The Internet Challenge to Television

by Owen, Bruce M.

• ISBN13: 9780674003897
• ISBN10: 0674003896
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

After a half-century of glacial creep, television technology has begun to change at the same dizzying pace as computer software. What this will mean--for television, for computers, and for the popular culture where these video media reign supreme--is the subject of this timely book. A noted communications economist, Bruce Owen supplies the essential background: a grasp of the economic history of the television industry and of the effects of technology and government regulation on its organization. He also explores recent developments associated with the growth of the Internet. With this history as a basis, his book allows readers to peer into the future--at the likely effects of television and the Internet on each other, for instance, and at the possibility of a convergence of the TV set, computer, and telephone.The digital world that Owen shows us is one in which communication titans jockey to survive what Joseph Schumpeter called the "gales of creative destruction." While the rest of us simply struggle to follow the new moves, believing that technology will settle the outcome, Owen warns us that this is a game in which Washington regulators and media hyperbole figure as broadly as innovation and investment. His book explains the game as one involving interactions among all the players, including consumers and advertisers, each with a particular goal. And he discusses the economic principles that govern this game and that can serve as powerful predictive tools.

Author Biography

Bruce M. Owen is the president of Economists Incorporated. He has written and coauthored many books and articles on the economics of the media.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
PART ONE The Basics
Television, the Internet, and Consumer Demand	3	(12)
Successful Media Technologies	15	(30)
PART TWO The Analog Communication World
Nonelectronic Media	45	(7)
The Evolution of Broadcast Radio	52	(27)
The Tragedy of Broadcast Regulation	79	(11)
The Evolution of Broadcast Television	90	(17)
The Evolution of Cable Television	107	(31)
Early Direct Broadcast Satellites	138	(13)
PART THREE The Digital Communication World
Understanding Digital Media	151	(21)
Networks and Pipelines	172	(25)
The Internet	197	(38)
The CB Fad: A Cautionary Tale	235	(10)
PART FOUR Future Digital Media
Direct-to-Home Digital Broadcast Satellites	245	(25)
Wireless Cable	270	(13)
Digital Television	283	(12)
Television by Mail	295	(16)
Video on the Web	311	(16)
Conclusion	327	(8)
Appendix	335	(6)
Glossary	341	(11)
References	352	(14)
Index	366