Local regulatory agencies for cable television

A complex pattern of radio regulation emerged during the mid‐1920s, one in which a close‐knit relationship arose between regulator and regulated. Working together to get radio service to the public were the “regulators”—Herbert Hoover and the Department of Commerce—and the “regulated”— Westinghouse, General Electric (G. E.), the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), and American Telegraph and Telephone (AT&;T). Together, these two groups set radio's agenda and policy through 1927. This essay shows how that synthesis became the blueprint used even today for broadcast license allocation and station licensee assignments.     

Understanding cable television community access viewership

This study updates and extends our knowledge of cable television community access viewership, a little researched topic of the past decade. Results of a random telephone survey are reported that reveal community access viewership has increased in recent years. Program viewership preferences and sources of program information are discussed. Community access viewing motivations and satisfaction are examined as predictors of channel viewership. Possible factors explaining the high level of reported viewership are suggested and recommendations for future research are proposed.     

Antitrust and horizontal mergers in the cable industry

This study explores the large horizontal mergers in the cable industry that have catapulted some large multiple system operators toward substantial market power in the exhibition stage of the industry without much response from antitrust authorities. It reviews the mergers and analyzes the antitrust implications for the industry.     

西方公共电视的节目评估:收视率悖论

在经营和编辑上试图独立于政府控制和商业影响的西方公共电视系统在评估节目时面临着使命与效率的冲突。收视率依然是公共电视系统在判定理想节目时的关键指标 ,但是并不是唯一的“指南针” ,各公共电视系统往往是综合使用收视率和收视质的表现评估节目价值。     

论西方广电传媒业的公共规制

本文通过对广播电视业的公共规制依据、西方广电传媒业的公共规制模式、西方广电传媒业的规制改革趋势的分析 ,力图从公共规制的角度来揭示西方现代广电传媒体制的多样性和普遍性 ,为我国的广电事业管理体制改革和广电事业公共规制理论的探索提供一些有益的启示。     

构建广电内容产业的ERIM系统创意模式

本文对我国广电内容产业在创意的发展中存在的问题及原因进行了分析．提出构建广电内容产业的ERIM系统创意模式。     

Program audience duplication: A study of television inheritance effects

Inheritance effects, especially high levels of audience duplication between adjacent programs, are a widely observed but little understood feature of audience behavior. This study places inheritance effects within a theoretical model of television program choice that attributes the general phenomenon to underlying patterns of audience availability. The absolute level of audience duplication between adjacent programs broadcast on the same network is determined by the rating of each program, the structure of available program options, and similarities in program type.     

Structure and competition in the U.S. home video game industry

Abstract

The video game industry has continued to grow dramatically over the past decade, cutting into mainstream media in participation and revenues as it becomes part of mainstream media culture. Following the industrial organization model, this paper conceptualizes and systematically analyzes five vertical stages and the key market segments of consoles, handheld and PC‐based games. Genre‐based measures of content show that the different game platforms have varying levels of product diversity, driven by differing levels of risk and rewards. Comparisons in production and distribution are made with other major media. The main conclusion is that the industry is reaching a mature phase with concentration and integration beginning to be found in its stages. A mainstreaming of content is partially countered by a vibrant community of developers, mostly for PC games. As a standard‐based industry, non‐interoperability and network effects continue to play a key role in preserving competition in a field with a shrinking number of firms.     

Agents — the future of exclusivity

The Japanese market is changing and the sole agency route to marketing must develop and evolve alongside these changes if it is to have a future. Sole agency agreements need to redirect their focus away from merely closed market distribution agreements towards innovative sales and marketing contracts. Contracts between partners with shared objectives. The trend towards sales and marketing agreements was evident at the ALPSP Seminar on Marketing to Japan, held on 8 October 1997, from which this paper developed.     

Television coverage of the 1995 legislative election in Taiwan: Rise of cable television as a force for balance in media coverage

This research examines how television reported the campaign, parties, and candidates during the 1995 Legislative Election in Taiwan. Results of this study showed that state‐owned broadcast television stations were far more likely than privately owned cable television channels to give greater coverage to the ruling party and its candidates, to use ruling party officials as news sources, and to offer more news coverage favorable to the ruling party than to other parties. We conclude that cable television has become a force for balance in coverage, diluting a pervasive pro‐government party bias. The rise of cable television from virtual “outlaw” status to government‐licensed status appears to have responded to a more liberal society and made a contribution to the development of democracy, as have the expanded elections themselves.     

Employment outlook in radio and television

Excerpts from “Employment Outlook in Radio and Television Broadcasting Occupations,”; a 16‐page reprint extracted from the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 7957 Edition, of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, pp. 554–64. The reprint was issued as the Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 1215, 1958, and is available upon request from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C.     

Directions in television and aging research

Following from a summary review of television and aging research studies, methodological difficulties of past investigations and needed directions for future mass communication and aging research are discussed.     

Doctoral dissertations in radio and television

The perceived social realism of television series featuring families with children and adolescents was studied. For the two family series they watched the most, 460 2nd, 6th, and 10th graders indicated the percentage of real‐life American families they believed were like the television family on 13 different characteristics. Findings suggest that perceived social realism judgments are sensitive to content, as are developmental patterns in judgment. They further suggest that disparate findings among previous studies of age changes in perceived social realism may be explained by age, the content judged, the realism criterion used for judgment, and familiarity with both the content and its real‐life referents.     

Commercial television in Japan

Broadcasting trade papers in recent months have devoted an increasing amount of attention to the rapid strides being made by commercial television in various nations abroad. In this issue of the Journal, Richard Friedman presents an intensive analysis of commercial television in Japan, the result of several months' research in that country recently.     

Lying and deception detection in television families

This study explores the use of lying and lie‐detection among television families in situation comedies. The findings indicate that (a) lying was prevalent on these television shows; (b) lies to spare others were told most frequently; (c) the majority of lies went undetected; (d) the husband/father character told the most lies; (e) children were the most honest characters in situation comedies and (f) peripheral characters were the recipients of many lies. Two conclusions were drawn from these findings. First, this study gives insight into the content of family communication as presented on television. Secondly', the study suggests television families mirror real families with respect to family structure and the ability to detect deception.     

The television generation's relation to the mass media in Germany: Accounting for the impact of private television

This study extends earlier research on the television generation's media‐related behavior. Those who have grown up with TV are often said to be (therefore) more devoted to TV and less inclined to read than people born earlier. To provide evidence, data on TV and newspaper use and on attachment to both media in Germany, 1970–1995, were cohort‐analyzed, controlling for the age‐specific effect of the introduction of private TV in the mid‐eighties. While younger birth cohorts are less interested in the newspaper, the TV generation is not more devoted to TV than most of the preceding cohorts.     

Public relations in educational television

This is the report of a limited inquiry into public relations activities of educational television stations, showing how educational broadcasters have at least one problem in common with their commercial brethren —namely, the need to publicize their efforts.