Chapter 9: Television

Retransmission fees

Monthly per-subscriber fees that local broadcasters charge cable companies for the right to carry their programs

Over the top (OTP)

Viewing of streaming videos through Internet connection

Cable TV

Transmits televisions programs via coaxial cable or fiber

UHF

Ultra high frequency (Channels 14 to 69, set aside time for educational broadcasting)

Why did VHF do better than UHF and how did that impact the number of TV networks?

VHF stations prospered because those signals are stronger and because the FCC did not require UHF tuners in all new TV sets until 12 years later, so that UHF stations had an inherently weaker appeal to advertisers

VHF

Very high frequency (channels 2 to 13)

Children's Television Act

Act proposed by parents to ensure a supply of educational children's programming

Advantage of narrowcasting for advertisers

-As the channel capacity of a cable system climbs, the genre channels diversify into sub genres -Channels can be built around audience characteristics; they are target audience channels

DBS

-Direct Broadcast Satellite -A television or radio satellite service that transmits signals from satellites to compact home receivers

Diversify of station ownership

-Female/minority broadcast ownership is slowly improving over time, but barriers remain -Consolidation in the TV industry leaves women/minorities behind, since they do not enjoy equal access to financing for station acquisition

Diversify in TV

-Females/minorities are drastically underrepresented in the ranks of TV station owners and board memberships, -Minority television station ownership is declining

HDTV

-High-definition TV -Digital television that provides suitable for large-screen home theater systems

Children and Television

-Inevitable outcome of industry self-regulation, but has never been effective in the long run

MSO

-Multiple System Operators -Cable companies that operate systems in two or more communities

Sports and licensing the rights to content

-Networks have to buy the rights to the broadcasts from the sports league and pay dearly for the privilege -Ex: ESPN mays $1.1 million for the rights to Monday Night Football

Underwriting

-Process through which an individual or institution takes on financial risk for a fee -Public contributions and foreign networks co-sponsoring to a show—these people are acknowledged on-air announcements that describe what donors do

Why does diversity matter?

-Social benefits from diverse points of view -Children take their cues from TV

SDTV

-Standard-definition TV -Digital video that matches the National Television System Committee's quality and aspect ratio

How do national commercial TV networks work?

All develop and schedule programs for national audiences, distribute them to their local affiliates via satellite, and profit from the sale of spots to national advertisers

Basic cable

Basic networks are found virtually on all cable systems where they are usually part of basic cable offerings purchased by all customers

Government regulation

Basic premise of government regulation in TV is to manage a scarce resource

How did cable must-carry of UHF stations allow for the creation of the Fox broadcast network?

Cable TV must-carry regulation extended the audience coverage and economic viability of UHF stations, and the FCC increased the number of TV stations one could own from 7 to 12

Vast Wasteland

Called American television, saying that all television is fuill of mediocre and uninformative programs

What is threatening economics of ad-supported TV channels?

Diminishing audiences, widespread commercial skipping while watching DVR playbacks, and the emergence of the Internet advertising as a dominant advertising vehicle

V-chip

Enables viewers to block programming via an electronically encoded system -Works off voluntary content ratings supplied by broadcast networks

Federal Regulation

FCC pressured the networks to institute a Family Viewing Hour from 8pm - 9pm—however this policy collided with First Amendment Rights and courts shut it down

PBS

Follows centralized programming decision-making model, -Programming executives in Washington decide which series to develop and air nationally on PBS stations

Buying cost per thousand (CPM)

How much a commercial costs, in relation to the number of viewers who sell it, in thousands

Scarce resource

Limited channel space available in the communications spectrum

Community access on cable

Means created by community residents without the involvement of the cable operator

Local origination

Means created within the community by the cable operator

Ratings

Measure the proportion of television households that watch a specific show, or how many people are listening to a radio station

Cable affiliate fees (also called carriage fees)

Monthly per-subscriber fees that cable programming services charge local cable operators

Public TV and Sesame Street

PBS tried adding some new viewing choices for children, but these failed to attract audiences on the scale of violent cartoons and popular crime shows offered by the Big Three

Must Carry

Policy that requires cable companies to carry local broadcast signals

Local news as profit center for stations

Profit center because it's popular with both local advertisers they go directly to the local station—they are not shared with the network or program syndicator

What are new sources of revenue for content producers?

Rights fees and streaming services that carries episodes of the network's current shows and also old favorites

Why are reality shows cheaper than scripted shows to produce?

They are amateur actors and they don't have to deal with scripts or elaborate scripts

Cord-cutters

Those who abandon cable, broadcast, and satellite services in favor of over-the-top viewing of streaming videos through Internet connections

Premium services

Subscriptions that are paid in advance per month to provide their subscribers with different types of content—not regulated by FCC

Benefits of group ownership

TV stations operated by companies with multiple broadcast properties