Television Versus the Internet
1st Edition
Will TV Prosper or Perish as the World Moves Online?
Description
This book will explore the questions raised by the technological developments that have encouraged the multiplication of TV channels. TV is moving through a period of rapid change. Governments around the world are switching from analogue to digital forms of transmission to further expand the amount of content that TV signals can carry. At the same time, competition for eyeballs has also grown from outside that traditional marketplace with the emergence of the Internet. The roll-out of broadband and increased bandwidth has had the greatest impact on television because online technology can readily convey the same content. All these changes have created a great deal more competition for viewers within the traditional TV marketplace. The Internet has proven to be especially popular with young people who have adopted its applications to a far greater extent than their elders, though even the latter have now begun to take up online activities in significant numbers. Are these audiences the same? Do people make a choice between these two media or do they use them both at different times and for different reasons? Can television utilise the Internet in profitable ways to enhance its market position? Will television have to evolve from its current state to provide the kinds of content reception services to which people have become accustomed in the online world? If it does need to change to survive, will this nevertheless mean a radical new configuration of content and the disappearance of ‘channels’ with fixed, pre-determined programme schedules?
Key Features
- Examines the implications of new interactive communications technologies for the way people will use television in the future
- Presents an analysis of changing styles of television viewing and changing orientations towards television
- Examines the growing importance of the broadband internet as a source of information and entertainment
Readership
Sholars, teachers, and students working in higher education in fields such as communications studies, information and library studies, media studies, and publishing
Table of Contents
Preface
About the author
Chapter 1: Audience evolution patterns
Growth of media supply and television viewing
Growth of the Internet
Implications of media expansion
The position of television in society
Changing patterns of consumption
Does one medium cannibalise another?
Models of displacement
Increase–decrease relationship
Competition or synergy?
Ensuring access, diversity and quality
Concluding remarks
Chapter 2: The importance of television and the Internet to media consumers
How important is television to people today?
The importance of digital
The importance of channels
Are we satisfied with television channels?
The importance of programme service values
The importance of programme genres
Behavioural evidence of what is important to media consumers
The importance of the Internet
Concluding remarks
Chapter 3: The functional overlaps of television and the Internet
The importance of media motives
The attraction of the Internet
Conditional displacement
Overlapping functional displacement of television by the Internet
Non-overlapping functional displacement of television by the Internet
Concluding remarks
Chapter 4: The future of television as an information source
The valued attributes of television news
Television versus the Internet
Importance of different information sources
Importance of different news sources: Internet users versus non-users
The future for television news
Time devoted to television news
Levels of use of online news
Receptivity of new news sources
News source displacement
Credibility of offline versus online news
Importance of news brands
Concluding remarks
Chapter 5: The future of television as an entertainment source
Perceived importance of different entertainment sources
The Internet as an entertainment source
Video viewing online
Continuous measurement of online video viewing
Online video viewing versus television
Video game playing
Concluding remarks
Chapter 6: Future audiences, future services
Television versus the Internet: continuing distinctions
The promise of digital
Future audiences
Final thoughts
References
Index
Details
- No. of pages:
- 208
- Language:
- English
- Copyright:
- © Chandos Publishing 2010
- Published:
- 1st September 2010
- Imprint:
- Chandos Publishing
- eBook ISBN:
- 9781780631660
- Paperback ISBN:
- 9781843346364
About the Author
Barrie Gunter
Barrie Gunter is Professor of Mass Communication and Head of the Department of Media and Communication, University of Leicester. He was formerly Professor of Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield and previously worked in the broadcasting sector. He has published 47 books and over 250 book chapters, journal articles and other reports on a range of media, marketing and psychology topics. Among his current interests are the adoption and use of internet and digital TV applications.