ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 continues the examination of the frames that shape the experience of watching television by analysing the role of data and algorithms in structuring access to online TV, from their use in production and interface design to their role in changing advertising practices and shaping user recommendations. It asks how the ways in which online TV services use data and algorithms differ from earlier uses of data in the production and distribution of television in the broadcast, cable/satellite and digital eras. Drawing on literature from computer science and software studies, the chapter unpacks how algorithms work in online TV services, and asks whether data and algorithms have the potential to upset traditional power hierarchies in the television industry by reducing editorial control, enabling greater understanding of user behaviour and opening up the potential for content and viewers to be valued in new ways. Ultimately, the chapter argues that the ways in which algorithms are used by the online TV industry tend to replicate the strategies of traditional ‘push’ media in which the service exerts significant control over the user’s media experience.
