ABSTRACT
The persistent decline in network audience ratings has been a central factor in the institutional restructuring of broadcast television networks in the postnetwork era. While cable and other technological innovations provided audiences with viewing alternatives during the multi-channel transition, the vast array of digital technologies now available to consumers-and the migration of viewership across these new media platforms-has contributed further to the networks’ ratings decline. From 1980 to 2005, network audience share fell from 90 percent of those watching television to 46 percent.1 During the same period, network news lost half its audience.2 The continued ratings achievement of network talk shows is all the more remarkable when viewed in this context.
