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Chapter 8
Television, Cable, and Specialization in Visual Culture
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Chapter Opener: The tense relationship between broadcast networks and cable television
has quieted down, and a new battle is brewing as streaming television converges on smaller
screens and competes with broadcast and cable for audiences’ attention—and dollars.
I. The Early History of Television
Between the late 1940s and the early 1960s, several major developments helped turn
television into a dominant mass medium.
A.
Becoming a Mass Medium. Inspired by the invention of the transmission of audio
signals, several inventors developed the technology to transmit visual images.
B. Controlling TV Content. Early television programs were controlled by a single
sponsor, but the broadcast networks used several strategies—like lengthening
shows to make them too expensive for one advertiser to support—to diminish the
power of sponsors and advertising agencies.
C. Staining TV’s Reputation. Rigged quiz shows in which favored guests were fed
correct answers created an enormous scandal. The networks ended sponsorship
involvement, but the scandals undermined Americans’ trust in television.
II.
The Evolution of Network Programming
In the 1950s, networks developed a variety of programming, including news, variety
shows, sitcoms, and soaps.
A.
Information: Network News. Americans gradually switched from newspapers to
TV news, and three networks dominated TV news from the 1960s to the 1980s.
B.
Entertainment: Comedy. Although a number of comedy ideas came from radio,
television eventually developed its own types of comedies, which became a central
programming strategy.
1. Sketch Comedy. This format was hard to sustain because it often required a
new concept each week, but it endures in programs like Saturday Night Live.
C
.
Entertainment: Drama. These program ideas also came from radio. In the early
days, they featured workers from the New York theater.
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1. Anthology Drama. Anthologies didn’t last long on network television because
they often presented complex dramas that were unappealing to many viewers.
Some are still seen on public television, however.
D. Talk Shows and TV Newsmagazines. Many other genres have been developed,
including talk shows, game shows, variety shows, and newsmagazines.
E. Reality Television. Reality programs like Dancing with the Stars dominated
programming from the late 1990s through the first decade of the twenty-first
century.
III.
The Evolution of Cable Programming
Cable programming evolved to provide specialized shows to niche audiences.
A.
Basic Cable. Basic cable offers channels appealing to specific interests, such as
sports, news, music, and children’s shows.
1.
Specialized Information: CNN. The first 24/7 news channel, CNN dominates
international TV news.
2. Specialized Entertainment: MTV. Critics of this music network say that it’s
vulgar and sexist, whereas fans say that it has given people around the world a
cultural bond.
B.
Premium Cable. These premium channels provide movies, original programming,
and video-on-demand services.
IV.
Regulatory Challenges Facing Television and Cable
Both cable and network television have faced scrutiny by the federal government.
A. Restricting Broadcast Networks’ Control. CBS, NBC, and ABC dominated prime-
time programming until the FCC passed a series of regulations in the 1970s to
restrict their power.
V. Television in the Digital Age
New technologies allow Americans to watch what they want, when they want, and
where they want.
A. Home Video and Recording. Videocassette recorders were introduced in 1975–
1976, enabling viewers to tape record TV programs and play them back later, a
time-shifting trend that would repeat with DVRs.
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B.
The Internet, Smartphones, and Mobile Video. TV programs are now watched on a
VI. The Economics of Television and Cable
Broadcast and cable are different businesses, but they both must bring in revenue and
invest in their operations.
A. Shows, Ads, and Subscriptions for Sale. Both broadcast and cable make money
from syndication and advertising, but only cable makes money from fees.
1. Syndication. A critical source of revenue for broadcast and cable is leasing TV
stations the right to air older TV series or programs.
B.
Making Programs and Getting in Front of an Audience. The primary costs for
both cable and broadcast are the creation of content; broadcast networks pay
affiliate stations a fee to air their content.
1. Production. Programs cost a fortune to produce; about 60 percent of the cost
typically goes to the creative talent.
C.
Ownership and Consolidation. Many industry players have consolidated so as to
expand their markets and control costs.
1.
Comcast and Charter. The industry behemoth in cable is Comcast. The other
large multi-system operator is Charter, the nation’s second largest cable
company.
VII.
Television in a Democratic Society
The development of cable, VCRs, DVD players, DVRs, the Internet, and mobile
devices has fragmented the TV audience, reducing television’s former role as a
national unifying cultural force. It still provides a gathering place for friends and
family and remains our nation’s chief storyteller, though.
LECTURE TOPICS
1. Discuss the development of “cinematic television”: shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men,
and The Walking Dead. You could compare and contrast these shows with movies about
similar topics, such as the organized crime drama The Sopranos and the award-winning
film The Departed. Such shows are often critical successes but sometimes draw fringe
audiences, as opposed to the mass audiences that the networks hunger for. Dallas
Morning News media critic Tom Maurstad, who has written frequently about these
types of shows, has nevertheless called them “a new form of literature.” Maurstad wrote
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2. Explain how TV news has changed from its beginning as televised Movietone newsreels
to the development of local stations, national network news, and 24/7 news cable
channels such as CNN and MSNBC. Also explore how the Internet, social media, and
journalism continue to change the news cycle.
LECTURE SPIN-OFFS
The Early History of Television
• To illustrate the corporate sponsor’s power over newscasts in the days when single
corporations sponsored entire programs, consider this example: During the Camel News
Caravan programs, news anchor John Cameron Swayze smoked while delivering the
news, and a pack of Camel cigarettes and a Camel ashtray were always in sight.
Another stipulation was that no person on the program, including the news anchors,
could be shown at any time smoking a cigar. The only exception was Winston
Churchill, the British prime minister, who was a famous cigar smoker. No Smoking
• Television, like the Internet today and radio before it, was sold as a “world university”
that would collapse spatial boundaries and bring knowledge and democracy to all.
Advertisements for television in the early 1950s positioned television sets in front of
scenic backdrops to convey the exploratory potential of this medium, which brought the
world to the home. In 1953, Emerson TV even placed an ad in publications like Better
Homes and Gardens that showed a TV set with a picture of New York City on its screen
in front of a backdrop displaying the planets (see Spigel, 1992, 9). Even early TV
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Information: Network News
Dan Rather’s career is an interesting illustration of how television news has evolved since
the 1960s. He was an impressive news reporter, quickly accelerated through CBS’s ranks as
one of the network’s young stars, and became one of television journalism’s more colorful
characters. He was the first to get the scoop on President John F. Kennedy’s assassination;
he expertly handled the pressure of that event with a good deal of diligence and clarity and
moved on to cover the Nixon White House. Soon, Rather landed a coveted spot on 60
Minutes, where the focus was investigative journalism. In 1981, Rather was chosen over
Roger Mudd to become anchor for CBS Evening News, and he was one of the first to garner
an enormous salary—$2.2 million a year for ten years—that would be typical of network
news anchors to follow. Even as television news depended more and more on stars, Rather,
who was paid to be one, never did attract the highest ratings of the three network news
Entertainment: Comedy
• In 2003, NBC spent $9 million on each episode of the tenth season of Friends, with
each of the six stars earning more than $1 million per episode. In contrast, an hour-long
episode of West Wing cost the network between $5 million and $7 million.
• As of 2017, the stars of The Big Bang Theory topped the list of the highest paid comedy
actors on TV, with an estimated per-episode salary of $900,000. Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson, of HBO’s Ballers was next in line at $650,000 per episode, while the stars of
Modern Family each took in $500,000 per episode.
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forgiving medium” because the audience can get up and leave when it’s bored. The
show was nominated for an Emmy in 2016, and in 2017, Seinfeld signed a deal to bring
the program to Netflix.
• Although it might be easy to dismiss the role of comedies in terms of social importance
or impact, a well-scripted comedy can address even the most difficult and complicated
issues with wit, humor, and valuable insight. To illustrate, consider a classic scene from
Reality TV
Reality shows can be produced quickly and cheaply because they don’t require new sets or
high-priced stars. On the other hand, the networks often lose money on their dramas and
sitcoms initially because of the high production cost. They usually don’t recover their losses
until the show has been rerun several times.
Reality shows usually don’t last as long as dramas and sitcoms. For example, Who
Wants to Be a Millionaire? was a huge success for ABC in August 1999, but tumbled within
two years.
Even the most popular reality shows don’t do well in repeats, but a good sitcom or
drama can have success in syndication long after it’s off prime-time and will make money
for decades.
Public Television
FCC head Newton Minow’s famous “vast wasteland” speech in 1961 about the state of
television programming had an impact on the public consciousness and is still often quoted.
Minow asked listeners to sit in front of a TV set for an entire day’s worth of programming
and “discover” the vast wasteland of broadcast television.
He also said, “I am here to uphold and protect the public interest. Some say the public
interest is merely what interests the public. I disagree.” The question of a broadcaster’s role
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The Evolution of Cable Programming
• Point out this important fact to students: When cable programming first started, one of
its “appeals” was a pledge (quickly broken) that cable would be commercial-free. You
may want your students to ponder: Should cable subscribers be paying for hour-long
infomercials that appear on cable? Why isn’t there more outrage with that?
• According to the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB), cable networks topped
• About 10 years later, Americans were spending almost 60 hours a week on their various
entertainment media, including radio and gaming consoles. Traditional TV still
dominated the usage with about 35 hours per week, although the number of hours spent
on mobile devices and the Internet was increasing.
• As of 2016, Americans were spending 10 hours and 39 minutes per day consuming
media, which was an increase of roughly one hour over comparable numbers in 2015.
Specialized Information: CNN
• Although other countries regard CNN as having an unmistakably American perspective,
the network has tried to avert these perceptions by several means. In the 1980s, Ted
Turner announced that writers using the word foreign to mean “outside the United
• In 1985, Turner Broadcasting launched CNNI, the CNN network now seen in more than
two hundred countries and territories outside of the United States. CNNI tries to avoid
looking too American and to give the news from an international perspective. Its
• Although CNN has set new standards in TV news, it is no longer the most watched 24/7
cable news network. It first started to get competition in 1996, when two other news
networks were launched: Fox News Channel and MSNBC. In the wake of the 2001
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of their high salaries but also depleting the newsroom of the people with the most
experience. During this period, CNN lost a third of its viewers, and Fox News jumped
ahead in cable ratings. In August of 2017, MSNBC briefly became the “most-watched
network across all of basic cable” for the very first time, before ceding the top ratings
slot back to frequent top performer Fox News.
Specialized Entertainment: MTV
• MTV started extending beyond music videos in the 1990s. By 1997, its regular
programming had begun to lean more toward in-house productions, with shows like The
Real World, the Jenny McCarthy Show, Singled Out, Oddville, MTV Sports, Road Rules,
Beavis and Butt-Head, Daria, Love Line, and MTV’s Spring Break extravaganzas. The
• In 1991, University of Massachusetts professor Sut Jhally produced a video called
Dreamworlds that critiqued images on MTV. Jhally strung various MTV clips together
The Economics of Television and Cable
• Explore the possible consequences of the increasing audience fragmentation and the
proliferation of third and fourth screens on television programming, advertising, and
television as a culture industry.
• When Seinfeld was sold into syndication in 1998 for $1.7 billion, both Jerry Seinfeld
and his collaborator, Larry David, made a fortune: $267 million and $242 million,
respectively. They made so much, in fact, that they vaulted to the top of Forbes
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MEDIA LITERACY DISCUSSIONS AND EXERCISES
IN BRIEF: UNITY IN CULTURE THROUGH TELEVISION
Do you think television plays a greater role in uniting us as a culture or in separating us as
individuals? Make two lists of examples on the board (or in groups) that support your point
and discuss them in class.
IN DEPTH: THE DUDS OF THE SEASON
Pre-Exercise Questions: Have you liked some television shows that suddenly got canceled?
Have you wanted to watch some shows whose time slots kept on changing, so you gave up
on those shows?
This exercise asks students to gather information on the season’s lowest-rated television
shows and figure out why they are doing poorly. Consult the most recently published
television ratings, which are available each week in trade publications like Variety,
Broadcasting and Cable, or Electronic Media as well as in Entertainment Weekly and the
Wednesday “Life” section of USA Today. Students should look for the fifteen lowest-rated
programs of the four major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox). You may also want to
assign specific shows to students from the list to avoid overlap.
1. Description. Watch an episode of the selected show and list all its major elements:
characters, setting, typical plot situations, target audience, pacing, innovations, time
slot, and scheduling history.
2.
Analysis. Identify the similarities between the failing show and other hit shows aimed at
a comparable target audience. When are such shows scheduled? What other shows
compete against it? Was the show critically acclaimed?
3. Interpretation. Consider why the show is failing. Are there problems with the show
itself (poor plots, bad acting)? In regard to audience expectations, does the show fit
within a certain genre, or is the show too unfamiliar? Has it been moved around in the
schedule? What could be done to make the show better?
4. Evaluation. Discuss what it takes for shows to be successful. Do the low ratings of the
IN DEPTH: CREATING A TV SHOW
Pre-Exercise Questions: What do you think of most prime-time comedy shows on
television? Do you ever think you could create a better show?
This exercise helps illustrate the difficulty in creating a TV show that is interesting,
entertaining, and commercially successful.
1. Divide the class into groups of three to five students. Each group should invent a prime-
time show—a thirty-minute situation or domestic comedy—for one of the four major
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networks. Each show proposal should include major characters, setting, and typical plot
situations. The creative groups should also explain the financial viability of each show,
including the target audience.
2. Record each group’s proposals, outlining the major elements on a board or overhead.
3.
Discuss the new show proposals. Were the ideas distinct and original? If derivative,
why did students model their shows after certain other ones? (Note: Students of
homogeneous backgrounds often tend to create surprisingly similar proposals.) Did
financial considerations put constraints on creativity? Do the shows’ characters,
IN DEPTH: PUBLIC-ACCESS CABLE EDITORIAL
Divide the class into groups of four to six. Each group should prepare an editorial for
presentation on public-access cable. The editorial should be roughly four to five minutes in
length (750–1,000 words) and should address a controversial or important public issue (such
as equal access to the information highway, the state of media education, the impact of talk
radio and TV talk shows, or the advantages of wealth in the legal process).
1. Description. As a group, draft the editorial. Describe the issue in a compelling manner.
Consult with your instructor for topic ideas and writing strategies. Rewrite the final
copy of the editorial.
2. Analysis. Next, divide each group into two subgroups. One subgroup should approach
(by phone, mail, e-mail, or face-to-face meeting) a local cable-access channel and
request time to read the editorial. The other subgroup should approach a local
require to air your editorial.
3. Interpretation. Designate a time for your entire group to meet and write a report about
how your editorial was treated by the media that you approached. Address the following
questions in your report:
• How easy or difficult was it to get access to traditional broadcasting as opposed to
cable? How was your group treated?
• Based on your experiences, do broadcast airwaves and cable services “belong” to
the public? How democratic is the process of gaining cable access?
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5. Engagement. The groups should carefully document their activities. If you are not
satisfied with the response of the cable-access channel operators and/or the television
broadcasters, write a letter (individually or as a group) to the editor of a local newspaper
CLASSROOM MEDIA RESOURCES
VIDEOS/DVDS/CDS
Big Dream, Small Screen: The Story behind the Television (1997, 60 minutes). This story of
Philo Farnsworth begins in 1921 when he was fourteen and tracks the inventor’s life as
an optimistic and creative man who is ultimately undermined by RCA President David
Sarnoff and his “pet” inventor, Vladimir Zworkin.
Bill Moyers on Big Media (October 10, 2003). Moyers offers his insights into media
Broadcast News (1987, 131 minutes). This feature film dramatizes the goings-on in a
Washington television newsroom, depicting fairly accurately the pressures on producers
and anchors as well as the tensions between traditional journalism values and the
commercial constraints of a television station. Stars Holly Hunter, William Hurt, and
Albert Brooks.
Color Adjustment, directed by Marlon Riggs (1991, 88 minutes). This film traces the
networks’ reluctant and selective integration of African Americans into network
television and prime-time family representations.
Current Events, 1950s Style, Vol. 1 (1951–52, 120 minutes). Includes early See It Now
Current Events, 1950s (and 60s) Style, Vol. 2 (1952–61, 110 minutes). Features historical
television programs, including Plymouth News Caravan (1955) with John Cameron
Swayze from New York and David Brinkley from Washington; You Can Change the
Dreamworlds III, directed by Sut Jhally (2007, 60 minutes). Hundreds of clips from
multiple music videos are expertly combined with an incisive narrative about the impact
The Ed Wynn Show (1949, 120 minutes). Features a very young Mel Tormé, along with
Game Show Program, Vol. VIII (1955–58, 115 minutes). This compilation includes Chance
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Global Communication (1994, 24 minutes). From coaxial cables and copper wires to
satellite images and optical fibers, this video explains the ways data are transmitted
Quiz Show (1994, 133 minutes). Robert Redford directs the story of the quiz-show scandals
of the mid-1950s. Stars Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro, and Rob Morrow.
The Quiz Show Scandal (1992, 54 minutes). A documentary by Julian Krainin and Michael
R. Lawrence that weaves together archival clips from game shows and congressional
hearings to illustrate the drama surrounding the quiz-show scandals of the 1950s.
WEB SITES
American Broadcasting Company.
British Broadcasting Corporation.
International academic media organization.
Television trade magazine and Web site.
Columbia Broadcasting Company.
Cable News Network, the first of the 24/7 cable news channels.
Network devoted to twenty-four-hour coverage of government affairs and various
public affairs programs.
The CW TV network, created by the merger of UPN and the WB in 2006.
The Federal Communications Commission’s Web site page devoted to the switch from
an analog to digital broadcast signal, which occurred on June 12, 2009.
Fox Broadcasting Company.
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Network that focuses on alternative and indie musical acts.
Home Box Office.
The Ion Television network, formerly known as PAX TV.
Music Television.
Trade association for broadcasters.
The primary trade association for the cable TV industry in the United States.
National Broadcasting Company.
Company responsible for generating the Nielsen ratings, which measure media
audiences across television, radios, theatrical films, and newspapers.
Public Broadcasting Service.
National trade organization for the satellite industry.
Another trade organization for the satellite industry that specializes in representing the
manufacturers and providers of satellite equipment and services.
A provider of satellite services that is part of the larger SES network.
The video-sharing Web site known for both its popular viral videos and the presence of
illegal copies of movies and TV shows.
FURTHER READING
Anderson, Kent. Television Fraud: The History and Implications of the Quiz Show
Scandals. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1978.
Barnouw, Eric. Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television. 2nd ed. New York:
Oxford UP, 1990.
Baughman, James L. Same Time, Same Station: Creating American Television, 1948–1961.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.
Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows,
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Gomery, Douglas. “As the Dial Turns.” Wilson Quarterly (Autumn 1993): 41–46.
Head, Sydney W., and Christopher H. Sterling. Broadcasting in America: A Survey of
Television, Radio, and New Technologies. 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982.
Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad Is Good for You. New York: Riverhead, 2005.
Kisseloff, Jeff. The Box: An Oral History of Television, 1920–1961. New York: Penguin,
1995.
Kubey, Robert. Creating Television: The First Fifty Years. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum, 2003.
Lowry, Brian. “Television: Watching the Cash Flow.” Los Angeles Times, November 22,
1998.
MacDonald, J. Fred. One Nation Under Television: The Rise and Decline of Network TV.
Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1994.
Marc, David, and Robert J. Thompson. Prime Time, Prime Movers: From I Love Lucy to
L.A. Law—America’s Greatest TV Shows and the People Who Created Them. Syracuse,
NY: Syracuse UP, 1995.
Martin, Brett. Difficult Men Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The
Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad. New York: Penguin, 2014.
McLuhan, Marshall Herbert. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Critical
Edition. Berkeley, Jingko Press, 2011.
McNeil, Alex. Total Television: A Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the
Present. 4th ed. New York: Penguin, 1996.
