The Rise of Cable Programming in the United States

The Rise of Cable Programming in the United States PDF Author: Megan Mullen
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292778694
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Winner, McGannon Communications Research Award, 2004 In 1971, the Sloan Commission on Cable Communications likened the ongoing developments in cable television to the first uses of movable type and the invention of the telephone. Cable's proponents in the late 1960s and early 1970s hoped it would eventually remedy all the perceived ills of broadcast television, including lowest-common-denominator programming, inability to serve the needs of local audiences, and failure to recognize the needs of cultural minorities. Yet a quarter century after the "blue sky" era, cable television programming closely resembled, and indeed depended upon, broadcast television programming. Whatever happened to the Sloan Commission's "revolution now in sight"? In this book, Megan Mullen examines the first half-century of cable television to understand why cable never achieved its promise as a radically different means of communication. Using textual analysis and oral, archival, and regulatory history, she chronicles and analyzes cable programming developments in the United States during three critical stages of the medium's history: the early community antenna (CATV) years (1948-1967), the optimistic "blue sky" years (1968-1975), and the early satellite years (1976-1995). This history clearly reveals how cable's roots as a retransmitter of broadcast signals, the regulatory constraints that stymied innovation, and the economic success of cable as an outlet for broadcast or broadcast-type programs all combined to defeat most utopian visions for cable programming.

The Rise of Cable Programming in the United States

The Rise of Cable Programming in the United States PDF Author: Megan Mullen
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292778694
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Get Book

Book Description
Winner, McGannon Communications Research Award, 2004 In 1971, the Sloan Commission on Cable Communications likened the ongoing developments in cable television to the first uses of movable type and the invention of the telephone. Cable's proponents in the late 1960s and early 1970s hoped it would eventually remedy all the perceived ills of broadcast television, including lowest-common-denominator programming, inability to serve the needs of local audiences, and failure to recognize the needs of cultural minorities. Yet a quarter century after the "blue sky" era, cable television programming closely resembled, and indeed depended upon, broadcast television programming. Whatever happened to the Sloan Commission's "revolution now in sight"? In this book, Megan Mullen examines the first half-century of cable television to understand why cable never achieved its promise as a radically different means of communication. Using textual analysis and oral, archival, and regulatory history, she chronicles and analyzes cable programming developments in the United States during three critical stages of the medium's history: the early community antenna (CATV) years (1948-1967), the optimistic "blue sky" years (1968-1975), and the early satellite years (1976-1995). This history clearly reveals how cable's roots as a retransmitter of broadcast signals, the regulatory constraints that stymied innovation, and the economic success of cable as an outlet for broadcast or broadcast-type programs all combined to defeat most utopian visions for cable programming.

Cable Television

Cable Television PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Subcommittee on Communications
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cable television
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Cable Visions

Cable Visions PDF Author: Sarah Banet-Weiser
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814799493
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Looks beyond broadcasting's mainstream, toward cable's alternatives, to critically consider the capacity of commercial media to serve the public interest. This work offers an overview of the industry's history and regulatory trends, case studies of cable newcomers aimed at niche markets, and analyses of programming forms introduced by cable TV.

Video Program Distribution and Cable Television

Video Program Distribution and Cable Television PDF Author: United States. National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cable television
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Cable Television Regulation

Cable Television Regulation PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cable television
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Pioneers of Cable Television

Pioneers of Cable Television PDF Author: Brian Lockman
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786482726
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Although there are different opinions about where cable television actually began, a great deal of the ingenuity that developed cable into today’s multibillion dollar industry came from Pennsylvania. In this state, with its mountainous geography, the need for an unusual means of obtaining a television signal gave birth to the community antenna television system that was the forerunner of the cable we know today. This volume traces the history of cable television through biographical sketches of those who were instrumental in bringing this technology to rural Pennsylvania. Enumerating technical as well as financial obstacles, each chapter focuses on the life of a cable pioneer. The contributions of such men as John Walson, Bob Tarleton, George Gardner and Ralph Roberts are discussed and their relationships to each other examined. Information drawn from interviews with these men or people who knew them brings history to life. Topics include the roots of cable television, problems of early cable systems and the advent of HBO and its consequences. An appendix offers a commemorative history of the Pennsylvania Cable Network, a joint project of several men discussed herein.

Copyright/cable Television

Copyright/cable Television PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cable television
Languages : en
Pages : 1028

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Cable Television Regulation Oversight

Cable Television Regulation Oversight PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Subcommittee on Communications
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cable television
Languages : en
Pages : 708

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Blue Skies

Blue Skies PDF Author: Patrick Parsons
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 1592137067
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 816

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Book Description
Cable television is arguably the dominant mass media technology in the U.S. today. Blue Skies traces its history in detail, depicting the important events and people that shaped its development, from the precursors of cable TV in the 1920s and '30s to the first community antenna systems in the 1950s, and from the creation of the national satellite-distributed cable networks in the 1970s to the current incarnation of "info-structure" that dominates our lives. Author Patrick Parsons also considers the ways that economics, public perception, public policy, entrepreneurial personalities, the social construction of the possibilities of cable, and simple chance all influenced the development of cable TV. Since the 1960s, one of the pervasive visions of "cable" has been of a ubiquitous, flexible, interactive communications system capable of providing news, information, entertainment, diverse local programming, and even social services. That set of utopian hopes became known as the "Blue Sky" vision of cable television, from which the book takes its title. Thoroughly documented and carefully researched, yet lively, occasionally humorous, and consistently insightful, Blue Skies is the genealogy of our media society.

Commercial Time on Children's Cable TV

Commercial Time on Children's Cable TV PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Subcommittee on Communications
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cable television
Languages : en
Pages : 46

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Book Description