Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
- PART I A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DIGITAL TV
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Why Digital TV?
- PART II THE AMERICAN ROAD TO DIGITAL TV
- PART III THE BRITISH ROAD TO DIGITAL TV
- PART IV NEW TELEVISION, OLD POLITICS
- References
- Index
2 - Why Digital TV?
from PART I - A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DIGITAL TV
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
- PART I A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DIGITAL TV
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Why Digital TV?
- PART II THE AMERICAN ROAD TO DIGITAL TV
- PART III THE BRITISH ROAD TO DIGITAL TV
- PART IV NEW TELEVISION, OLD POLITICS
- References
- Index
Summary
During the past few decades the broadcasting industry has undergone a period of unparalleled changes. In Europe, where public stations once dominated the television landscape, governments have either privatized or forced public broadcasters to operate under commercial standards of profitability and ratings (Noam, 1991; Siune and Hultén, 1998). In the United States, where public stations have historically played a minor role, the changes have been no less dramatic. Gradually, programming obligations, ownership restrictions, and other regulations concerning the operation and renewal of terrestrial TV licenses were either relaxed or scrapped altogether. This wave of changes has been typically described as deregulation, a process whereby governments have progressively yielded control of the broadcasting industry to market forces (e.g., Mosco and Schiller, 2001; McChesney, 2003). The argument is that these changes have reduced the scope of government control over who offers what kind of services using which technologies in the television sector. There is certainly no shortage of examples to support this argument. Whether one looks at historical trends in the regulation of market entry and exit, funding, or programming over the past two decades, it is clear that the locus of industry control has shifted from the state to the private sector. This shift ran parallel to new macroeconomic policies adopted in response to the economic slowdown of the early 1970s.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- New Television, Old PoliticsThe Transition to Digital TV in the United States and Britain, pp. 25 - 52Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004