Cable Visions Television Beyond Broadcasting [Hardcover]

Cable television, on the brink of a boom in the 1970s, promised audiences a new media frontier-an expansive new variety of entertainment and information choices. Music video, 24–hour news, 24-hour weather, movie channels, children's channels, home shopping, and channels targeting groups based on demographic characteristics or interests were introduced.

Cable Visionslooks beyond broadcasting’s mainstream, toward cable's alternatives, to critically consider the capacity of commercial media to serve the public interest. It offers an overview of the industry's history and regulatory trends, case studies of key cable newcomers aimed at niche markets (including Nickelodeon, BET, and HBO Latino), and analyses of programming forms introduced by cable TV (such as nature, cooking, sports, and history channels).

Through a series of highly original and carefully researched essays,Cable Visionsoffers a lively and comprehensive survey of the contemporary multichannel television landscape in the United States.”
-William Boddy,author ofNew Media and Popular Imagination: Launching Radio, Television, and Digital Media in the United States

“Cable Visionsis a compelling exploration of contemporary U.S. television that grapples with the contradictory logic of consumerism and citizenship upon which cable TV is based. Thoroughly researched, accessible, and innovative in design, the essays trace cable from its early utopian beginnings as alternative TV to its current-day realization as a multi–channel (but not necessarily diverse) commercial system aimed at niche tastes. A must read for anyone interested in understanding the opportunities and limits of the new media environment.”
-Lynn Spigel,author ofMake Room for TVandTV by Design