TV lecture notes for college class com 130

1. Television LECTURE
NOTES TV is still the #1 way
Americans consume media

2. TVAudience inAmerica in 2018
1
Nielsen’s Q1 2018 Total
Audience Report
confirms Americans’
significant and
consistent preference
for television over all
other media.
2
Adults 18+ spent nearly
39 hours weekly with
their television sets,
3
Live TV was the
primary contributor,
with 29 hours and 19
minutes.
4
In 2018, adults 35+
spent nearly 45 hours
weekly with their
television sets,
5
in 2018 some 46 million
U.S. households use a
smart TV at least
monthly. That marks a
16% increase from 2017
6
The average
U.S. household owns
7.3 screens.

3. TV Households inAmerica

4. Origins of
Television
Cathode ray tube was invented (late 1800s)
A Scanning disk (1880s) developed by Paul Nipkow separated pictures into pinpoints of
light that could be transmitted as a series of electronic lines
A Russian immigrant working forWestinghouseCorp in 1927, developed a circuit for
transforming a visual image into an electronic signal.
At the same time, a 24-year-old inventor in California, PhiloT. Farnsworth developed a
similar system
David Sarnoff of RCA built the first commercialTV station in 1932 with transmitting
facilities in the Empire State Building. He introducedTV to the public at the 1939
World’s Fair in NewYork.
Franklin Roosevelt because the first president to appear onTV when he opened that
fair.

5. KeyTV
Moments
RCA sued Farnsworth
over Zworykin’s
iconoscope patent.
• Lost and had to license
patents from Farnsworth
Analog standard
adopted in 1941
Digital standard
adopted in 2009
TV licensing freeze until
1952
RCA had the first
successful color
broadcast system in
1954
TV's early structure was
modeled after radio.

6. Growth &
Milestones
1945--only eight stations and 8,000 homes withTVs.
1955--100 stations and 35 millionTV households.
Networks move to LosAngeles in the 1950s.
1952 the FCC established technical rules
to minimize station interference and
decided on 12VHF and 70 UHF channels.
VHF (very high frequency) TV stations have lower
numbers than UHF stations, include channels 12
and 13, and have signals that travel further than
do UHF signals.
In 1956 theAmpex Company solved the "storage" problem with the invention of
video tape.

7. EarlyTV Early television programs
often had single sponsors.
Networks lacked creative
control, so they made
programs longer, which
raised costs and forced
advertisers out.
Prime-time quiz shows were
cheap to produce, but
dropped by networks amid
allegations of being fixed
The quiz show scandals
ended sponsors’ role in
creating content and
undermined Americans’
expectation of the
democratic promise of
television

8. TV’sGoldenAge
The growth and
experimentation period of
the 1950s became known as
TV's "golden age." Pioneering
programs included variety
shows, drama such as that
from Studio One, and the
adult western.
01
In 1960, NBC began
broadcasting in color for
about three hours a day.
02
In 1963 network news
expanded from 15 to 30
minutes.TV journalism
earned praise during the
1960s for its coverage of the
assassinations of JFK, Martin
Luther King, and Bobby
Kennedy.
03
ThreeTV comedy formats
•Sketch comedy
•Situation comedy
•Domestic comedy
04

9. PublicTV
About 69 educational stations were on air by 1965. Two
years later Congress passed the Public Broadcasting
Act of 1967, which set up the Public Broadcasting
Service (PBS).
Public television is funded by the government (through
the CPB), viewer contributions, foundation grants,
corporate contributions.

10. Defining Features
ofTV
1-it is universal 2-it is the dominant medium for entertainment
3--it is an expensive business: a one-hour
prime-time show can cost of $1.5 million. A 30-
second prime time national ad can cost
$123,000.
4-the audience is fragmenting--- TheTV
audience consistently increases throughout
the day, until about 11p.m. EasternTime when
it falls off sharply. Audiences increasingly
attracted to specialized channels and cable
networks (cooking, religion, sci-fi, health,
romance, shopping).

11. Follow the
Money
Source:U.S.CensusBureau

12. TVOwnership
 TheTelecommunications Act of 1996 allows an organization to own as many
stations as it wishes, provided that their combined reach does not exceed 35
percent of the US population. All major networks were owned by conglomerates
 NBC is owned by General Electric
 ABC is owned byWalt Disney Company
 CBS is owned byViacom
 Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation
 WB is owned byTime-Warner
 UPN is owned byViacom
 TheTelecommunications Act of 1996 also introduced aTV program rating system
and the V-chip.

13. TVCable News
Networks

14. CableTV
1950s
Began in the 1950s to bring
conventionalTV signals to isolated
areas that could not otherwise receive
the signals.
1960
Telstar launched in 1960
1960s
Discovery of how to lock satellites in
geosynchronous orbit in the mid
1980s
the cableTV industry emerges when
FCC lifted restrictions -- competes with
the networks.
1992
CableTelevision Consumer Protection
Act -resulted in an average 17 percent
reduction in rates--also gave telephone
companies the right to enter the cable
business.
2002
CableTV marked a milestone in 2002 –
first time cable networks attracted
more prime-time viewers than did the
seven network broadcasters.

15. CableServices
Basic cable services
Hundred-plus channels
Local cable company pays each satellite-delivered
service a per-subscriber fee.
Premium cable services
Premium channels such as HBO
Pay-per-view (PPV) channels
Video-on-demand (VOD) channels
Then along came cable without wires:
Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) services
Transmit a signal directly to a satellite dish at
customers’ homes
Reduced cable penetration
Began scrambling signals to prevent free access to
broadcasts
Modern services include DirecTV and Dish

16. ProducingTV
• Below-the-line
• Above-the-line
Two types of production costs
• Film studios finance the deficit and hope to profit on syndication.
Programs are funded through deficit financing.
• Newsmagazines and reality shows
Less expensive programs
• Remain attractive investments and are acquiring cable channels
Major programming corporations:Major broadcast networks
• Multiple-system operators (MSOs)
• Multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs)
• Video subscription services
• Netflix, Comcast, and DirecTV are major players.
Major cable and DBS companies

17. HowTV makes Money
National spot advertisers (about
32 percent of revenues) sell
products of regional interest
(snow equipment, pools, farm
implements, and so on).
1
Local advertisers (about 32
percent of revenues) are local
businesses buying airtime to
reach people in their immediate
area. In 2018 local advertising
spent $24.39 billion
2
The bigger a station’s audience
(program rating) and market, the
more advertisers pay for the
airtime.
3

18. Weekly
ReachOf
TV byAge

19. Ways
Millennials
WatchTV

20. Most PopularShows in Nov 2018

21. ThirdScreen:
TVConverged
with the
Internet
• Refers to viewing content on
computer screens
• Used primarily as catch-up services
Third screen
• YouTube, iTunes, Hulu, Netflix
Popular sites for
viewing video
• XfinityTV and HBO Go
CableTV giants are
also making
programs available
online.

22. FourthScreen
Fourth-screen technology
Smartphones, iPods, iPads, and mobile TV devices
Forcing major changes in consumer
viewing habits and media content
creation
Multifunctionality and portability mean
viewers may no longer needTV sets