FILM TV 10A Study Guide - Final Guide: Oxymoron, Ford Foundation, Peace Movement
General Terms
● Fin/Syn (financial interest and syndication rules): 1971 implemented to increase
diversity and limit the control of the networks ; networks had to surrender syndication
rights for certain shows that they didn’t produce 100%, only allowed 15 hours of non
news/week to produce; limited the number of shows a network could own
○ Result: prohibited networks from owning
■ 1. financial interest in most shows they aired (couldn’t profit from shows
beyond ad revenue) AND
■ 2. in house syndication arms (distribution could only buy productions for
1-2 airings)
○ FCC wanted to prevent the big three networks from monopolizing
○ The networks couldn’t own the programs they aired in prime time
● PTAR (Prime Time Access Rule): 1971 established by the FCC to limit network’s
control on primetime programming to encourage more local news and public affairs
programming; top 50 markets can’t air any network shows in the first hour of prime time,
instead they must show syndicated/local programming
○ Most of the syndicated programs were "nighttime" adaptations of network
daytime game shows; these game shows originally aired once a week, but by the
late 1970s and early 1980s most of the games had transitioned to five days a
week.
○ Move of Wheel of Fortune to syndication in 1983 and the modernized revival of
Jeopardy! in 1984 was highly successful, leading to the two games becoming
fixtures in the prime time "access period"
● Fairness Doctrine: introduced by the FCC in 1949, requiring that...
○ 1. Broadcasters must present controversial issues of public interest and
○ 2.Opposing/contrasting views of an issue must all be allotted airtime (not
necessary equal)
■ By 1974, doctrine compliance became a key factor in license renewal;
repealed in 1980s by Fowler’s FCC.
● Must Carry Rules: Required cable systems to carry independent and public access
stations; required that all “significant viewed” local stations had to be retransmitted over
the cable wires; these ruled had been sparked by a coalition of interest groups that,
despite competing agendas, had all seen in cable a solution to some of the problems that
were beginning to be identified with commercial broadcast television
○ Purpose: to give viewers some local programming
○ Cable seen as providing a useful alternative to the big:three bottleneck of the
airwaves and as a way to bring more diversity and innovation to the tube
● 1992 Cable Act: put a cap on excessive profiteering from cable operators, allowing the
cable operator to charge only 7.5% more than the cost to the local franchise
○ Revoked by Telecommunications Act of 1996
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● 1996 Telecom Act:
○ Prime function: to let anyone enter any communications business compete in any
market against any other, raised caps on media ownership
○ Caps on radio ownership eliminated at national level and relaxed locally
○ Big networks can also own 2nd smaller network
● Basic cable channel: channels customers receive on package include:
○ Over the air stations (CBS, ABC, NBC)
○ Ad supported cable only channels (MTV, ESPN, etc.)
○ Cable service provider pays a monthly fee to carry these channels (5:10 cents per
subscriber)
● Superstation: big independent channel stations.
○ Under the superstation, local stations were distributed nationally via satellite
(WGN)
○ Cable operator charges per subscriber to carry
● Pay cable channel: subscription-based television service; contributed immensely to
Multichannel Era; this model has led to networks creating much more specialized types
of shows to influence viewers to subscribe
○ Subscription networks are most concerned with providing content that will make
people want to subscribe as well as renew subscriptions rather than who is
watching and when this viewing is taking place
■ Ex. HBO → Sex and the City
● Independent station: type of television station broadcasting in the United States or
Canada that is not affiliated with any broadcast television network; most commonly,
these stations carry a mix of syndicated, brokered and in some cases, local programming
to fill time periods when network programs typically would air
● Over-The-Air Station: broadcast stations. free to receive (no subscription cost) via
antenna, although can also be carried by cable providers. ad:supported. ex. CBS, ABC,
NBC
● PEG Channels: Public access, Educational and Government channels
○ Cable only and carried for free/ at CSP expense
● CATV (Community Antenna Television): way for communities unreachable by over
the air signals to bring TV into homes via wire; contributed to Multichannel Era →
possibility for people to have diverse programming (separate from Big 3 networks)
such as sports
● COMSAT(Communications Satellite Corporation): a coalition of government and
industrial corporations concerned w/ development of space technology; AT&T’s Early
Bird satellite created the first live TV link between the US and Europe, launched by
NASA for COMSAT
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● NET: National Educational Television: An organization that functioned like a network,
producing and providing educational content to affiliates
○ Funded with a grant from the Ford Foundation
● PBS (Public Broadcasting Service): formerly Corp. for Public Broadcasting (CPB);
effect of Communications Act of 1934
○ Contains no central programming structure → different stations propose
programs and share with network
● An American Family: early reality TV show that documents the life of the Loud family
for a year; mini-series of 12 episodes; observes the parents getting a divorce; their eldest
son comes out as gay on show
● MTM: MTM Enterprises, the production company that produced “Quality” TV
○ ex. Mary Tyler Moore Show; focused more on gender norms rather than racial
stereotypes, clean and expensive look, filmed instead of taped
● TAT/Tandem : production company that produced “Relevant” TV
○ ex. All in the Family
● Deficit Financing: nets pay an independent studio to license a show, covering most, but
not all of the production budget. This makes it hard for independent studios to make
money (until the show exceeds one season/goes to syndication)
● Jiggle TV: women wear short skirts and low cut tops to give the “jiggle effect”; emerged
in 1970s programming (ex. Charlie’s Angels, Three's Company, Wonderwoman)
● Hayseed comedies: popular in mid 1960s; ex. The Andy Griffith Show, Beverly
Hillbillies; “hick” comedies (literally farmers; hay seed : seed for hay); the kinds of
shows that CBS removed to put on All in the Family and MTM
● Silly/supernatural comedies: ex. Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie
○ Maligned era of TV not taken seriously
○ Family sitcom formula is still lucrative, but white suburban utopias of early 60s
TV too different from reality, sillier/more supernatural
● “White negro” shows: Assimilationist (invisible); no mention of being African
American
○ (ex. Julia, Mission Impossible)
● Countercultural shows: shows that depict subculture whose values and norms of
behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society; ex. The Smothers Bros.
Comedy Hour
● Relevant sitcoms: connected to idea that improving racial representation involved
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