ABSTRACT
FUTURE PROGRAMMING AND USE OF ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA: WHAT IS THERE TO EXPECT?
Televisual media, there is no doubt, has tremendously changed over the comparatively short period of the past 10 years (Bryant & Bryant, 2001). Although less than 1% of U.S. families have no television set (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1998), and more than 85% of American homes receive cable television (Labaton, 1999), traditional television is currently merging with other forms of media. Looking at the domestic screen, we now see devices that are connected to and sometimes fused with video recorders, personal computers, the Internet, computer games, and so on. There is WebTV, DirecTV, and interactive television. The television screen is about to be transformed into the site of a multimedia culture, and this primarily technological development has significantly increased the already wide array of programming as much as it has opened new possibilities of using it. More individualized programming is possible now, and the opportunities to fulfill specific needs of precisely defined subaudiences are myriad.
