1. Opportunities and Challenges of the Post-Network Era
Amanda D. Lotz, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
University of Michigan

2. “The End ofTV as we Know it”
January 7, 2000 “The Death ofTelevision”
October 17, 2005
“The End ofTV (as you know it)”
November 21, 2005
“The End ofTelevision as We Know It”
March 27, 2006”

3. •Veronica Mars creator RobThomas raises $5 million
for the production of a Veronica Mars movie through
Kickstarter
•YouTube and Hulu offer an extensive range of
television
•Netflix begins competing with original series House
of Cards and a new season of Arrested Development
•Amazon commissioned 14 pilots, developing 5 to
series for InstantVideo Streaming service
•CBS’s NCAA March Madness generated 45 million
steams AND had highest linear viewing in 19 years

4. •Instead, it is reinventing itself
•The television we’ve known was the television
possible in the analog era
•Digital technologies enable a “post-network
era”

6. :15 and :30
advertisments in
“magazine”
format, sold in
“upfront” market
Just aTV set, maybe an
antenna
Production
Studios produce for
monopsony of 3 network
buyers
Limited
Content
through
bottleneck of
3 networks
Financing
Audience
Measurement
Audimeters, diarie
s, sampling
Technology Distribution

7. Financing
Same, plus
subscription and
experiments with
alternatives to :30
ads
VCR, Remote
Control, Analog Cable
Production
Fin-Syn, surge of
independents, conglomeration, c
o-production, HD
Distribution Cable increases
possible outlets but
still a bottleneck
Audience
Measurement
People
Meters, Sampling
Technology

8. Production Financing
Multiple Models -
:30, placement, in
tegration, brande
d entertainment
…
DVR,VOD, portable
devices, mobile
phones, Slingbox, digital
cable, networked
DVRs, iPads
Multiple financing
norms, independent
funding, 3D
Distribution
Content
anytime, anyw
here.
Hulu, Netflix
streaming, MV
PD app
availability
Audience
Measurement
People
Meters, Census
Measurement
Technology

9. • Choice
• ControlMulti-channel
Transition
• Convenience
• Customization
• Community
Post-Network Era
• Convenience (Choice, Control, Portability)
• Mobility
• Theatricality
KeyTechnological
Gains

10. Economics of
production
permanently
disrupted, changes
texts in various ways
Labor model and
norms (program yr.) in
crisis
Non-linear and
cluttered program
environment requires
new strategies in
promotion
Skyrocketing
production costs for
dramas destroy
independents
New models in reality
and cable

11. New technologies
and economic
models eliminate
scarcity of content
and create
alternatives to
linear experience
Technological
bottleneck
broken
• DVD sell-through
• Content on-
demand:
VOD, downloadin
g
New
distribution
routes to the
home

12. Multiplicity of
advertising methods
supports different
types of content
Not all advertisers
have the same
expectation

13. “Change the way you
measureAmerica’s
cultural
consumption…and you
changeAmerica’s culture
business.”
(JonGertner)
Local People
Meters
Personal
People Meters
Linear Change
Digital
Technologies
and Census
Measurement
Pay Per Action
Revolutionary
Change

14.  They produce certain textual outcomes
 The norms of the network era made certain kinds
of programming more likely
 The erosion of those norms and establishment of
new ones changes the range of textual possibility
 And, who makes the most money

15. How will audiences who never knew
network era television differ?
What will continue to happen in the nexus
among technology/distribution/use and
how quickly?

16.  Netflix
Recommendation algorithm
Interface
 HBO GO
 Over-the-top
(OTT) anxiety
 MVPDVOD
(Xfinity)

17.  Queuing

18. Fundamental challenge to the future
evolution of television is the disjuncture
between an economic model built in the
network era and distribution practices
characteristic of post-network
technological possibilities
Bundling is not a
post-network
strategy

19.  How will non-linear programming be organized?
 Folders
Queues

20. Album Sales: Peaked in 2000 Almost exclusively downloads since 2004

23.  Prized content
 Live sports and contests
 Linear viewing

24. …it is at the dawn of a new age