The Media Juggernaut that is Cable TV

When we think of Cable TV, we generally think of the following: big networks such as CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX, if we have more HBOs than our neighbor, how the last season of GOT ended, or how much is all of this gonna cost me. To fully understand how Cable TV took off and became the industry it is, we need to go back to the beginning. Cable TV started back in 1948 in Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Arkansas. By 1952, there were about 14,000 cable subscriptions across the nation. That number grew to around 850,000 subscriptions by the 1960s. In 1972, HBO became the first pay network, meaning that you could have 5 HBOs, 3 HBOs, or no HBOs depending on how much you are paying.

Also in 1972, the FCC began regulation on cable. The Cable Act of 1984 helped the industry grow even more. Today, we have around 800 programing networks following the advent of HDTV in the early 2000s. People can watch their shows whenever they want now with DVR, which allows them to record episodes that they may miss and watch them later, with the added bonus of being able to skip the commercials. Video on Demand allows the user to do this also, however they may not be able to skip commercials.

Cable has became a major source of entertainment today. The most watched sporting event every year, the Super Bowl, is cycled between NBC, CBS, and ABC every year, with companies competing for 30 second commercial slots by bidding millions of dollars. However, with as popular as cable is in today's world, streaming services like Netflix and Hulu are becoming more mainstream. Subscribers can watch shows or movies wherever they want, whenever they want.

https://www.calcable.org/learn/history-of-cable/

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/makeemlaugh/featured/history-cable-television/33/

Comments

The Fallout of the Ukraine Call

The White House has had a tumultuous last week or so. President Trump has come under fire from the Democrats, accusing him of abusing his power to ask the Ukrainian government for "help" in the upcoming election. These accusations led to Nancy Pelosi opening up an impeachment case against the President. However, many call the impeachment unconstitutional. White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote in a statement, "As you know, you have designed and implemented your inquiry in a maimer that violates fundamental fairness and constitutionally mandated due process. For example, you have denied the President the right to cross-examine witnesses, to call witnesses, to receive transcripts of testimony, to have access to evidence, to have counsel present, and many other basic rights guaranteed to all Americans. You have conducted your proceedings in secret. You have violated civil liberties and the separation of powers by tlu·eatening Executive Branch officials, claiming ...

EOTO: Media Consolidation and Market Monopolization

Have you ever wondered who controls our media and how much of it they control? In the early 80s, 90% of media in the United States was controlled by 50 companies. Today, the same 90% is controlled by 4. This is due to the process of media consolidation. Media consolidation is the process of networks owning other networks, controlling their properties and marketing them under one name. A good example of this is Disney. Today, everything is more or less under the influence of the media giant. Disney's umbrella consists of major names such as Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Miramax, Pixar, ABC, ESPN, and most recently 20th Century Fox. So you can be watching ABC News, waiting for an important story to be aired. But if Disney doesn't like that story, it won't air. The idea of Media consolidation created the term "Family of Networks". This term refers to networks having other networks to air their content on. ESPN is a prime example of this. They air sports and ...

Innovation: How the World would be Different without it

The eight values of free expression are all important in their own right. Our world would be completely different if they weren't protected. Out of the eight values of free expression, the one I believe is the most important is innovation. Innovation allows us to progress as a society. It is the reason why most of the things we have are the way they are. Let's go back to the first computers for examples. These were machines that were highly inefficient and took up entire rooms in secure facilities. Today, our computers and even our smart phones have 100x the processing power at a much smaller scale. These more efficient, design friendly machines allow our world to run the way it does. Without men like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, we would be relying on slow, inefficient machines to do important tasks for us instead of pulling out our phones. Another area that would be completely different is the gaming industry. I am an avid gamer. Some would say a little too avid. Innovat...

Stuck Inside

Search This Blog