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About this book
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.
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.
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Yes, you can access Blue Skies by Patrick R. Parsons in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Business & Business General. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The Evolution of a Revolution (Origins–1930s)
- 2 Pioneering Efforts (1930s–1952)
- 3 Mom ‘n’ Pop Business (1951–1958)
- 4 Abel Cable Goes to Washington (1950–1960)
- 5 Cable’s New Frontier (1960–1966)
- 6 The Wired Nation (1966–1972)
- 7 The Cable Fable (1972–1975)
- 8 The Phoenix (1975–1980)
- 9 Cablemania (1980–1984)
- 10 The Cable Boom (1985–1992)
- 11 The Cable Cosa Nostra (1986–1992)
- 12 500 Channels (1992–1996)
- 13 “What’s Gonna Be Next?” (1997–2005)
- Appendices
- Notes
- Index