Overview: Introduction to television studies reviews concepts of syndication, audience ratings, and television’s influence on all other media forms. Historical look at importance of game show genre, reality TV, and the migration of the episodic series programs (think soap opera) from daytime to prime-time scheduling. Traces shift from network era to specialty cable bundles, including a look at niche programming on food, sports, news, and women’s channels. Includes discussion of effects that digital and on-demand technologies such as DBS, PPV, VOD, DVR and mobile TV are having on television programming, distribution and consumption. Reviews impact of the Internet on TV broadcast culture, from torrents to YouTube to channel streaming and the 24 hour news cycle.
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