Television And American Culture Analysis

When one thinks of television, the image that comes to mind is a stationary piece of furniture, usually containing a cable box attached to a monitor/screen. However, in Jason Mittell’s book, Television and American Culture, Mittell offers a more fluid definition of the concept of television. In the introduction and chapter 1 of Jason Mittell’s book, Television and American Culture, Mittell begins to break down what exactly constitutes the idea of television and goes into detail about the television industry and the roles the television industry plays in the creation, distribution, and transmission of television programs into viewers’ homes.
In the introduction, Mittell argues that television is not a singular, immovable object, but is a type …show more content…
In chapter 1 of Mittell’s book, he argues that the television industry, even though it offers programs to people for free, actually fits into the framework of American capitalism through the concept known as exchange of programming. Mittell argues that the purpose of television industries is to create programs attractive enough to generate large audiences in order to attract revenue. Mittell states that networks usually use a schedule that maximizes the concept of flow, a term which refers to the ways in which channels and networks incentivize their viewers to watch continuous programs (and subsequently, advertisements) on their networks, such as through lead-ins and hammocking. When television programs are created, production companies actually lose money in the first few years of a series, named deficit financing. However, after a production company gets a hit show, the company is able to re-earn the money lost through licensing fees and repay the debt it accrued through advertising revenue and re-runs. He argues that as a result of flow, new television programs are able to get a substantial audience, which enables the network to minimize the risk and debt that is accrued when a new television show is created, and simultaneously enables writers to …show more content…
What really struck me about this chapter was the extent in which vertical and horizontal integration was embedded in largest media conglomerates. Vertical integration in television refers to one company overseeing the production, distribution, and transmission of its programs. Horizontal integration in television refers to one company having a variety of holdings in different industries such as in the print and digital sphere, like comic books and DVD. It’s odd to think that gigantic media conglomerates can have holdings in other companies, such as in the case of Time Warner Cable having holdings in MapQuest and D.C. comics. As Mittell states in chapter 1, it makes sense that companies have horizontal and vertical integration structures especially when the company has a hit television program. Horizontal integration actually works as a benefit to the media company, in order to continue the momentum of the show onto different platforms, or to capitalize on a hit. In this instance, even if the company only has a few hit shows, vertical integration ensures that the licensing rights to the show belong to the media conglomerate while horizontal integration ensures that fans of the show will be able to buy different types of merchandising, allowing the television program to turn a profit faster. But the extent to which horizontal and vertical