The Television Will Be Revolutionized, Second Edition

Amanda D Lotz, Amanda D. Lotz

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781479865253
• eBook ISBN: 9781479830077
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Television History & Criticism

Go behind the TV screen to explore what is changing, why it is changing, and why the changes matters

Many proclaimed the "end of television" in the early years of the twenty-first century, as capabilities and features of the boxes that occupied a central space in American living rooms for the preceding fifty years were radically remade. In this revised, second edition of her definitive book, Amanda D. Lotz proves that rumors of the death of television were greatly exaggerated and explores how new distribution and viewing technologies have resurrected the medium. Shifts in the basic practices of making and distributing television have not been hastening its demise, but are redefining what we can do with television, what we expect from it, how we use it—in short, revolutionizing it.

Television, as both a technology and a tool for cultural storytelling, remains as important today as ever, but it has changed in fundamental ways. The Television Will Be Revolutionized provides a sophisticated history of the present, examining television in what Lotz terms the "post-network" era while providing frameworks for understanding the continued change in the medium. The second edition addresses adjustments throughout the industry wrought by broadband delivered television such as Netflix, YouTube, and cross-platform initiatives like TV Everywhere, as well as how technologies such as tablets and smartphones have changed how and where we view. Lotz begins to deconstruct the future of different kinds of television—exploring how "prized content," live television sports and contests, and linear viewing may all be "television," but very different types of television for both viewers and producers.

Through interviews with those working in the industry, surveys of trade publications, and consideration of an extensive array of popular shows, Lotz takes us behind the screen to explore what is changing, why it is changing, and why the changes matter.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Understanding Television at the Beginning of the Post-Network Era
• 2 Television Outside the Box: The Technological Revolution of Television
• 3 Making Television: Changes in the Practices of Creating Television
• 4 Revolutionizing Distribution: Breaking Open the Network Bottleneck
• 5 The New Economics of Television
• 6 Recounting the Audience: Measurement in the Age of Broadband
• 7 Television Storytelling Possibilities at the Beginning of the Post-Network Era: Five Cases
• Conclusion: Still Watching Television
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author