Tel T 207 Lecture 17 Outline of Last Lecture I Television and the Turning Point Outline of Current Lecture II Television Continued Current Lecture Television Continued o TV in 1939 RCA dominates from its powerful manipulation o There were 16 stations in 1948 and by 1950 there were nearly 100 stations The audience expanded by 4000 o In 1948 the FCC froze new filings for TV licenses o In 1952 FCC issued the Sixth Report and Order Reallocation of the 12 VHF Spectrum Created 20 new channels in UHF spectrum shorter range Reserve sections for non commercial broadcast TV There were still interference problems o With the combo of rules there was a technological limit to national networks o In addition to spectrum allocation there was a battle for a new standard New standards destroy previous technologies o Color TV CBS vs NBC RCA Resolved mostly in RCA s favor Featured backward compatibility 5 years after the standard was adopted only NBC was broadcasting in color Backward compatibility when you get new technology but can still use the old o Early players NBC ABC formed from NBC CBS Dumont TV network Never gained large enough part of the market o The way that these networks distributed nationally was by using AT T long lines Networks made money by advertising Because of lack of ability to exclude people no way to have paid subscriptions Local stations can t compete with content of national FOX WB and UPN depend upon the UHF spectrum These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o New Networks TV signals were difficult to send beyond electromagnetic frequency ranges One of the most underappreciated technological inventions was coaxial cable With coaxial cable now have the ability to exclude people using this way of broadcast Early cable systems o Rural areas developed a way of receiving broadcasts o Broadcast networks didn t view this as a problem yet Microwave Towers Amplified broadcast signals and allowed the signals to keep strength Created a value in cable systems without broadcast systems Microwave towers were viewed as a threat FCC in 1966 viewed the towers as a threat and put up restrictions where towers could be placed Fortnightly Corp vs United Artists 1968 o Found these transmissions were legal in the same way broadcast was legal The Open Skies policy satellite Clay Whitehead of the Cabinet Committee on Cable Communication during Nixon s time o If anyone could afford to send up a satellite they should be allowed to 1978 1980 the FCC s policies had changed In this era we see the impact of technological change on video distribution Ted Turner Wanted a national network Buy UHF stations Road the wave of technological change and got some economies of scale Leased satellites Created key niche channels o MGM backlogged content He distributed content nationally Found a way to create value on no value content Founder of TBS and CNN Early Cable s Frenemy The satellite industry o 1970s to 1980s Tool to create national networks Could exclude Cable dependent on satellite but satellite also gave people in rural communities another option o Early 1990s until today Direct Broadcast Satellite DBS Encryption now used o VHF vs UHF the 80s and 90s Market opens up even more Fox UPN WB CW Program Strategies More inappropriate content and more diverse o Example Married with Children Simpsons etc o New Technology Standards Low power TV Local stations The digital transition Solution for broadcast stations to fight cable stations o Required most manufacturers IP TV A better solution From cathode ray tube to liquid crystals plasma displays and organic light emitting diodes