RTV 2007

Intro

Intro to Electronic Media p. 1 After this module and reading chapter 1, you should understand the following concepts: The players/ businesses we'll be discussing Convergence Consolidation Vertical Integration Synergy Democratization of the Media Some basics behind media use decisions Who are the Players? Can you pick out the broadcast networks from the cable networks in the image below? It is important to define broadcast television as primarily a terrestrial service; meaning the signals can be picked up by audiences using antennas in their homes. These networks also distribute their programming to cable and satellite companies for distribution regionally or nationally. Your text defines broadcast as: "to send out sound and pictures by means of radio waves through space for reception by the general public." With the onset of the recent digital conversion this may be a bit confusing, but think of it this way: broadcast stations are all those stations you don't pay for ... they belong to us, the public. In fact, we can categorize these into two groups: Broadcast and Non-Broadcast ... Broadcast are the Networks (ABC, CBS, etc) and their affiliates (WESH, etc), independent channels (CW, FOX), and PBS (WUCF) stations. The semi-recent digital conversion has served to enhance broadcast TV's place in the competitive market. Digital TV (DTV) allows for improved sound and picture quality, as well as the ability to utilize spectrum space to multicast (a term we'll discuss in depth next week) and offer multiple programs simultaneously. Everything else is in the Non-Broadcast category: All of cable TV (TBS, MTV, CNN, HBO, etc.), religious productions, medical video, closed circuit TV, corporate communication (in-house TV departments), independent production companies. Can you guess which one is larger? It's Non-Broadcast. So, if upon graduation you don't get that coveted job at CBS you've had your eyes on forever (it seems), know there are many, many other jobs in the industry. Many of the Non-Broadcast productions still wind up on Broadcast TV, but they are not necessarily produced by the broadcast Networks, affiliates, etc. So when we talk about networks, there is an important distinction between broadcast networks (what started as the Big 3: ABC, NBC, and CBS, FOX, CW, and Univision/Telemundo, and several others, depending on the market) and cable networks - for example, ESPN, TBS, Lifetime (we'll make a further distinction later between these examples of basic cable networks and premium, or pay cable networks, such as HBO and Showtime). Broadcast networks are those that are broadcast by using radio waves, although, most of us actually receive broadcast networks from cable (literal cables in walls) or direct-to-home satellite television, such as Dish and DirectTV. But, broadcast television network programming generally still attracts larger audiences than cable networks do. Streaming are a kind of broadcasting service that primarily offers video on demand (VOD) and can be supported through subscriptions (SVOD) such as Netflix or advertising (AVOD) like YouTube or even both. Broadcasting in the United States is based on two founding concepts: 1. Localism: the ability/practice of stations serving the unique needs of their communities better than national or larger entities can, and 2. Free universal access: Despite less than 12.5% of Americans receiving TV signals directly from over-the-air broadcasts, the historical precedent of being able to turn on a TV or radio and receive content, for free, has shaped policy, technology, and audience behaviors from the beginning. So far, we've covered 3 "players:" Broadcast networks, Cable networks, and Direct-to-home satellite TV. What does your textbook stay about where Direct-to-home TV services were initially desirable? Undesirable? What players do they typically partner with in order to attract customers?

intro

Intro to Electronic Media p. 2 Who are the other players? The first two may seem a little out of place in class on electronic media, but changing technological advancements make them relevant media industries to consider. Next, newspapers should be considered as a relevant player because in today's convergence media environment, newspapers are playing new roles. While paper circulation of newspaper continues to decline, they continue to have a more prominent online presence - complete with up-to-the-minute updates, video, better graphics, and more streamlined design than in years past. Additionally, newspapers have always been major competition for broadcasters for advertising dollars. check out this graphic on ad dollars spent across different media platforms from from Magna Research. So, the digital ad market as a whole has more than doubled between 2012 and 2018, print and TV digital ad sales have declined (and print ad sales have dropped precipitously). Yikes! Here's a look at how the advertising money is currently being spent among the major media industries: People often ask why anyone would be interested in radio or newspapers these days. Well, in spite of the declining ad revenues for newspaper companies, newspaper and radio account for about 20% of the advertising sales and that adds up to about $40 billion. Telephone companies, or telecos, are the next player to consider in electronic media. Telephone companies are what we call a communication service or common carrier. AT & T, for example, used to be a company that delivered plain old telephone service, but now is a major player in delivering wireless phone service, broadband internet, cable tv and more. However, we can distinguish whether a communication service is actually an electronic mass medium by determining who is responsible for its content. AT & T is a common carrier, because they neither edit nor restrict who makes use of its facilities. A broadcast station does both, however. True electronic mass media select programs, performers, and speakers and edit what they say and do. In fact, they have a legal responsibility to do so. In exchange for that responsibility, they come under the protection of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees freedom from government interference with "speech" and "the press". Common carriers on the other hand supply communication facilities such as phones and satellites without assuming any responsibility for what is normally transmitted. Sometimes these services cross over. For example, a cable channel that carries a broadcast program (syndication, etc.) or HBO originating their own programs, should they be subject to the same laws of traditional broadcasters? Much debate led to a ruling by Congress in 1984 by recognizing cable as a "hybrid" service (a mixture of common carrier and broadcast). So, cable operators are even more protected under the First Amendment than broadcasters (more on this in a later chapter, Regulation and Licensing). Lastly, your text broadly discusses "Computers and the Internet" as major players in electronic media. It is important to keep in mind how relatively new the wide variety of capabilities the Internet and personal computers provide, and that everything we discuss now uses the power and storage of computers. Computers play a central role in building and operating electronic media. The set-top box you have from your cable company is a computer. Television stations and cable systems use computers to insert commercials and programs at various times. Video servers store and release programs for video-on-demand and are usually used for storage at independent production houses. Our RTV department has a video server with numerous terabytes available for digital editing labs. How do you access the internet? Most of us use computers, if not an i-phone or something similar that has computer components within. Thus computers are an integral part of media convergence.We'll talk about recent advances in distribution when we talk about chapter 4 - like when exactly, Netflix will be taking over all TV/film content delivery :) What is Convergence? Technological convergence means the coming together of, and blurring the lines between, what previously had been separate ways of distributing information. It is the coming together of and blurring of lines between, discrete communications forms such as broadcast, cable, telephone, computers, mail, and more. A very basic example is that broadcast and cable stations are accessible from a single wire and viewed on the same device - that's a technological comping together. Of course, to consumers, it is just "watching TV." Convergence follows the simple rule that "two can live cheaper than one" in many instances. Convergence is not only about how media are transmitted, but how it is delivered. Please view the 5-minute video below that does a great job of summing up several media convergence issues with valid sources. While viewing, keep the following questions in mind: Does more convergence mean audiences are using more or less media technologies? How does a basic need for connection among humans influence what media provides users? What problems does convergence create for media industries? Does media convergence empower people/ audiences? Media Convergence (Links to an external site.) An important characteristic, or consequence, of convergence is interactivity. Traditional electronic media such as radio and television broadcasting are essentially unidirectional (one way) technologies. Convergence technologies tend to make bidirectional (two-way) transmissions possible, blurring the lines between creators of content and consumers of content. This leaves traditional electronic media - TV & Radio - struggling to make content more "interactive." What are some examples you can think of where TV or radio attempt to engage in two-way communication with audiences? Are these new or old? Here's a few examples off the top of my head: There have always been radio call-in shows - where callers call to talk on talk radio, vote for the "Top 7 at 7," or request songs - now the "calling in" is more likely to be tweets, texts, or emails Plenty of TV shows refer you to their websites or twitter during viewing - from live interviews on twitter on Bravo! aftershows, to fan contests with details on the website on Good Morning America, to Jon Stewart posting video clips of extended interviews with guests that appear on the show, there are any number of TV shows pushing you to websites Lots of "TV content" now has supplemental content that can be accessed not during viewing - there are Dexter mini-video series and online games, character blogs of True Blood characters, and entire apps that explain all the history and character relationships and geography of whatever is happening in crazy Game of Thrones land. Younger audiences expect greater interactivity. Newspapers were slow to add blogs and interactive features, and look how popular they are with younger audiences (I can quote you numbers all day, also, most of you can honestly answer that you do not pick up a print newspaper - and some of you are attending college in order to receive training to be media professionals! You won't receive any judgment from me for not reading a print newspaper regularly. Personally, I subscribe to The Orlando Sentinel and I consider that the best way to support and receive local news coverage. I also get The New York Times on Sunday. But I'm a media professor who's interested in what happens in our local, state and federal government. I also read many stories online via my phone or computer. Many cable networks have succeeded in creating recognizable brands for themselves by supplementing TV marketing with online features and content. I understand why local TV news programs try to engage their audiences using silly polls. I'm not sure how many people really log into a local NBC affiliate while they're watching the 5 o'clock news to answer questions like "Do you believe convicted felons should be able to be school bus drivers?"

intro

Intro to Electronic Media p. 3 Consolidation Q: What does "consolidation" mean in the business of electronic media? A: "Combining two similar organizations into one and sharing resources" How is it advantageous? The largest example is cost-sharing. Click here to see how many iHeartMedia stations there are in Orlando, Florida: http://www.iheartmedia.com/iheartmedia/stations (Links to an external site.) Click on the above link and scroll down a little (if a link does not appear, please copy and paste the web address into your browser). On the right of the webpage, you'll see a box where you can select a city. Select Orlando to see how many iHeartMedia stations we have in the Orlando market. What can those stations in this market share? Can you imagine how much cheaper it would be to operate any one of these stations as part of the group than just one - and only one - station in the market? If consolidation is what occurs when two similar organizations can combine as one, diversification is what what happens when disparate organizations can combine to share resources. Diversification is defined as: "providing more than one product or service" The iHeartMedia example above can also be used to show diversification. If you look at the different stations the company owns in the Orlando market, you'll notice they provide different kinds of music or news. For example, Rumba plays Spanish language music, 104.5 The Beat plays Hip-Hop, and Real Radio 104.5 offers News & Talk. Each station has quite a different sound and will likely appeal to some different audiences. So, by owning several stations attracting different audiences in Orlando, iHeartMedia is better positioned to be financially successful than a company owning several radio stations that attract the same audience. Since the variety of the station programming is diverse, so to will be the audiences reached. This can be seen in other ways as well. Some companies own TV and radio stations. Sure, radio and TV stations are both broadcasting but they serve different purposes in the lives of the potential consumers. Here's another Orlando example, take Entravision Communication Corporation which owns stations in Orlando. Entravision has 55 primary television stations around the US and is associated with the Univision and UniMás television networks. Entravision also owns and operates 49 primarily Spanish-language radio stations. Owning TV and radio stations increases the potential revenues dramatically. Here's one more example, Spectrum and Comcast cable companies benefit from bundling services for consumers, such as cable TV, telephone, and internet service. That approach is makes them stronger than a competitor that might only provide one of these services. Theoretically, diversification can make a company stronger. Spreading out assets or resources is a common recommendation for large companies and people who have money to invest. What is vertical integration? Click the link below and find out what it's not... http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/BaileyNorwood/clips/30-rock-on-vertical-integration/view (Links to an external site.) 30 Rock's Jack Donaghy is seen in the clip explaining to Liz Lemon what vertical integration is. Of course, Jack's got it all wrong. But he does offer an interesting, albeit messy, example of diversification. In context, when convergence or consolidation occurs and the company has diversified, and it is a merging of the control of production and distribution of content within a media company, it is specifically referred to as vertical integration. Disney, for example, benefits by owning both a studio that can produce content and the ABC and Disney networks (among others) through which it can distribute that content. Another example is when Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV provider became the first cable company to own a major broadcast TV network (NBC) when it acquired NBC Universal. Synergy The last important buzzword we'll cover as it relates to convergence in the current media landscape is synergy, or the idea that the action of two or more companies working together may produce a benefit greater than if they were to work alone. Synergy is often used as an argument for consolidation. We'll talk at great length in future chapters about the benefits/consequences of media consolidation - and please review Exhibit 1.A for a snapshot of the issue. Regardless of your opinion on the matter, you need to know that it is a trend that shows no signs of stopping - more working together and less companies owning media is a definite ongoing trend. Democratization of the Media What was the TV landscape like in the 1960's? There were three commercial networks from which you could choose what to watch, and typically one PBS station. All networks "signed off" in the overnight hours, leaving audiences with virtually nothing to watch Many rural areas received only some, or no broadcast signals due to geography Color TV was new Everything was appointment viewing, which is purposefully viewing a TV show when it is originally broadcast. The VCR began this revolution of giving more power and control over to audiences, as compared to the producers of content. VCRs in the home allowed audiences to time-shift their viewing - they could record their favorite shows and watch them at a later time, whenever they wanted. This was groundbreaking! It made it possible for people to record shows and zip through the commercials (forward through them a high speed). The TV remote also gave people more flexibility because a person could change the TV channel when a commercial came on (essentially zapping away the commercial) and returning to the channel after the commercial break for the next part of the program. Today, we can record what seems like 17 channels at the same time and store a near infinite amount of TV shows, should we care to spend the money on systems and space. We can still zap away from commercials - skipping them entirely - which definitely puts the power into the hands of the people - and creates a world of worry for advertisers and networks trying to keep eyes on screens. How different is that from how we access media content today!? Really different! And it's especially different depending on how old we are. Take a look at the graph below which gives you a glimpse of how you (undergrads, middle-aged people, seniors, etc.) are using media these days. The chart is from a report by the Nielsen research company earlier this year based on information from 2017 and 2018. This chart shows how, even over the course of one year (2017 to 2018), there are some changes in how we allocate our media time. We can can also see differences based on the age group. For example, people over 65 spend way more time with traditional TV than people your age. People your age appear to have shifted more of their media time from TV to app use between 2017 and 2018. Overall, app use increased while internet use on a computer decreased. Audiences, especially younger ones, are accessing "TV content" in ways that are convenient for them. As your text suggests, success of media companies will most likely be determined by what is being delivered, not how it is being delivered, although type of delivery remains a focusing point for media industries. Audiences are concerned about: The variety of programming they receive (Variety) The quality of programming they receive (Quality) How easy it is to receive programming (Convenience) And how much they have to pay for it (Cost) Importantly not on the list - whether it is coaxial wire or cable wire; whether the company that delivers it to them is considered a common carrier or not, whether it is a commercial or non-commercial entity delivering content, etc. As students in this class, we have to be concerned with a lot of other logistics, but it is important to not lose sight of what drives audience behavior. By This point you should have completed the Syllabus Quiz. If not, be sure to review the syllabus and course/instructor introduction pages to be prepared. This is a good point to complete the first discussion activity then review the textbook reading. Chapter 1 is included in the website following the discussion. Then you will move on to Part 2 for this week's module.

radio to tv

From Radio to TV p. 1 Chapter 2: From Radio to TV Overview Discussing the early development of broadcasting is valuable because it shapes the cultural, technological, economic, and regulatory foundations for today's electronic media environment. While obviously media technologies have changed drastically over time - you may be surprised at what stays the same, and what changes for awhile and then returns to the same. Those who know history are more capable of anticipating the future. Fact. Cultural Precedents Urbanization shaped society to make mass media entertainment a reality for many more people. Before the invention of television there was radio. Before there was radio, people were informed and entertained by . . . newspapers! The "penny press" spread both in 1833 when the New York Sun began a trend toward generating mass interest with mass produced papers. Copies sold for a penny and the Sun exploited news of events, crimes, gossip, human-interest stories, sports, and entertaining features all in a new light approach, paving the way for modern tabloids. Another precedent to radio and TV was vaudeville. Vaudeville was a popular form of live-entertainment featuring performers dancing, singing, playing instruments, and doing comedy routines. The first vaudeville house opened in Boston in 1883 and remained immensely popular into the 1920's. There were as many as 37 vaudeville houses in New York, but the development of motion pictures, put an end to the vaudeville era. Of course, most people experienced the performances live but here's a compilation video of sample acts from the vaudeville era (skip ahead two or three minutes to get to some video): Around the turn of the century, the phonograph brought entertainment into the home. Like vaudeville, the phonograph created a public that enjoyed music that radio eventually supplied. Additionally, it helped people grow accustomed to furniture-like media technologies inside the home. Motion Pictures were also popular before radio and TV broadcasting. Early serial films built a base for TV show formats, and by 1928, people were flocking to the "talkies." Motion Pictures helped establish the "visual grammar" of TV by establishing popular tastes in shooting and editing techniques: Cinematic conventions related to production and shooting were a great influence on TV production. Watch this short (3 minute) video on creating the first motion picture (Also linked in the PowerPoint presentation): Technological Precedents A technological precedent to radio and television, the telegraph, invented by Samuel Morse in the 1820's, allowed rapid communications over long distances. The telegraph used the "Morse code" language, a system of translating numbers and letters into dots and dashes. Guglielmo Marconi was an inventor and businessman. Taking a demonstrated radio experiment from a German physicist Heinrich Hertz (who benefited first from James Clerk Maxwell's theory of electromagentic waves), Marconi is credited with developingwireless communication. The role in funding and regulation that the U.S. government played in the beginning days of the telegraph became a critically important regulatory precedent for a non-state owned, but regulated media market in the U.S. Wireless transmission gained publicity for its lifesaving role in maritime disasters as early as 1898. The most famous of them of all created new laws governing shipboard wireless stations, when in 1912 the Titanic put out distress calls that no one heard, because only one radio operator was all that was required, and the operators had left their post for the night. In 1906, Reginald Fessenden made the first known radiotelephone transmission in what we would now call a broadcast, using a telephone as a microphone and an alternator to generate radio energy. After World War I, wireless' development was dominated by big business. General Electric (GE) had cornered the market on alternator manufacturing, so in October 1919, they created a subsidiary to take over and operate American Marconi (the inventor's company) and called it the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). RCA held important radio patents, as well as AT&T, GE, Westinghouse. Each found itself blocked by patents the others held, so a cross-licensing agreement was developed, whereby each company had its own slice of the electronics manufacturing and services pie. Please view this video explaining the technology behind RCA's communication technologies, also linked in the PowerPoint: Radio Broadcasting The first radio broadcast station was launched on November 2, 1920, when Westinghouse adapted a transmitter, installed a makeshift tower on the company's tallest building in Pittsburgh and began broadcasting as KDKA. Because it was Election Day, KDKA's maiden broadcast reflected public interest in presidential vote results. Along with the vote results, KDKA offered brief news reports alternating with phonograph and live banjo music. Eventually, KDKA began a regular daily hour-long schedule of music and talk after asking their listening audience to contact Westinghouse Corporation. By 1922 about 60,000 households had a radio; only two years later more than a million had radios. AT&T had station WEAF and was the first to sell commercial time calling it toll broadcasting, a concept taken from long distance toll calls. WEAF's employees had to help advertisers create their programming eventually taking over program production thus introducing the concept of sponsorship. In 1926, an RCA executive David Sarnoff created an RCA subsidiary and called it the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the first American company organized specifically to operate a broadcasting network. It's inaugural coast to coast broadcast reached an estimated 5 million listeners and was reported to have cost $50,000 to produce. Broadcasting from coast to coast on a regular basis did not begin, however until two years later. An independent talent booking agency, seeking an alternative to NBC as an outlet for its performers, stared a rival network. Going through several changes in ownership, William S. Paley purchased the company originally named Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System in which he turned the ailing company around with innovative affiliate contracts, and from that point on CBS (as it was later dubbed), never faltered. ABC grew out of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) "monopoly" probe. The 1938-41 radio-network investigation resulted in a highly publicized and controversial report which included specific proposals for reform. The FCC report cited several problems with CBS and NBC, the two then-existing radio networks. The first problem cited was that NBC owned two networks, NBC-Blue and NBC-Red. The report proposed "divorcement," and in October 1943, ABC was born, the offspring of the separation of NBC. As a result of the FCC report RCA sold the Blue Network Company, Inc. for $8,000,000. The buyer was the American Broadcasting System, Inc., owned by Edward J. Noble, who had made his fortune with Lifesavers candy. Government regulation was sure to intervene to complete the structure of broadcasting in America. Congress passed the Radio Act of 1912 which was the first comprehensive American legislation to govern land-based stations, requiring federal licensing of all radio transmitters. During the Depression years from 1929-1937, one third of all American workers lost their jobs. In these difficult years, radio entertainment came into its own as the only free (after purchasing a home receiver) widely available distraction from the grim struggle to survive. Many poor families, having been forced to give up an icebox or furniture, clung to radio as a last link to humanity. As a result, radio was soon prospering. Vaudeville, motion pictures, and theater were collapsing, but many of their major players flocked to radio along with audiences and sponsors. President Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office in 1933, and proved to be a master broadcaster, the first national politician to exploit the medium to its full potential. His broadcasts were known as "fireside chats" and encouraged informality and warmth from the president to the people. Early radio programs included comedies, music, drama, news, recordings, and talk radio. Among the first was a popular situation comedy called Amos 'n Andy, both performers coming from vaudeville. It became radio's first big network hit in the early 1930s. Comedy seem to sooth the pain caused by years of economic hardship, and so many programs developed such as The Jack Benny Program, Burns and Allen, The Fred Allen Show and more. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was lured into content areas after Orson Welles created a panic in October 1938 when he produced a live drama heard nationwide on CBS in which killer Martians invaded the United states. The broadcast was so believable because the program reported the "invasion" in news bulletins. Listeners tuning in late thought they were hearing legitimate live news reports. Thousands panicked. Fear turned into anger against CBS and Welles when the public realized the broadcast was a Halloween prank. The FCC warned broadcasters to be careful but no official regulation occurred until much later when huge fines were levied against stations airing shock jock, Howard Stern's controversial program. Television Broadcasting Television developed into a mass medium but not before years of experimentation. In 1929, early TV produced crude pictures without sound. Although American Philo Farnsworth and Russian immigrant Vladimir Zworykin solved specific parts of the television transmission puzzle, including the iconoscope, no single inventor can claim television's discovery as it was a corporate rather than an individual achievement. RCA and other corporations had experimented with TV for years, but it was not until 1939 that David Sarnoff was ready to display his company's product publicly with its debut during the New York World's Fair opening ceremony. Two years elapsed between its debut and the FCC adoption in July 1941 of technical standards for black-and-white television transmission. The 1941 standards adopted were largely those originally proposed by RCA, and remained the technical foundation for TV broadcasting for well over half a century, essentially unchanged until the FCC adopted digital TV standards in December 1996. Sixteen stations were on the air at the start of 1948 and nearly 100 channels two years later. In 1941 the FCC had made available only 13 channels to serve the entire U.S. As more and more stations applied to go on the air it became obvious that demand would soon exceed the supply of channels. Interference was also an issue as the miscalculation of distance needed to separate stations assigned to the same channel. As a result, in 1948, the FCC abruptly froze further processing of television-license applications pending solution of these problems. The much anticipated decision, the basic charter of American broadcast television, came on April 14, 1952 in the FCC's historic Sixth Report and Order. The new rules relocated some of the original (VHF) channels to reduce interference and added 70 new (UHF) channels. After the freeze the number of channels shot up reaching 400 by 1955. Growth began to slow at that point. In 1953, an agreement for a color television standard was reached by the FCC, a standard that was primarily developed by RCA. An important part of the standard was its compatibility with black and white sets already in use. Five years after this 1953 color standard adoption, only NBC offered programs in color. This is the time when NBC introduced its new "Peacock" logo to brand themselves as pioneers in color broadcasting. It was also used to market color TV sets made by NBC's parent company RCA. Full network color production in prime time finally arrived in 1966. In 1972, only half of the country's homes had color TV sets. By the mid 1990's new black and white sets had become hard to find, except for very small portable models. NBC's "Bird" logo used in the late-1950s. The FCC's 1952 Sixth Report and Order effectively limited TV to three national networks because there were too few cities with four channels to allow a fourth network to compete nationally. It was not until the mid 1980's that Fox Broadcasting Company emerged to become the fourth network. In the mid 1990's The Warner Brothers Network and United Paramount Network, (WB & UPN respectively).

electronic media

How Electronic Media Work p. 1 How Electronic Media Work Chapter 4 Waves This chapter covers several basic technologies related to how electronic media works. It starts by building on some basic concepts - such as wave propagation, electromagnetism, modulation, and digital signal processing and continues to explore how these phenomenon are e employed to deliver us the radio and TV content we're used to pushing a simple "On" button to receive. Although the text discusses electromagnetism first, I like to turn it around and talk about the more tangible audio waves before addressing electromagnetic waves. So.. let's start with something familiar -- sound. So, sound is created when molecules are forced to move. Some energy pushes a molecule, it hits the molecule next to it, and then returns to its original position. The energy is transferred from one molecule to the next and radiates outward. We usually think of sound traveling in the air, but it can travel through all kinds of materials (for example, string, water, steel, etc.). The more closely packed the molecules are, the faster the sound will travel. Therefore, sound travels as a mechanical wave. The tuning fork offers some insight. You can see in the gif below that the wave emanates from the fork. The darker patches moving outward indicate high energy and reflect what happens when the fork pushes (compresses) the molecules away. The lighter patches indicate low energy and reflect the movement of the fork and molecules back to their original positions. For our discussion, it's helpful to understand some components of the sound wave: wavelength, amplitude, and frequency. The wavelength is the distance between the peaks of a wave. This includes the crest (where the molecules are compressed) and the trough (where the molecules move back to their original state). One wavelength is equal to one cycle. The frequency of a wave is the number of wavelengths (or cycles) that are generated in one second. The more wavelengths that are completed in the course of a second, the higher the frequency. That is, when the wavelengths are very short, more will take place or be produced per second and the frequency of the wave will be higher. This is part of what determines the shape of the wave. The frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz). (Sound familiar?) The amplitude is the amount of energy in the wave. In audio, we call this the loudness. This is the other part that influences the wave's shape. From Audio to Electromagnetic Waves So, now we've gotten a sense for the basic idea of an audio wave. That involves the movement of sound through a medium (usually air). Now we want to think about how we transmit/broadcast media using electromagnetic waves. Many of these concepts will still apply as we progress to discuss electromagnetism. For example, audio and electromagnetic (radio) waves both have the basic properties of waves (wavelength, frequency, amplitude); they begin with a burst of energy - be it a voice or signal from an antenna; and they radiate outward. Additionally, both types of waves attenuate, or lose their energy as they radiate outward, over time.

cable

To Cable & New Media p. 1 Chapter 3 This chapter covers three overarching topics or developments in electronic media: The Development of Cable The Electronics Revolution The Development of the Internet Establishment of Cable TV Many people don't realize that the cable industry has its roots in broadcasting and developed out of the need and desire to get television programming to the largest number people possible. Initially, broadcast television didn't reach all rural viewers - some were too far away from the station's transmitters and others lived in places where physical landscapes made it difficult or impossible to pick up the broadcast TV signals. Prior to the development of cable, broadcasters used stop-gap measures to meet these needs. Low power repeater transmitters initially met some of the demand by extending station coverage into fringe reception areas and places cut off from normal reception by hills and mountains. The repeater transmitter is a receiver that picks up the original broadcast signal, amplifies it, and then transmits to the area that lacks coverage. The most common type of repeater, called a translator, transmits on a different channel from the originating station so as not to interfere with the originating station's signal. Next came CATV (Community Antenna Television), later just referred to as "cable TV." CATV originally worked something like a translator in that it received signals from one or more nearby stations. The easiest way to imagine it is if you think about a town in a valley. Because of the tall mountains surrounding it, the folks in the town would have trouble receiving the signal from distant broadcast stations. So, a repeater antenna would be constructed on one of the nearby mountains, high enough to pick up the broadcast signals. Unlike translators, the CATV system used wide-band cable to deliver signals to the town. Once in the town, the signal could be amplified and sent simultaneously to subscribers. This gave the subscribers access to programming they couldn't get over-the-air and offered them more choices. As the medium matured, the term CATV faded out and was replaced by cable television. Television broadcasters welcomed cable at first because it acted merely as an extension of their broadcast service. But then, cable operators start enhancing or augmenting content. Cable operators were augmenting the original programming with content from nearby stations, feature films, and some were even producing original content. As cable started to grow, broadcasters began to fear program duplication - which could decrease their audience shares, which, in turn could lower their appeal to advertisers. In time, cable's economic impact grew. This led broadcasters to argue that cable had an unfair advantage over broadcasters and broadcasters pressured politicians to encourage the FCC to be more hands-on with the medium. Since 1934, broadcast stations have been required to get permission from program producers (including other broadcast stations) to use their programming on the air. In the spirit of that regulation -- and after the FCC began to use microwave relay licenses to justify regulating cable systems that imported distant signals -- the FCC established the must-carry rule during the 1970s. This rule required cable systems to carry all TV stations (which tended to be network affiliates) within their areas of coverage and to avoid duplicating network programs on the same day the network offered them. The government's approach to cable regulation from the 1960's through the 1990's followed a little bit of a seesaw pattern -- there were policies put into place that enacted greater regulation -- followed by deregulation -- and back to greater regulation. 1972 saw the high point of cable regulation - followed by several statutes reversing much of the regulation, including the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984. Arrogance within the industry led to heavier regulation found in the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 - but the 1996 Telecom Act reverted back to deregulatory practices. Development of Cable Since the 1960s, communication satellites had been used for international broadcast relays, but demand for domestic satellites (domsats - Domestic satellites operated as common carriers of point to point content) lagged. Few cable systems used domsats until after 1979 when the FCC deregulated television receive-only (TVRO - TV Receiver-only now uses satellites to send to cable systems) antennas used to pick up programs replayed by satellite. These technologies made Cable systems more efficient - and the need for more content was created. Enter Ted Turner. In 1970, Ted Turner developed WTBS (later becoming the TBS cable channel) and loaded the station's schedule with movies and sports, then linked the signal for satellite distribution to cable systems throughout the country. (And thank goodness we averted absolute disaster - if he had not succeeded, where else would we be able to watch 18 daily episodes of The Big Bang Theory?) Over time, several other TV outlets, such as Chicago's WGN and New York's WOR, also became superstations. Turner was also behind another cable network that revolutionized cable TV offerings. He introduced a 24-hour schedule of news and news-related features in 1980 when he developed Cable News Network (CNN). Also debuting in 1980 was The Weather Channel, which started providing 24-hour weather and environmental programming. Prior to those milestones, Home Box Office introduced pay (or premium) cable in 1972. The channel was free of advertisements and showed primarily feature films for which subscribers paid an additional monthly fee over and above the charge for advertising supported channels (also known as basic tier). This channel is now currently still at the forefront of changing the ways in which we receive content. Until around 1980, cable remained basically parasitic, feeding off existing broadcast programs and motion pictures.In the 1980s, HBO led the way to cable-specific productions—such as special on-stage performances, sporting events, and original programs TV Anywhere . . . Please review the image below for a look at the continuously changing landscape of cable TV: Today, cable subscribers have much more control over the video programming entering the home - Cable also now offers services other than traditional video and audio programming.Please familiarize yourself with the other options your textbook covers. Viewers can choose among many options, including: Pay-per-View, or PPV services, Video-on-Demand, VoD, which can be program-specific or continuous access, and Direct-to-home satellite services, DBS, such as DirectTV. In today's consolidated market, these services are typically offered through a MSO - a Multiple Systems Operator - which offers several of these services directly to the consumer. Cable visionaries in the 1970s foresaw interactivity as a logical next step in evolving home communication. In 1977, Warner Cable developed an interactive service on its Columbus, Ohio system called Cube. Although Cube allowed viewers to respond to channels by using a touchpad, it failed to attract subscribers willing to pay its high cost. Early attempts at "Interactive TV" failed. Why do you think they did not succeed? The success of the Internet and the interactivity it provides, suggests that there was a dramatic shift in public interest during the middle and late 1990s - or services and marketing got markedly better.

cable

To Cable & New Media p. 2 Electronics Revolution The technology that paved the way for all the digital developments - and ultimately for the growth of computers - was the transistor. Until about 1950, most electronic devices like radios and the first computers operated using variations of the vacuum tube (as seen above). Vacuum tubes were primarily useful for changing alternating current into direct current and for amplifying the signal. This of course was wonderful for use in media technology like radios and TVs. However, there were a few problems with the tubes: fragile yet bulky, consumed a lot of energy, generated a lot of heat, and didn't last long. These problems were solved in 1947 when engineers at Bell Laboratories invented the transistor. Transistors are 3-element solid-state amplifiers/switches that were smaller, cheaper, generated less heat, and more reliable than tubes. As a result, they initiated the trend toward miniaturization, and paved the way for increased speed and memory. The breakneck speed at which new technologies emerge and the media technology landscape has been influenced by one fundamental change more so than any other in recent decades: The shift from analog to digital technology, or digitization. Digital technology makes all forms of communication content - sound, images, and text electrically equivalent. Content used to be locked to the medium in which it was originally created, and that is fundamentally no longer the case. Content can be produced, modified, stored, and distributed across technologies. So, when we think of the influence of digital technology on broadcasting and electronic media, we have to think... Digital makes sounds, images, text electronically equal Original forms no longer matter to equipment used to produce, store, distribute information Then there was The Internet Many historians say the Internet began in the late 1950s with the creation of the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). The Department of Defense determined that our centralized communication system would be vulnerable to being disabled in a military attack. Their goal therefore was to find a way to create a decentralized system of communication. That way one part of the system could suffer an attack but it wouldn't completely disrupt communication in the country. The researchers recruited into the new ARPA project took on the task of creating the system with the purpose of promoting scientific research among institutions around the country, and indeed, the world. Up to that time, computers were seen as computing machines. However, in 1969, ARPAnet started linking computers together so that they can communicate. The original use was to share different types of "science" files, but the need for person-to-person communication emerged, and e-mail was born in 1971. This was made possible through Transmission control protocol (TCP)— which allows information-sharing among different computer networks. Vinton Cerf has long been associated with TCP protocol and has been referred to as "the father of the Internet." With TCP protocol and the resulting email function, the Internet, a network of networks, is formed. What helped move the ARPANET from the domain of defense and scientists to the domain of the public? Tim Berners-Lee is credited with developing Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a language computers use to jump from one hyper-text document on the Internet to another. This allowed for the "information web, "www." Graphic user interfaces then emerged to allow for easy point-and-click web navigation. The user-friendly browser, "Mosaic" was created by a college student, Marc Andreeson in 1993. And then there was the World Wide Web. So, the technological advancements and people/organizations credited with their development in the creation of the Internet would be: ARPAnet -The department of Defense TCP, Transfer Control Protocol, - Cerf HTTP, Hypertext Transfer Protocol - Berners-Lee User-friendly browser - Andreeson What does the Internet look like now? The most recent advancements in capabilities and functions related to the Internet are related to interactivity. The Internet allows anyone to become a producer, provider of music, video, and other forms of content. Another example of the impact of the Internet on the operation of traditional media is the growing number of Web logs (blogs), which allow anyone to become a pundit. The following two images illustrate the time course of Internet adoption globally, and then, within the U.S. how fast the Internet is/was adopted as compared to Radio, TV, and mobile Internet (mostly smartphones) Several trends on Internet access and adoption of media technologies are: Internet penetration rates may still be low across much of Central Africa and Southern Asia, but these regions are also seeing the fastest growth in internet adoption. More than two-thirds of the world's population now has a mobile, with most people now using a smartphone. Internet penetration rates grew very fast from the mid 90's to mid 00's Smart phone - characterized as having mobile internet access- adoption grew even faster than Internet access in the home. Mobile online coverage is the primary way most people access the internet. Four Barriers to Internet Access According to a white paper from World Economic Forum in 2016, there are four barriers to internet access: 1. Infrastructure: 31% of the global population do not have 3G coverage, while 15% have no electricity. 2. Affordability: The cost of the devices we use to access the internet remains too high form many. Nearly 13% of people living under the international poverty line. There are only 29 countries in which the cost of broadband access is affordable for the entire population. That is not the case for the remaining 166 countries. 3. Skills, awareness and cultural acceptance: Literacy is a factor for 15% of adults in the world. Also, there are some cultures in which women are far less likely to use the internet than men. 4. Local adoption and use: There is a lack of relevant content to people from many parts of the world. As much as 80% of the material available online is created in one of 10 languages. Unfortunately, only about 3 billion people (or about 40% of the population) speak those languages as their first language. The internet has changed the way we access media content and we'll discuss those changes in the next page.

cable

To Cable & New Media p. 3 Other Technologies & Changes Be sure to review changes in consumer electronic good detailed in pp. 57-59 of your textbook. Note how previous devices readied the market for better technologies to meet the same needs. For instance, people wanted to be mobile and listen to music with headphones long before the iPod. It makes me feel old that most of you have never had a Discman or a Walkman. Heck... you may not even have had an iPod. :) Also of extreme importance is how the Videocassette recorder, VCR, introduced in 1975, revolutionized the power differential between broadcasters and audiences. The ability to time delay (or viewing "time shifting", as they call it) gave viewers more control than ever before. While digitization and the internet are huge changes and offer audiences a variety of options previously unfathomable, what happens to our "traditional" electronic media with the introduction of so many new technologies? In the years running up to Internet availability and adoption, TV broadcasters - the same "Big 3" networks that had dominated the TV market since the early days found competition from a fourth network... In 1985, publishing tycoon Rupert Murdoch launched the Fox Network, which was the first serious attempt to create a fourth network since the demise of the DuMont Network in the 1950s. The FOX network uses its initial small size to its advantage, as well as its access to 20th Century Fox film studios. FOX's early success is often credited to the large investment they made in sports programming rights. It shook a lot of things up! All three established networks changed hands within a two-year period, and FOX became a viable 4th network by the mid-90's. These changes coincided with the retirement of long-time executives, declining ratings in the face of cable competition, weak financial performance, and concern about increasing future multichannel competition. As you may recall, from chapter 2, one of the reasons for dismantling American Marconi was the concern about having a foreign owned media company in the U.S. Well, in the 80s, the FCC allowed an Australian to become the major owner of a broadcast network in the U.S. How that happened is a story for another course. By the 1990s, stabilized audience levels, growing advertising expenditures, and the approaching demise of financial interest and syndication rules (fin-syn rules) had restored network television's luster. Broadcasters also had to make way for networks the WB and UPN in 1995 - which merged in 2006 to create today's Time Warner-owned CW network. Univision has also emerged as a national broadcast network. Television networks - new and old alike - respond to increasing competition by changing their programming strategies amidst a climate of media consolidation. Today, consumers have more media channels available than ever before. In the United States, there are: more than 17,000 terrestrial radio stations and satellite radio subscription services more 1,750 commercial and educational TV stations and 1900 low power TV stations more than 500 national and regional television programming networks delivered by over the air, cable, telephone systems, and broadcast satellite A continuing challenge facing TV broadcasting is competition with cable and DBS - and now online sites that offer the same, and additional content - for high quality popular programming. In response, broadcasters have begun making their programming available on their Web sites, and exploring various contracts with sites such as Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, and more, which offer content to customers on either a pay-per-show basis, or subscription basis. The impact on viewing has been most greatly observed among younger people. As the PEW research reported below, people between the ages of 18-49 (a prime advertising demographic) are more likely to watch their TV programming via a streaming service than via cable or satellite or antenna. One area we may see change is the use of antennas. The cost of live programming via streaming services hasn't been dramatically lower than via cable or satellite. So, use of a digital antenna to get live programming for free may become more popular as people purchase subscriptions to services like Netflix, HBO, Starz, Amazon, etc. AND pay for internet access through which to get this programming. This is a link to a column written for a Los Angeles Times book review blog (and re-posted on Slate) by a liberal arts college professor of TV/film about how she sees college students accessing TV content. Although it's a little dated, the sentiment still seems appropriate for the time. (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/10/many_young_people_have_never_watched_an_hbo_show_because_of_netflix.htmlLinks to an external site.(You can click the link for additional info - I've pulled out some important information and pasted below) -- In the article, titled, The New Netflix Canon: My students love quality TV but barely know who Tony Soprano is. Why? Netflix, Peterson writes: "Today, we live in a television culture characterized by cord-cutters and time-shifters . . . They watch Netflix, and they watch it hard. They watch it at the end of the night to wind down from studying, they watch it when they come home tipsy, they binge it on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Most use their family's subscription; others filch passwords from friends . . . Some students use Hulu, but never Hulu Plus—when it comes to network shows and keeping current, they just don't care. For some super-buzzy shows, like Game of Thrones and Girls, they pirate or find illegal streams. But as far as I can tell, the general sentiment goes something like this: If it's not on Netflix, why bother? . . Through this reliance on Netflix, I've seen a new television pantheon begin to take form: There's what's streaming on Netflix, and then there's everything else. When I ask students what they're watching, the answers are varied: Friday Night Lights, Scandal, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, Breaking Bad, Luther, Downton Abbey, Sherlock, Arrested Development, The Walking Dead, Pretty Little Liars, Weeds, Freaks & Geeks, The L Word, Twin Peaks, Archer, Louie, Portlandia. What all these shows have in common, however, is that they're all available on Netflix. Things that they haven't watched? The Wire. Deadwood. Veronica Mars, Rome, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos. Even Sex and the City. It's not that they don't want to watch these shows—it's that with so much out there, including so many so-called quality programs, such as Twin Peaks and Freaks & Geeks, to catch up on, why watch something that's not on Netflix? Why work that hard when there's something this easy—and arguably just as good or important—right in front of you?" Some interesting food for thought!

cable

To Cable & New Media p. 4 Video Streaming During the past few years, we have seen an steady increase in audience reliance on video streaming services, as well as a steady increase in services to subscribe to. Disney Plus, Peacock, and Paramount + are just a few of the companies that have joined the space dominated by YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix. This has led audiences to consider a range of streaming options and how much they are willing to spend to get access to the unique content that each provides. Additionally, the increase in distributors aligns with a steady increase in the amount of video programming being created each year. The graph below shows an estimate of the percentage of people willing to pay each month for their streaming services. The next page is a document from the Wowza blog that provides a nice summary of how we got to this point in the streaming corner of the media industry. Here's the link to the source if you'd prefer to click through: https://www.wowza.com/blog/history-of-streaming-media (Links to an external site.) More interesting developments to consider!