This page features recent news items related to television and American culture. Choose the category to find items tied to specific chapters in the book, or follow the tags to see what’s new about specific facets of television. Subscribe to the RSS feed to stay on top of television!
The Death of Broadcast
28 03 2009Here’s a nice little article from Time magazine using the end of ER as a bookend for the transition from network to digital convergence, and the ways that technological and industrial changes impact the possibilities of programming. Of course, he doesn’t account for how these transformations are making the business model of television less sustainable in the long run, but nobody has a real answer for that.
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Tags: convergence, industry, network
Categories : Ch. 11: Technology, Ch. 1: Programming Exchange, Ch. 2: Audience Exchange
Status of racial diversity on TV
21 03 2009The New York Times offers a brief discussion on the lack of African-American centered programming in 2009. There’s not much about how different cable channels target different ethnic mixes – for instance, Comedy Central has quite a distinct audience composition compared to CNN.
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Categories : Ch. 7: Representation
Network TV in the downturn
28 02 2009Here‘s a good rundown of the state of the TV industry in early-2009 – and it’s not a pretty picture.
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Tags: advertising, industry, network
Categories : Ch. 1: Programming Exchange, Ch. 2: Audience Exchange
Fair Use and this book
16 02 2009This is a cross-post from my main blog, Just TV. It speaks to the power of media industries, especially in terms of copyright and restrictions on fair use.
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Categories : About the Book, Ch. 1: Programming Exchange, Ch. 3: Regulation
Should TV browse the web?
16 02 2009This article outlines the debates within the consumer electronic industry over whether televisions should be full-fledged web browsers, or just stocked with widgets. In two years, I’m sure this article will look dated (from one side or the other).
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Tags: convergence, internet
Categories : Ch. 11: Technology
Television’s endurance as a medium
8 02 2009An interesting account of how television maintains a strong place in the advertising system despite the decline of other older media and the rise of online.
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Categories : Ch. 11: Technology, Ch. 2: Audience Exchange
The challenges of the DTV transition
30 01 2009Written a few weeks before the scheduled Feb. 17 changeover, this article highlights many of the lingering issues facing viewers. It might be interesting to look back a few months from now to see how accurate the predictions were.
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Tags: dtv
Categories : Ch. 11: Technology, Ch. 3: Regulation, Ch. 9: Viewer Practices
The online TV archive
26 01 2009Instead of cable reruns, channels like Discovery are putting their archives online in short sensational clips. But what of programs that don’t feature sharks and other sensationalist footage?
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Tags: documentary, online video
Categories : Ch. 11: Technology, Ch. 1: Programming Exchange
Advertising reacts to the economic downturn
26 01 2009A sure sign of a weak economy is the rise of infomercials and direct-sale ads – now even in primetime network TV!
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Tags: advertising, infomercials
Categories : Ch. 2: Audience Exchange
Fox News adjusts to Obama era
19 01 2009This article discusses how the Obama presidency might impact Fox News, moving from the leadership to opposition position. What it doesn’t consider much is how MSNBC might take over Fox’s previous role.
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Tags: fox news
Categories : Ch. 4: Citizenship & News
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