scanning a visual image and transmitting it, generally with accompanying sound, in the form of electronic waves that when received can be reconverted into visual images.
Using radio for transmission
Received by over-the-air antenna to a television set (receiver)
Television programming
audiovisual material created by businesses to be part of a flow or gathering of material aimed at particular audiences and financed by advertising and/or audience payments.
Entertainment
News
Sports
Movies
Entertainment Programming
Series
a set of programs that revolve around the same ideas or characters.
an organization that distributes television programs, typically by satellite and microwave relay, to all its affiliated stations, or stations that agree to carry a substantial amount of the network’s material on an ongoing basis.
Broadcast Networks
Big Four
Netlets
Spanish-Langauge
Digital Networks
Big Four
ABC, owned by Disney
NBC, owned by Comcast
CBS, owned by CBS
Fox, owned by Fox Corporation
Big Four networks are…
Vertically integrated
Distributors of programming
Producers of programs for the networks
Owns broadcast stations in the biggest cities
Spanish Language Networks
Univision
Telefutura, Univision
Telemundo, Comcast-NBC
Netlets
Smaller market share networks
CW, owned by CBS and WarnerMedia
Ion
MyTV, owned by Fox TV
Digital Networks
Me-TV
Antenna TV
This TV
Bounce TV
UniMas
Types of Television Stations
Broadcast outlet
Station groups
Owned-and-operated stations
Network affiliates
Independent Broadcast Stations
not affiliated with one of the Big Four (or any) network.
Noncommercial Broadcast Stations
funded by donations and underwriting
CPB funded stations
Broadcast Station Revenue
Commercials
Retransmission Fees
Subscription Cable, Telco, and Satellite Services
Multichannel Subscription Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs)
Set-top box
Coaxial cable
Fiber optic cable
Communications Satellite
Types of MVPDs
Cable television system: television service provided to subscribers by signals sent through a wire—usually copper coaxial cable but increasingly via fiber optic lines.
franchise agreement between a cable television system and a local municipal government.
multiple system owner (MSO)
Comcast, Charter, Xfinity
Telcos
telephone companies that offer television and internet services.
Verizon, AT&T
Satellite Television
video programming that comes directly to the home from a satellite orbiting the earth.
direct broadcast satellite technology: allows a household to receive hundreds of channels from signals that are delivered digitally from satellites operating in orbit to a small dish installed on the side of a dwelling. A set-top box decodes signals to that they appear on the TV set.
DirecTV, Dish
MVPD Channels
Retransmit Broadcast TV Stations
Cable Channels/Networks
Own Channels
Subscription/Premium Cable Channels
Online and Mobile Platforms
Broadband Internet connections: enough digital bandwidth to stream and download videos.
Post-TV: Web sites on computers. Apps on Tablets and smartphones allow for more ways to view programming
Convergence: allow viewers to subscribe to platforms to stream videos before they go and download them illegally.
Fragmentation in the media world: viewers watch on many post-TV devices
Most MVPDs are also ISPs
Producing Cable and Satellite Channel Lineups
The choice of networks in a lineup depend on…
The technological limitations of the system
bandwidth considerations.
The amount of money a network demands from exhibitors
cable systems must pay license fees— costs that particular networks charge exhibitors for carrying the networks’ lineups in the exhibitors’ cable or satellite system.
ESPN famously charges $6 per subscriber per month.
Whether or not the exhibitor owns a piece of the network
the distributor has a financial interest in carrying the channels.
MVPD Revenues
tiering
Pay-per-View
Video on Demand (VOD)
Broadcast Channel Lineups
High Definition Television
Channel Multiplexing
Online/Mobile Lineups
Over-the-Top Viewing
Cutting the Cord
Cord Shavers
Ratings
audits of people’s television viewing behavior that help to determine where much of the money for programming and advertising should go
segments of the day as defined by programmers and marketers.
Dayparts
Early Morning
6:00 ~ 10:00 AM
Daytime
10:00 AM ~ 3:00 PM
Fringe
3:00 ~ 7:00 PM
Prime Access
7:00 ~ 8:00 PM
Prime Time
the hours from 8–11 PM during which many networks put on their most expensive programs and charge advertisers the most money for commercial time
Late Night
11:00 PM ~ 2:00 AM
Overnight
2:00 ~ 6:00 AM
Audience Flow
the movement of audience members from one program to another.
Time-Slot
a particular position in the schedule
Lead-In
a program that comes before, and therefore leads into, another program
Sampling
trying out a new program by watching it for the first time
Lead-Out
the program that follows the program after the lead-in
Hammock
the strategic placement of a program between two other programs; positioning a new series between two well-established shows that appeal to the same target audience often gives the right viewers an opportunity to sample the new series.
See also tentpoling
Counterprogramming
scheduling a program that aims to attract a target audience different from those of other shows in the same time slot; often done to avoid competing directly with a popular series.
See also Challenge Programming
Stripping
five-day-a-week placement of a television show; programmers believe that, in certain day parts, placing the same show in the same time slot each weekday lends a predictability to the schedule that target audiences appreciate
Sources of TV Programming
Network Distribution
Syndication
the licensing of mass media material to outlets on a market-by-market basis.
Off-network
a situation in which a distributor takes a program that has already been shown on network television and rents episodes of that program to TV stations for local airing.
First-Run
a situation in which a distributor takes a program that has not already been shown on network television and rents episodes of that program to TV stations for local airing.
Local Origination
Streaming
the act of sending digital materials so they can be heard or viewed as they are sent, without having to be saved first
