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Chapter 06: Essay
Essay
1. Explain the two key developments that pushed network television from sponsored
programming to spot ads.
ANSWER:
By the early 1960s, television had become a dominant mass medium and cultural
force, with more than 90 percent of U.S. households owning at least one set.
Television’s new standing came as its programs moved away from the influence of
radio and established a separate identity. Two important contributors to this identity
were a major change in the sponsorship structure of television programming and,
more significant, a major scandal.
Like radio in the 1930s and 1940s, early TV programs were often developed,
produced, and supported by a single sponsor. Many of the top-rated programs in the
1950s included the sponsor’s name in the title: Buick Circus Hour, Camel News
Caravan, and Colgate Comedy Hour. Having a single sponsor for a show meant that
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Chapter 06: Essay
2. The late 1970s saw the introduction of two major threats to the television networks. What
were they?
ANSWER:
Most historians mark the period from the late 1950s, when the networks gained
control over TV’s content, to the end of the 1970s as the network era. Except for
British and American anthology dramas on PBS, this was a time when the Big Three
broadcast networks—CBS, NBC, and ABC—dictated virtually every trend in
programming and collectively accounted for more than 95 percent of all prime-time
TV viewing. By 2014, however, this figure was less than 35 percent. Why the drastic
drop? Because cable television systems—along with home video and early streaming
technology—had cut into the broadcast networks’ audience. With the rise of Netflix
and Amazon streaming services and the loss of younger viewers to digital devices,
some TV industry watchers predicted that by 2020, traditional networks would
capture only about 20 percent of viewers on a typical evening in prime time.
3. What are the major differences between basic cable services and premium cable services?
ANSWER:
A typical basic cable system today includes a hundred-plus channel lineup composed
of local broadcast signals; access channels (for local government, education, and
general public use); regional PBS stations; and a variety of cable channels, such as
ESPN, CNN, MTV, USA, Bravo, Disney, Comedy Central, BET, Telemundo, the
Weather Channel, and superstations (independent TV stations uplinked to a satellite,
such as WGN in Chicago). Typically, local cable companies pay each of these
satellite-delivered services between a few cents per month per subscriber ($.06 per
month per subscriber for low-cost, low-demand channels like C-SPAN) and over $6
per month per subscriber (for high-cost, high-demand channels like ESPN). That fee
is passed along to consumers as part of their basic monthly cable rate, which
averaged—depending on the study and the location—between $76 and $100 per
month in 2017. By 2018, the purchase of faster bandwidth speeds, additional
premium channels, and video-on-demand drove many monthly cable bills to the $200
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Chapter 06: Essay
ANSWER:
The Internet has transformed the way many of us, especially younger generations,
watch movies, TV, and cable programming. These new online viewing experiences
are often labeled third screens, usually meaning that computer screens are the third
major way we view content (movie screens and traditional TV sets are the first and
second screens, respectively).
Back in 2014, according to Nielsen’s “Digital Consumer” report, 84 percent of
smartphone and tablet owners said they used those devices as an additional screen
while watching television “at the same time.” Such multitasking has further
accelerated with new fourth-screen technologies, like smartphones, iPads, and mobile
TV devices. For the past few years, these devices have forced major changes in
consumer viewing habits and media content creation.
The multifunctionality and portability of third– and fourth-screen devices mean that
consumers may no longer need television sets—just as landline telephones have
fallen out of favor as more people rely solely on their mobile phones.
5. If reality-based programs are cheaper to produce, why might television production companies
continue to make more traditional programs like dramas and comedies?
ANSWER:
If where we watch TV programming changes, does TV programming also need to
change to keep up? Reality shows like The Voice and sci-fi dramas like Stranger
Things—with many contestants or characters and multiple plotlines—are considered
best suited for the digital age, enabling viewers to talk to one another on various
social networks about favorite singers, characters, and plot twists at the same time as
they watch these programs on traditional—or nontraditional—TV.
Still, it is hard to imagine the giant flat screen TV experience going away anytime
soon. Late in 2017, Consumer Reports accurately predicted that TV screens would
get even bigger in 2018. This seems counter to the small-screen digital turn to
smartphone and tablet devices that grab much of our daily attention. But the trend to
65- and 75-inch models with 4K technology is due in part to the resolution on the
new large screens—about four times better than previous digital images from the
“old days,” when 42-inch screens seemed enormous. TV industry analyst Stephen
Baker offers an explanation: “Consumers want bigger screens because the biggest,
best screen in the house—the TV—is where communal watching happens, where you
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Chapter 06: Essay
establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and later, in 1969, the
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). In part, Congress intended public television to
target viewers who were “less attractive” to commercial networks and advertisers.
Besides providing programs for viewers over age fifty, public television has figured
prominently in programming for audiences under age twelve, with children’s series
like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1968–2001), Sesame Street (1969– ), and Barney
& Friends (1991–2009).
Also troubling to public television (in contrast to public radio, which increased its
audience from two million listeners per week in 1980 to more than thirty million per
week in 2010) is that its audience has declined. PBS content chief John Boland
attributed the loss to the same market fragmentation and third-screen technology that
has plagued the broadcast networks: “We are spread thin in trying to maintain our TV
service and meet the needs of consumers on other platforms.”
7. How has the Telecommunications Act of 1996 affected television viewers, both positively and
negatively?
ANSWER:
Between 1984 and 1996, lawmakers went back and forth on cable rates and rules,
creating a number of cable acts. One Congress would try to end must-carry rules or
abandon rate regulation, and then a later one would restore the rules. Congress finally
rewrote the nation’s communications laws in the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
bringing cable fully under the federal rules that had long governed the telephone,
radio, and TV industries. In its most significant move, Congress used the
Telecommunications Act to knock down regulatory barriers, allowing regional phone
companies, long-distance carriers, and cable companies to enter one another’s
markets. The act allows cable companies to offer telephone services, and it permits
phone companies to offer Internet services and buy or construct cable systems in
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Chapter 06: Essay
8. Why might a city decide to start its own municipal cable service?
ANSWER:
After suffering through years of rising rates and limited expansion of services, some
small U.S. cities have decided to challenge the private monopolies of cable giants by
building competing, publicly owned cable systems. So far, the municipally owned
cable systems number in the hundreds and can be found in places like Glasgow,
Kentucky; Kutztown, Pennsylvania; Cedar Falls, Iowa; and Provo, Utah. In most
cases, they’re operated by the community-owned, nonprofit electric utilities. There
are more than two thousand such municipal utilities across the United States, serving
about 14 percent of the population and creating the potential for more municipal
utilities to expand into communications services. As nonprofit entities, the municipal
operations are less expensive for cable subscribers, too.
More than a quarter of the country’s two-thousand-plus municipal utilities offer
broadband services, including cable, high-speed Internet, and telephone.
9. Explain how cable and satellite television could be made into more democratic media.
ANSWER:
In the 1950s, television’s arrival significantly changed the media landscape—
particularly the radio and magazine industries, both of which had to cultivate
specialized audiences and markets to survive. In its heyday, television carried the
egalitarian promise that it could bypass traditional print literacy and reach all
segments of society. This promise was reenergized in the 1970s when cable-access
channels gave local communities the chance to create their own TV programming. In
such a heterogeneous and diverse nation, the concept of a visual, affordable mass
medium, giving citizens entertainment and information that they could talk about the
next day, held great appeal. However, since its creation, commercial television has
tended to serve the interests of profit more often than those of democracy. Despite
this, television remains the main storytelling medium of our time.
10. How has television served as a national cultural reference point over the years?
ANSWER:
The development of cable, VCRs and DVD players, DVRs, the Internet, and
smartphone services has fragmented television’s audience by appealing to viewers’
individual and special needs. These changes and services, by providing more
specialized and individual choices, also alter television’s role as a national unifying
cultural force, potentially de-emphasizing the idea that we are all citizens of a larger
nation and world.
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1. Sylvester “Pat” Weaver, president of NBC, introduced the TV spectacular, now known as the
_______.
ANSWER:
television special
2. Charles van Doren was involved in the _______ scandals, which undermined the democratic
promise of television.
ANSWER:
quiz-shows
3. Most historians mark the period from the late 1950s, when the networks gained control over
TV’s content, to the end of the 1970s as the _______.
ANSWER:
network era
4. Except for British and American anthology dramas on PBS, the network era was a time when
the Big Three broadcast networks—_______—dictated virtually every trend in programming and
collectively accounted for more than 95 percent of all prime-time TV viewing.
ANSWER:
CBS, NBC, and ABC
5. _______ caused the three broadcast networks to drop from 95 to less than 35 percent in prime-
time viewership.
ANSWER:
home video
6. CATV stands for “_______ antenna television.”
ANSWER:
community
7. Ted Turner created the second cable network through his Atlanta-based station, _______.
ANSWER:
WTBS
8. Special channels that subscribers can order at an additional monthly fee over their basic cable
service are known as _______.
ANSWER:
premium channels
9. _______—satellite-based services that for a monthly fee downlink hundreds of television
channels—began distributing video programming directly to households in 1994.
ANSWER:
DBS or direct broadcast satellites
10. A relatively recent technology, _______ are devices that enable users to download specific
programs and store them in computer memory to be played back at a later time.
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ANSWER:
DVRs or digital video recorders
11. Humorous sitcoms that primarily take place at home, like Modern Family, were once referred
to as _______ comedies.
ANSWER:
domestic
12. A popular form of early TV programming that brought live dramatic theater to television,
_______ were influenced by stage plays.
ANSWER:
anthology dramas
13. Orange Is the New Black is an example of a hybrid, sometimes labeled a _______, because it
blurs serious and comic themes.
ANSWER:
dramedy
14. Though independently owned, _______ are radio or TV stations that contract with a network
to carry its programs.
ANSWER:
affiliate stations
15. After years of going back and forth on cable rates and rules, Congress enacted the _______
and brought cable fully under the federal rules that had long governed the telephone, radio, and
TV industries.
ANSWER:
Telecommunications Act of 1996
16. _______, or “software,” costs include the creative talent: actors, writers, producers, editors,
and directors.
ANSWER:
Above-the–line
17. In television, _______ is the process whereby a production company leases a program to a
network or cable channel for a license fee that is actually lower than the cost of production.
ANSWER:
deficit financing
18. O & Os refer to TV stations that are _______ by networks.
ANSWER:
owned and operated
19. Popular old network reruns, such as I Love Lucy, are called_______.
ANSWER:
evergreens
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20. In TV measurement, a _______ is a statistical estimate expressed as the percentage of
households that are tuned to a program in the market being sampled.
ANSWER:
rating
21. MSO stands for “_______-system operator.”
ANSWER:
multiple
Multiple Choice
1. Many of the program conventions in television actually came from radio.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
2. Television has been praised as being unbiased and removed from partisan politics.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
3. Idahoan Philo Farnsworth is credited with transmitting the first TV picture electronically when
he was just twenty-one years old.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
4. Between 1948 and 1952, hundreds of new licenses were issued to construct and operate TV
stations in the United States.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
5. In the first years of television, cities with operating television stations saw a 20 to 40 percent
increase in movie audiences.
a.
True
b.
False
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ANSWER:
b
6. The sale of spot ads within such shows as Today and TV specials like Peter Pan helped end
sponsor control of TV content.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
7. The quiz-show scandals of the late 1950s encouraged sponsors to create TV content.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
8. The quiz-show scandals of the 1950s provided the first indication that TV images could be
manipulated.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
9. CATV stands for “cable access television.”
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
10. A communication satellite that is in geosynchronous orbit circles the earth at the same speed
at which the earth revolves on its axis.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
11. As a result of the number and diversity of cable offerings, the Big Three major networks
(ABC, CBS, and NBC) have lost a significant portion of the viewer base they had before 1980.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
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12. Premium cable channels lure customers with the promise of no advertising.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
13. Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) does not pose a significant threat to the cable industry.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
14. Time shifting refers to the delay of broadcast programs because of different time zones
across the United States.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
15. Today, with the advent of DVRs, viewers are moving away from the trend of time shifting
that affected advertisers in previous decades.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
16. Third screens typically function as the third major way we view content.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
17. The ability to stream TV shows on fourth screens such as smartphones and the iPad hasn’t
changed consumers’ viewing habits.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
18. A few TV series from the 1950s, such as I Love Lucy, have survived because they were shot
and preserved on film.
a.
True
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b.
False
ANSWER:
a
19. The narrative situation and complications in a sitcom are typically resolved by the end of the
episode.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
20. Cable News Network (CNN) premiered in 1970.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
21. CNN showed an immediate profit and was met with widespread cultural success when Ted
Turner introduced it in 1970.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
22. Reality TV shows cost more for networks and cable to make than sitcoms or dramas.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
23. Few children’s programs are aired on network television because most advertisers are less
interested in reaching that audience.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
24. The federal government funds 90 percent of public television’s annual budget.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
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25. With the establishment of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1967, nonprofit radio
and television stations no longer had to ask their audiences for financial support.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
26. Concerned with the power that the Big Three networks had, the FCC enacted the Prime Time
Access Rule.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
27. Must-carry rules require all cable operators to assign channels to and carry all local TV
broadcasts on their systems.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
28. Cable systems that operate as common carriers are required by law to approve the content of
all programs they provide their subscribers.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
b
29. In the landmark Midwest Video case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the cable industry
was a form of electronic publishing.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a
30. Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, cable operators are allowed to offer telephone
services.
a.
True
b.
False
ANSWER:
a