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Reality TV is not just a U.S. phenomenon: American viewers turning on the television in many
European countries will recognize familiar programming. As a matter of fact, many reality TV
shows originated in Europe (such as Big Brother, American Idol, and Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire?), reversing a long-standing trend of American entertainment exports. The Dutch-
based entertainment group Endemol, for example, brought Big Brother and Fear Factor to the
United States, and the UK’s Syco TV (Simon Cowell’s company) brought The X Factor to the
United States in September 2011.
For manufacturers, reality TV has been wonderfully successful in terms of selling their products.
Scripts often feature anything from a sponsoring toothpaste to automobiles, and manufacturers
are reporting huge increases in sales. The Apprentice and American Idol both featured Crest’s
vanilla mint toothpaste, AT&T’s text-messaging phones, and Illuminations’ candle sconce in
2005, and sales rose dramatically for all these products. Competitive shows like Top Chef and
Project Runway sometimes integrate products into their challenges (e.g., “create a new frozen
meal for Schwan’s” was a challenge on Top Chef Season 7).
• Product placement advertising revenue in the United States was $6.01 billion in 2014 (up
12.8 percent from the prior year), “fueled by the growing value of television, digital and
music integrations, as well as rampant DVR use and emerging telenovela opportunities,”
according to a report by media research firm PQ Media. The report found that “evolving
script integrations were a key driver of TV show placements in 2014, as the value of US
broadcast & cable television integrations surpassed $4 billion in 2014, accounting for more
than two-thirds of total US product placement revenues” (http://www.pqmedia.com/about-
press-20150615.html).
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• Discuss the history and role of public broadcasting. Consider its place in the current climate
of television, and explore how it might compete in this era of evolving technology.
• It’s likely that many students grew up with Sesame Street. Created in 1969, Sesame Street
aimed to boost literacy across the country, but especially in America’s poorer inner cities. By
communicating “a vision of the world as it might be,” Sesame Street was also positioned as a
tool for greater democracy. The program became an antidote to Minow’s charge that
television was a “vast wasteland.” (See Minow’s speech, available at
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/newtonminow.htm, as well as an op-ed piece, “A
Glimmer in the Vast Wasteland,” that Minow wrote for the New York Times in 2012, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/opinion/a-glimmer-in-the-vast-wasteland-of-
television.html.)
In January 2016, Sesame Street’s new season debuted on HBO for the first time. The deal
ensures Sesame Street’s viability for at least five years. Episodes of Sesame Street will still air on
PBS, but nine months after they are first broadcast on HBO. This type of public–private media
partnership reflects the challenges that public broadcasting faces in the twenty-first century. (See
Austin Siegemund-Broka, “B Is for Broke: Why ‘Sesame Street’ Is Moving to HBO,”
Hollywood Reporter, August 19, 2015, available at http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/b-
is-broke-why-sesame-816105.)
V. Regulatory Challenges to Television and Cable
• Discuss the retransmission battles between broadcast networks and cable providers, including
the motivations behind these battles, what they mean for consumers, and what role (if any)
the federal government and/or the FCC should play in these negotiations. How does the
availability of “reruns” on YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and so on, change the landscape?
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• Large telecommunications companies, threatened by municipal plans to start their own cable
utilities, have gone to great lengths to demolish local government efforts to provide
inexpensive access to cable and broadband service.
Consider Iowa: In 2005, thirty-one towns and cities were planning on forming municipal
telecommunications facilities. In the case of Waterloo, Iowa, the state’s third-largest city after
Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, telecommunications giant Mediacom went to work convincing
Waterloo residents that municipal cable was bad. Mediacom funded an opposition group called
Project Taxpayer Protection, which raised $941,610 to plaster antimunicipal messages on TV, on
radio, and in newspapers saying that municipal cable would drastically increase residents’ taxes.
Mediacom also contributed an additional $409,000 in in-kind contributions all in the form of
thirty-second television commercials. Qwest Communications also contributed $100,000 to the
statewide effort to ban municipal initiatives. In Waterloo, municipal groups raised $16,429 to
combat this media machine. In the end, however, Waterloo approved its own
telecommunications utility, and the plan passed in seventeen other cities that year.
• Discuss whether and how the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ought to be updated to reflect
conditions in the second decade of the twenty-first century.
VI. The Economics and Ownership 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 magazine’s list of highest-
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earning celebrities worldwide, easily eclipsing Steven Spielberg ($175 million), Oprah
Winfrey ($125 million), and Titanic director James Cameron ($115 million) for that year.
• Cable conglomerates have become key players in Internet telephony. Comcast, the biggest
cable operator in the United States, promotes voice telephony using its existing coaxial
cables. The new Charter Communications company (formed by the merger of Charter, Time
Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks), and Cox Communications—the second- and
third-largest U.S. cable groups, respectively—have already begun to offer voice services to
cable television and high-speed Internet subscribers using VoIP (voice over Internet
Protocol) technology. It doesn’t cost much to add on this technology, and the benefits are
lucrative.
• One alternative cable news source was Al Jazeera America. For a few years beginning in
2013, Al Jazeera America offered an alternative source of news to Americans. The channel
was beset with reports of internal turmoil and management issues. It received critical praise
but never gained the viewership to make it viable. According to the New York Times: “Al
Jazeera America went on the air in August 2013 after Al Jazeera bought Al Gore’s Current
TV for $500 million. It promised to be thoughtful and smart, free of the shouting arguments
that have defined cable news in the United States over the last decade. But meaningful
viewership never came, with prime-time ratings sometimes struggling to exceed 30,000
viewers.” The channel shut down in 2016. (See John Koblinjan, “Al Jazeera America to Shut
Down by April,” New York Times, January 14, 2016, p. B1.)
VII. Television, Cable, and Democracy
• Discuss the role that television has played in presidential elections.
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• Discuss the role of television in society by showing how Fred Rogers secured $20 million for
public television by testifying to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications (May 1,
1969; 6:50 minutes):
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fredrogerssenatetestimonypbs.htm.
• Discuss how our culture and democracy have been affected by our selectively exposing
ourselves to only the television content that matches our preferences and how our democracy
is affected by the fragmentation of viewers and the end of an era when television viewing
provided the public with common experiences (even if only because there were so few
options).
MEDIA LITERACY DISCUSSIONS AND EXERCISES
WHAT IS “TELEVISION” IN THE SECOND DECADE OF THE 21ST CENTURY?
Is YouTube “television?” What about Netflix? Discuss how evolving technologies (both to
delivery and access content) have changed the nature and definition of these media. Television
viewing has shifted from taking place entirely in front of a television “set” to a media
environment in which many students rarely view television on a “TV.” In the fall of 2015,
Amazon Instant Video (directing and lead actor for Transparent) and Netflix (supporting actress
for Orange is the New Black) won primetime Emmy awards from the Television Academy;
FunnyOrDie.com and LouisCK.net were also winners. Should these platforms be considered
“television”? Is YouTube really just a new form of “television” (similar to the way many think of
Pandora or Spotify as “radio”)? What are the implications for our culture and for the “television”
industry of such shifting behaviors, definitions, and categories? (You can point students to the
data about the top video subscription services in Table 6.2 of the textbook.)
UNITY IN CULTURE THROUGH TELEVISION
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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.
TELEVISION AND SOCIAL MEDIA
How have social media changed television viewing? Does live tweeting or posting bring people
back to “real-time” viewing of television shows? Will the successes of Talking Dead or Scandal
be replicated and make live TV viewing more popular again?
DESIGNING A NEW TELEVISION CHANNEL
Working alone or in a group, propose a new broadcast, cable, or Internet television channel that
will do two things: (1) find a unique market niche, and (2) be successful (i.e., it should satisfy the
demands of the television industry by drawing an audience that appeals to advertisers). Keep in
mind that few new channels succeed. Consider the following while creating your proposal: What
kinds of programs would run each day? What audience would the channel try to reach? Why
would this market be attractive to advertisers?
FAILED TELEVISION PROGRAMS: A CRITICAL PROCESS EXERCISE
Pick a fairly recent TV program that failed to survive for more than a year, and examine the
reasons for your program’s demise. Write a four- to five-page paper on your findings.
1. Description. Do as much research as you can on the program (use databases like LexisNexis
to check reviews). In your paper, give a brief description of the program, including its story
line and major characters. Also describe the history of the program, such as when it aired, for
how long, who was involved in its production, and ratings information. Discuss why you
picked this program.
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2. Analysis. After reviewing your research, identify specific problems that may have
contributed to your program’s failure to stay on the air. Discuss whether they were problems
with the program itself or problems with the industry in general.
3. Interpretation. What does it all mean? Why do you think the program failed? What’s your
interpretation of all the information you’ve examined? What might the failure tell us about
our culture or the state of the television industry?
4. Evaluation. Try to go beyond conventional “TV executive” thinking to offer some fresh
insights. Was your program a good one that deserved better? What made it good? Was it a
weak program that deserved to fail? What made it weak? Or was it a mixture?
5. Engagement. Write a letter to one or more network executives. Ask them what qualities they
look for in a successful program. Ask them if they bear a responsibility to improve the
cultural landscape. Alternatively, write a synopsis for a more successful “sequel,” and see if
you can find someone in the industry to critique it.
CREATING A TELEVISION SHOW
Pre-Exercise Questions: What do you think of most prime-time comedy shows on television? Do
you sometimes think you could create a better show?
This exercise illustrates the difficulty in creating a television 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 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
characteristics of the target audience.
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2. Record each group’s proposals, outlining the major elements on a blackboard 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, settings, and plotlines have the potential to sustain a run of at least
three to five years so that the show may be sold into syndication and provide a good return to the
producers? Do you think the show would appeal to the target audience? What are some of the
program ideas that the groups rejected in this process? Why? What target audiences are not
served by the programs created? Why?
Option: This exercise could also work as an individual writing assignment.
CABLE’S FRAGMENTED AUDIENCE: A CRITICAL PROCESS EXERCISE
Pre-Exercise Questions: Are you more aligned with a particular channel or just with types of
shows? What television channels do you enjoy watching with friends from your age group? Can
you enjoy those same channels with people a generation older than you?
The purpose of this exercise is to determine if people who grew up with network television are
still predisposed to watching it and if those who grew up on cable are not. To do the exercise,
each student needs to have a copy of the local cable-channel chart in his or her area for reference.
Have students independently interview one person from each of the following five age groups
(for a paper, we recommend two or three individuals per age group): (a) 12–17, (b) 18–24, (c)
25–34, (d) 35–49, and (e) 50–65. The students should ask each individual to rate his or her top
five networks or cable channels and then return to class with their data.
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1. Description. In class (if the class is small) or before class (if the class is large), compile the
students’ survey data in a table or chart. List all the channels down the far left column, list all
the different age groups along the top, and fill in the information accordingly.
2. Analysis. As the chart evolves, start looking for viewing patterns among the different age
groups. Where are the younger groups situated in relation to the older groups? Do you have
any hypotheses about why certain age groups gravitate toward certain networks or channels?
Did anyone find it difficult to rate his or her top five networks or cable channels?
3. Interpretation. What can be said about these patterns? Do the younger viewers have more
eclectic viewing habits than older viewers? Are there any surprises? How has cable affected
this spectrum of ages? Do you think cable has had a profound cultural impact? Do you think
this chart is representative? Is it problematic to make such a generalization? What might
these patterns tell us about our culture or the state of the television industry?
4. Evaluation. Do cable choices fragment American culture? Is it possible to discuss television
among different age groups? Is there anything besides television that creates a common
cultural thread? Is specialized TV ultimately good or bad for democracy?
5. Engagement. Read the cable industry magazine Broadcasting & Cable
(http://www.broadcastingcable.com; you can sign up for temporary access) to get a sense of
the main issues affecting the cable industry. Contact a journalist at the magazine to see what
she or he thinks of your interpretation and evaluation.
TRACKING RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE TELEVISION INDUSTRY: A
SEMESTER-LONG CRITICAL PROCESS EXERCISE AND PAPER
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In this exercise students discover the most recent developments in the industry, and they become
familiar with industry trade sources. The paper they produce is due in sections, which
correspond with the steps in the Critical Process.
1. Description. Read industry trade sources to get a sense of the main issues affecting the
television industry. Look at the websites of industry trade associations and professional
societies. (Links to websites of some industry trade sources are given in the Classroom
Media Sources below.) Take notes on topics that have multiple stories or mentions in the
current year. What issues or developments in the industry have received a lot of recent
attention, discussion, or commentary in industry sources? (Focus only on information from
the current year—and only from trade sources.) Write a one-page synopsis of the information
you found about current topics in the industry. Cite your sources properly.
2. Analysis. Look for one development or pattern that has received significant attention on trade
sites and from trade journalists in the current year. Choose one specific trend, and write one
or two pages with details about the information you found about that trend. Continue to track
news about your topic as the semester progresses. Cite sources properly.
3. Interpretation. What does the trend mean for the state of the industry? Is it evolving? How?
What does it tell you about media in general at the current time? What might it say about our
culture or our society? Can your information help us interpret the role of the industry in our
lives? Write up your interpretation in a five-page paper. (The first page should be a synopsis
of the trend, with proper citations.) You might not have to provide information from your
sources for the next four pages because this section is your interpretation of the trend. (Save
any ideas you have about whether the trend is “good” or “bad” for the Evaluation step of the
Critical Process.) Cite any sources properly.
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4. Evaluation. Is the trend “good” or “bad?” For the industry? society? culture? democracy? us?
What do you think might happen in the future?
5. Engagement. Are there any actions you can take (related to your trend and the industry)?
Possibilities include posting your views on social media, creating a petition, contacting
people in the industry to see what they think of your interpretation and evaluation, or going
to an industry event if any are held nearby. (This step need not be required if students are not
motivated to take action.)
Note: This exercise works well if each step of the Critical Process is due two weeks after the
prior step is due. Limiting students to only trade sources and only information from the current
year helps keep them on track. Your institution’s librarians should be able to provide students
with information on how to access industry trade sources.
CLASSROOM MEDIA RESOURCES
LAUNCHPAD FOR MEDIA & CULTURE: launchpadworks.com
Changes in Prime Time (2009, 4:44 minutes). Television industry professionals and experts
discuss shifts in television programming, including the fading influence of prime time. Features
Terry Curtis, Jeff Goodby, Harvey Nagler, and Robin Sloan.
Television Networks Evolve (2009, 2:37 minutes). Producers, insiders, and experts discuss how
cable and satellite delivery have changed the television market and how even the basic concept
of a network is also evolving.
What Makes Public Television Public? (2010, 3:54 minutes). Television executives and media
critics explain how public television is different from broadcast and cable networks and what
services public TV stations provide for their communities.
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Wired or Wireless: Television Delivery Today (2010, 3:35 minutes). This video explores how
television delivery is changing after the switch to digital signals in 2009, including third-screen
technologies and mobile digital television.
VIDEOS/DVDS/CDS
Bill Moyers on Big Media (October 10, 2003). Moyers offers his insights into media
consolidation and what it means for democracy. You can view the video online at
http://www.pbs.org/now/commentary/moyers27.html.
Broadcast News (1987, 131 minutes). This feature film dramatizes the goings-on in a
Washington, D.C., television newsroom. It depicts 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 (1991, 88 minutes). Directed by Marlon Riggs, this film traces the networks’
reluctant and selective integration of African Americans into network television and prime-time
family representations.
Connected TV: Where Digital Meets Television (June 8, 2018, 19:20 minutes). Nielsen VP Eric
Ferguson presents new data on connected TV and mobile viewership in this clip from Video
Marketing Power Summit 2018. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6v9b4Ka60c.
Current Events, 1950s (and ’60s) Style, Vol. 2 (1952–61, 110 minutes). Historical television
programs, including Plymouth News Caravan (1955) with John Cameron Swayze from New
York and David Brinkley from Washington, D.C.; You Can Change the World (1952), a morning
show; and The White House Story (1961), a White House tour narrated by Jacqueline Kennedy.
Distributed by Shokus Video, 800-SHOKUS-1; http://www.shokus.com.
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Dreamworlds III (2007, 60 minutes). In this film, some two hundred clips from MTV are
expertly combined with an incisive narrative about the impact of sexual imagery in music videos.
Distributed by Media Education Foundation, 800-897-0089; http://www.mediaed.org.
Game Show Program, Vol. VIII (1955–58, 115 minutes). This compilation includes Chance of a
Lifetime (1955), Bingo at Home (1955), Tic Tac Dough (1957, and obviously rigged), and To
Tell the Truth (1958). Commercials are included. Shokus Video, 800-SHOKUS-1;
http://www.shokus.com.
The Impact of Reality TV on Boston Cuisine (September 2014, 10:55 minutes). WGBH News
Focus Report. A few years ago, the Boston restaurant scene was dominated by a short list of
chefs. Thanks to the exposure provided by reality TV, that list has grown dramatically. Available
at (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRT7eaRr4xI.
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.
Vintage Commercials, III (1950s, 60 minutes). Besides early commercials, this tape features a
1939 newsreel depicting America’s first glimpse of television at the 1939 New York World’s
Fair. Shokus Video, 800-SHOKUS-1; http://www.shokus.com.
WEB SITES
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences: http://www.emmys.org
BBC: http://www.bbc.com
Broadcast Education Association: http://www.beaweb.org
Broadcasting & Cable: http://www.broadcastingcable.com
C-Span: http://www.c-span.org
Corporation for Public Broadcasting: http://www.cpb.org
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Deadline Hollywood: http://deadline.com/v7tv
Museum of Broadcast Communications archive: http://archive.museum.tv
National Association of Broadcasters: http://www.nab.org
National Cable and Telecommunications Association: http://www.ncta.com
Nielsen: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en.html
Radio Television Digital News Association: http://www.rtdna.org
SAG-AFTRA: http://www.sagaftra.org
Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association: http://www.sbca.com
Satellite Industry Association: http://www.sia.org
SES (satellite program): http://www.ses.com/4232583.en
TV Insider: http://www.tvinsider.com
TVWeek: http://www.tvweek.com
Variety: http://variety.com/v/tv
FURTHER READING
Anderson, Kent. Television Fraud: The History and Implications of the Quiz Show Scandals.
Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1978.
Barnouw, Erik. Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television. 2nd ed. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1990.
Fiske, John. Television Culture. London: Methuen, 1987.
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: “Conversations with the People Behind 50 Years of
American TV”. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003.
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McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill,
1964.
Minow, Newton N., and Craig L. LaMay. Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television,
and the First Amendment. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995.
Slater, Robert. This . . . Is CBS: A Chronicle of 60 Years. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
1988.
Spigel, Lynn, and Denise Mann, eds. Private Screenings: Television and the Female Consumer.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992.
Sterling, Christopher H., and John M. Kittross. Stay Tuned: A Concise History of American
Broadcasting. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1990, 1998.
Thumim, Janet. Inventing Television Culture: Men, Women, and the Box. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004.
