as far back as 1929, it got off
  to a slow start.

11
The Period of Rapid Adoption

• Unlike other mass media, television had two
  golden ages, depending on the criteria by which
  golden age is defined. Despite its success, TV
  also has incurred much criticism.

12
Alternatives to Broadcast Television

• Cable television and videocassette recorders are
  profoundly affecting and reshaping the American
  television industry by offering alternatives to
  traditional television viewing.

13
Alternatives to Broadcast Television

• Cable television began in the early 1950s to
  bring television into areas that were unable to
  receive TV signals because of their line-of-sight
  nature.

14
Alternatives to Broadcast Television

• Video cassette recorders were invented by
  Americans, developed by the Japanese, and first
  used by networks and stations to produce
  error-free programming.

15
Alternatives to Broadcast Television

• Direct broadcast satellite TV delivery are the
  latest entry into competition for television
  viewers.

16
Television as aContemporary Medium

• Television is the major form of mass
  communication attended to by the American public,
  but it is also little understood by that public.

17
Television as aContemporary Medium

• Local stations, which are the backbone of the
  system, broadcast television signals through the
  air or along a cable.

18
Television as aContemporary Medium

• In addition to being suppliers, the networks also
  broadcast. The networks include
• ABC, CBS and NBC (the major networks)
• CNN and Fox (the newer networks)
• AFRTS (operated for the military services by the
  government)

19
Television as aContemporary Medium

• Because of an increase in the number of
  non-network-affiliated stations, barter
  syndication has arisen.

20
Television as aContemporary Medium

• Competition among sources for programs drives the
  economics of television. But that competition is
  changing from to old competition among major
  networks to a mix that now involves cable TV and
  the VCR.

21
Television as aContemporary Medium

• Under the pre-cable system, networks produced
  expensive programs, and advertisers were happy to
  buy them because of the large audiences virtually
  guaranteed by the system.

22
Television as aContemporary Medium

• The advertiser and supplier of programs are both
  concerned with audience attention.
• The remote control or zapper, deeply troubles
  advertisers because it gives the viewer the power
  to ignore commercials.

23
Television as aContemporary Medium

• The people meter is a device that records with
  much greater accuracy than the old system exactly
  what people are watching at any given moment.

24
Television as aContemporary Medium

• Television as a business is a complex pattern of
  ownership, despite FCC on the limitations on the
  number of stations one can own and a ban on
  foreign ownership of broadcast properties.

25
Television as aContemporary Medium

• Televisions advertising picture is unsettled
  because of the uncertain impact of remote
  controls, VCRs and alternate delivery systems.
• The fortunes of television will continue to be
  unpredictable.