A brief but educational presentation on how TV programs are made and go on air.

1. A Presentation on:
“TV PROGRAMS ON
AIR”
Group members:
 Aditi Verma
 Brenda Yeoh
 Brandy Chai
 Chelsea Orie
 Brynn Z. Lovett

2. • Television: Most widely-used means of
mass communication.
• There are 112.3 million television
households in the United States; the
average home has more television sets
(2.73) than people (2.55; Average, 2006)!
{Baran, S.J., 2010}.

3. Organization of the
Broadcast Industry
• Two types of television systems in the Broadcast
Television Industry:
1. Commercial Television system
2. Non-Commercial Television system
• FCC – Federal Communications Commission
• The TV industry is classified into
1. Production
2. Distribution
3. Exhibition

4. Ownership In The Television Industry:
• All major networks in the industry are owned by
conglomerates such as NBC, ABC, Fox etc.
• Telecommunications Act allowed a person or organization
to own unlimited number of TV stations < 39% of the US
population (2008).
Producing Television Programs:
• A TV station divided into 5 departments namely Sales,
Engineering, Production/Programming, News and
Administration.
• There is a station manager who is the chief of all the station
activities.
Getting TV Programs on Air:
• News
• Interview programmes
• Prime time shows

6.  Almost every station has a studio that contains a
set for one or two anchor-people, a weather
forecaster, and a sports-caster (Dominick, J. R., 2011).
 News director for the station allocates the stories
to the reporters and the camera crews.
 They then do the video-recording of the report by
going to the scene of the story.
 Meanwhile, the newscast producer and the news
director decide what stories would be aired and in
what time slots.
 This schedule is drawn up while the reporters and
the camera crews arrive with their stories.
 It is then the job of the reporters to write copies of
the stories and the editors to prepare the
segments of the videotape.

7. POPULAR NEWS CHANNELS
WORLD-WIDE
• CNN
• CNBC
• BBC
• FNC (Fox News
Channel)

9. Slides by Brynn

10.  Two individuals
 A host and an artist / experienced
individual
 Example : Charlie Rose / Jeff Randall Live
- Local Program presented by WNET
- One hour show every night

11.  Consists of segments videotaped on
location
 Later edited into final form
 Provides a variety of topics
 Format in an interview or commentary

12.  America’s Next Top Model
- appeal to both men and women
- competition, age and popularity
- emotional attachment
 American Idol
- celebrity judges
- appropriate for all ages

14. PILOT.
Two And A
Half Men
Pilot is the first episode of every series.
Pilot is very important because we do not know if the
audience may like it. Thus, “If the idea looks promising the
network and the producer will enter a contract of a pilot”
(Dominick, J.R.,2011).
When a pilot show gets good attention from genuine
audience, five or six episodes that are produced may be
ordered by the network and may show them in the next fall
schedule.
Slides by: Brenda

15.  “From the hundreds of ideas that are sent to the
network, only a few ever make it to prime time”.
(Dominick, J.R.,2011)
 If the ratings of a program is successful, then as
expected, few episodes will be ordered by the
network for the rest of the season.
 In the meantime, network executives carefully going
through the hundreds of program ideas for the
coming season and the whole process will repeat
once again.

16. Slides by Chelsea

17.  Prime time is when the viewing of television is at
its highest.
 In the Eastern and Pacific time zones, it is from 7
– 11 pm and in the Central and Mountain time
zones prime time is 6 – 10 pm. (Mitchell E.
Shapiro, Primetime, viewed 17 September 2011,
http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycod
e=primetime)

18.  It all starts from an idea.
 Hundreds of ideas are received every year (ex.
From independent producers, network
employees, amateurs)
 From hundreds, 50 – 75 would be selected
 The list is trimmed again after examining the plot
outlines and background sketches of the potential
series.
 A request of a sample script is made by the
networks.

19. An American sitcom about the main character, Ted
Mosby, telling his kids in 2030 of how he met their
mother
Broadcasted by the network CBS
Show starts at 8pm
Very popular
Reasons why – it reminds most viewers of another
show called ‘Friends’
 the actors and actresses acting in it already had their
fan base from other shows
 the way of how the story is told intrigues viewers –
keeps them wanting to know who Ted will eventually
marry

20. Where Did The Money Go?
Network programming is quite expensive and the
cost varies on the type of show. Quiz and reality
shows are much cheaper to produce than sitcoms,
dramas etc.
Rating And Network Executing:
• National Advertisers
• Local Advertisers
• National Spot Advertisers
Slides by Brandy

21. Measuring TV Viewing
 Nielsen Ratings
 are coupled with detailed analysis of
consumer viewing behavior and
demographic information.(Nielsen.nd)
 Deciding factor in canceling/ renewing
television shows by television networks.

22. Nielsen Media TV Rating
 Collect data through Nielson Television Index
 Using a device called People Meter (>12000)
 Portable People Meter
Local- Market TV Rating
 Surveys more than 200 markets
 Diary & electronic meter techniques( Set Meter & Local
People Meter)
 Collect more than 2 million papers diaries during the
“sweep” every year.

23.  “Sweep” happen 4 times a year (Feb, May,
July,& Nov) to measure the local television
market in the entire country.
 Nielsen long-term plans call for the phasing
out of paper diaries.
 C3 rating defined as the rating of the
average commercial minute including live
viewing & DVD playback within 3
days.(Dominick.J.R.,2011,pg 252)

24. Ratings Reporting
 Rating= Number of households watching
a program divided by total number of TV
household (TV HH)
 Share of Audience = Number of
households watching a program divided
by households using television at that
time. (HUT)

25. Determining accuracy of Rating
 Media Ratings Council (MRC) previous named
Electronic Media Rating Council(EMRC)
 Monitors
 Audits
 ratings
Broadcast ratings are still criticized by the public.
 Participants may have different viewer habits
 Nielsen reports based on the 55% of the diaries sent
out, it is possible that “returners” behave differently
from “nonreturners” .(Dominick.J.R.,2011,pg 253)
 Ratings companies having difficulties to measure the
viewing of a certain groups.
 Exp: Stations that are being measured engage
promotions to “hype” the rating.

26. Example of the diary that used to collect the rating of TV
program.

27. Television Audiences
 TV set has become firmly entrenched
in America.
 In year 2009, 99% of all homes in the
country have at least 1 working TV
set; 75% have more than 1.
 TV audience change in daily, it’s grow
from 7 A.M., reaches high peak from
8.A.M to 11 P.M. and drops again
after 11 P.M.

28. Viewing is heaviest:
 Winter months & smallest during July and August(outdoor
activities)
 Preschool & female viewers dominate during day time
hour, from Mon-Fri
 Saturday morning viewers are under13; prime time
viewers are those in 18-49 year-old.
 People with low in-come
 Female viewers
Factors affect viewership:
 Age
 Sex
 Social class
 Education

29. Career Prospects
• Not very bright
• Further declines
• Better at Local level

30. Presenters: Slides by:
Brynn Z Lovett Brenda Yeoh
Aditi Verma Brandy Chai
Chelsea Orie
Brynn Z. Lovett
Aditi Verma

31. References:
• Baran, S.J., 2010, Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy
and Culture, 6th edition, McGraw-Hill.
• Dominick, J. R. (2011);The Dynamics of Mass Communications: Media in
Transition, 11th edn; McGraw Hill; Boston
• CBS, 2011.Most Popular Reality TV Shows. Interactive inc. <
http://www.tv.com/reality/genre/9/summary.html>
• Nielsen, ND, Television Measurement.
http://nielsen.com/us/en/measurement/television-measurement.html
viewed by 13th September 2011.
• Museum TV,
http://www.museumtv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=primetime
• Quora,
www.quora.com/Why-is-How-I-Met-Your-Mother-so-popular