Chapter 4

Modern Television

Introduction
1940 1980 broadcast TV mature industry End 1970 cable TV fledging the industry. Started already in 1940

Growth of Cable TV Programming Service

Time Inc. started Home Box Office (HBO) 1975 via satellite Viacom pay cable service Showtime Then comes : The Movie Channel Bravo Entertainment Channel Disney Channel Playboy Channel Narrowcast Concept specific niche audience ESPN Black Entertainment TV Local programming in cable TV allocate one channel to local programs. leased access channels business & local individuals buy time on cable present their message. Other means of cable TV interactive (Qube) small box with response button - home security update every 10sec of what in happening.

Cable TVs Gold Rush

Subscribing double 1980 to 1985 - money collected skyrocketed Gold Rush Franchising to company willing to lay cable awarded by local authorities Development of local programming Community Group cable company set a certain number of channels PEG ( Public, Education & Government) channel Cheaper rates , shorter time to lay cable, more channel as franchising became more intense. However they soon realized that it not recover investment for about a decade. take over by Multiple System Operator (MSO) consolidation by larger companies Advertising placing of ads increased Unions to protect the workers Equipment manufacturers biggest winner in cable TV Gold Rush

The Beginnings of Satellite TV

Satellite TV competitor to cable TV - slow start Satellite first launched 1962 it was a very complicated technology - then it became user friendly 1979 FCC no need to have a license for a TV Receive Only ( TVRO) satellite dish From TVRO DBS programming service that goes directly from satellite to home. DBS however started as a failure services were not on track technical and financial problem pulling out of business. Backyard Satellite rural areas TV reception was poor bought large dishes used by cable TV cost USD 3000 can receive all the tv programming for free. causing a stir but only minority issue cable TV did not want to pursue the issue

Home Video
Video tape recorders for tv. First VCR ( Video Cassette Recorder) Sony Betamax 1975 - analog recording up to 1 hour 1976- Matshushita Video Home System ( VHS) - via Japan Victor Company ( JVC) - recording up to 2 hours can record movie from tv. Starting of video stores copyright sues actually generated more profit theatrical release generates a buzz , home video generates the profit From VHS to analog videodiscs laser disc

Broadcast & Cable Issues

Must carry cable system to carry all local TV stations problem cable owners need more profitable programs satellite programs in their channel Retransmission cable tv pay for carrying their signal have option of not carrying the station if refuse to pay some solution channel space could air additional program Copyright on the important distant signal the adjusting of fees Deregulation government reduce rules & regulations for many types of business Reregulation interfere back

Satellite TV Revived
started back in 1990s Rupert Murdoch his company News Corp. formed an alliance with NBC, CableVision System & Hughes Communication a system called Sky Cable dissolve quickly clashing ideas and egos Hughes joined forces with USSB ( owner Stanley Hubbard ) one of original DBS develop high powered satellite Direct TV Direct TV Success high powered satellite small and reliable 18 inch dish easy to mount high quality picture and sound people were angry with cable TV raising rates slow to fix technical glitches Also killing the Backyard Satellite having signal scrambling

Satellite TV Revived
Rupert Murdoch form an alliance with MCI to establish a satellite TV service. too expensive Form another alliance with Charlie Ergen EchoStar egos & financial destroy relationship. Charlie Ergen established his own network Dish Network

Early Drawback of Satellite TV

lack permission to deliver local stations to subscribers interactive

Telecommunication Act 1996

new law not replacing the old Communication Act 1934 V-Chip Deregulation Intermingling

Telephone Company Entry

AT & T Started as POTS Plain Old Telephone Service then PANS Pretty Amazing New Service hold button answering machine redial speed dial call waiting etc Expanding business telephone , internet , television

Digital Videodiscs
Introduced in 1997 hold 4.7 gigabytes better quality compared to analog tape as it progressed dubbed as Digital Versatile Disc holds music , text & other data 2 competing format Sony & Philips Toshiba & Time Warner Hollywood reaction early years refused to put material on discs copyright discs could easily be copied DVD Growth consumer accept this new format much better by 2002 some companies selling more DVD than VHS tapes Netflix began mail-based DVD more studio started enhancing extra material in the DVD behind the scenes directors interview other background information TV producer put entire season on DVD Newest saga of DVD High Definition DVD Toshiba ( HD DVD) Sony ( Blu-ray) major studio endorsed this format 6 times the capacity of HD DVD

Enter TiVo
TiVo is a brand name is has become a generic word to describe Digital Video Recorders ( DVRs) using high capacity microchips to store many hours of video on solid-state hard drive convert signal into digital form can watch anytime we want problem? technology easy to duplicate cable & satellite started to have their own DVR in their package TiVo could not make profit in 2008 won a patent lawsuit against Dish received 74 million helps protect its technology

Programming Changes
content & structure changes addition of new genre reality TV success ? gained large audience - inexpensive to produce Survivor a success The Apprentice 2 other new forms of programming home shopping - informercials talk shows - information programs ( weight control programs, bald treatments ) Pay-per-View ( PPV) started subscribers make phone calls now interactive push of a button delivered to you Near-Video-On-Demand ( NVOD) = Astro First Video-On-Demand ( VOD) watch when they want play, stop, rewind, etc via server

Digital TV & HDTV

2009 U.S switched from analog TV to Digital Television ( DTV) DTV uses technology similar to computers - can be standard or Hi-Def HDTV originally develop by the Japanese 1970 as an analog system Impact of HD @ Digital TV consumers with analog set need to buy new set or a conversion set must-carry issue old frequencies tend to carry only 1 HDTV channel - as technology improved they could use the frequencies to broadcast 1 or 2 SD signal secondary channel FCC ruled : cable system must carry only the primary channel Hi-Def Channel carry them for 3 years auction the analog frequencies to mostly cell phone companies.

Issues and the Future

Number of Services increasing need to pay compare old days watching TV is free Competition DVD vs flash memory chips Satellite TV vs Phone company interactive application TiVo may fold if it cant make any profit Consolidation merging

Government Actions a la carte service instead of package issue of sex and violence consumers are not utilizing the V-Chip

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