CHAPTER 9 TELEVISION COMM180 EXAM #3

Retransmission fees

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

Over the top (OTT)

Viewing of streaming videos through Internet connection

Cord cutters

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

Cable TV

Transmits television programs via coaxial cable or fiber

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

VHF = Very high frequency (Channels 2 to 13) UHF = Ultra high frequency (Channels 14 to 69, set aside time for educational broadcasting) 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

Cable affiliate fees (also called carriage fees)

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

Children's Television Act

An 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.

Basic cable vs premium services

Basic cable = Basic networks are found virtually on all cable systems where they are usually part of basic cable offerings purchased by all customers Premium services = Subscriptions that are paid in advance per month to provide their subscribers with different types of content. Not regulated by FCC

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. Because of this, Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch created Fox network built around a collection of major market UHF stations.

HDTV

Called high-definition TV, this is digital television that provides suitable for large-screen home theater systems. This more than doubles (to 1,080) the number of vertical scan lines, widens the picture to match the 19 to 9 aspect ratio of movie screens, and adds six-channel surround sound

SDTV

Called standard-definition TV, this is digital video that matches the National Television System Committee's quality and aspect ratio

Pay TV

Charges customers an extra monthly fee to receive a specific channel

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 that works off voluntary content ratings supplied by broadcast networks

Vast wasteland

FCC Chairman Newton Minow called American television this, saying that all television is full of mediocre and uninformative programs

Diversity in TV

Females and minorities are drastically underrepresented in the ranks of TV station owners and board memberships, and minority television station ownership is declining. Diversity of station ownership: Minority and female broadcast ownership is slowly improving

Television and the days of our lives—different ways of studying impact of TV:

Fernand Braudel to Anthony Giddens: Focused attention on how people live their daily lives and how it reflects the decisions they make David Morley: Look at the patterns of daily life to see how television is affecting us and whether we are accepting or rejecting the messages Charlotte Brunsdon: Look at how women watch soap operas to resist and cope with the pressures on women in society Horace Newcomb: Called television a cultural forum, one of the places where important forces like race and gender get discussed in broad ways Raymond Williams: Talked about the flow of television -- television is not just a series of discrete programs, but more of a continous flow of experience

PBS

Follows a centralized programming decision-making model, not unlike the commercial networks, under which 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 see it, in thousands

Federal regulation

In 1975, the FCC pressured the networks to institute a Family Viewing Hour from 8 pm to 9 pm. However, this policy collided with First Amendment Rights and courts shut it down.

Children and Television

Industry self-regulation has been the inevitable outcome however, self-regulation has never been effective in the long run

Local news as profit center for stations

It is a profit center because it is popular with both local audiences and with local advertisers they go directly to the local station -- they are not shared with the network or program syndicator

DBS

Known as Direct Broadcast Satellite, this is a television or radio satellite service that transmits signals from satellites to compact home receivers

MSO

Known as Multiple System Operators, these are cable companies that operate systems in two or more communities

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

Diversity of station ownership

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

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. ESPN pays $1.1 million for the rights to Monday Night Football.

O&O vs affiliate

O&O stands for OWNED AND OPERATED, which is used when a broadcasting network runs its own local station. Affiliates are individually owned or group-owned stations that have contractual arrangements with a network to show its programs locally.

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

Why are reality shows cheaper than scripted shows to produce?

Reality shows are cheaper to produce because they use amateur actors and they don't have to deal with scripts or elaborate scripts.

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 does diversity matter?

Society benefits from diverse points of view Children take their cues from TV

Benefits of group ownership

TV stations operated by companies with multiple broadcast properties

Government regulation

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

How do national commercial TV networks work

The eight broadcast commercial TV networks 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

Scarce resource

The limited channel space available in the communications spectrum

Must carry

The policy that requires cable companies to carry local broadcast signals

Underwriting

The process through which an individual or institution takes on financial risk for a fee. Public contributions and foreign networks co-sponsorship to a show. These people are acknowledged in on-air announcements that describe what donors do

Syndication

The rental or licensing of media products