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The Impact Of Television On The Television Industry Essay

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Whilst much of television’s history has relied on specific industrial practices established early in the 1960s, the turn of the century has introduced significant changes to the medium of television. The current position of television, defined by Lotz as the ‘post-network’ era, illustrates an evolution from these early industry practices. For the most part, scholars agree that this transition was caused by changes in the industrial norms of producing, financing, and distributing television, many of which can be attributed to the arrival of digital technologies. This essay will argue that these changes throughout the television industry have created a new, distinctive era of television culture.

First and foremost, Lotz provides valuable insight into the distinguishable eras of television development. The resulting three eras are defined as the ‘network’ era, ‘multi-channel transition’ and ‘post-network’ era (7). The ‘network era’, which spanned roughly from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s, governed industry operations and created a television experience which characterizes much of the medium’s history. This era was characterized by adapting radio-network modes of content creation, distribution, advertising, and audience measurement to the context of the then-new televisual medium. Dominated by a ‘three-network oligopoly’ network system- comprised of ABC, NBC and CBS- critics have often condemned the network era as ‘bland’ due to its strict censorship and limited creative

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