ABSTRACT
Television is an entertainment and information medium that pervades our lives. Americans spend more than thirty-three hours per week watching video across multiple screen venues, including television, computers (laptops and tablets) and cellphones. The reliance on traditional TV watching is changing. Consumers are increasingly making Internet connectivity a priority. An estimated 75.3 percent of the American public pay for broadband Internet while 90.4 percent pay for cable television, telephone-based IPTV or direct broadcast satellite communication. 1 Approximately 98.2 percent of all U.S. homes have one or more television sets. The number of available digital-based cable or satellite channels has increased exponentially from an estimated 113 channels in 1994 to well over 300 channels today. 2 For many such viewers, television is a source of entertainment and news, while for others television provides a general backdrop to one's day-to-day activities. Broadcast television is first and foremost a business. Television stations are in the business of producing audiences. As media economists Bruce Owen and Steven Wildman point out:
The first and most serious mistake that an analyst of the television industry can make is to assume that [advertiser-supported broadcasters] are in the business to produce programs. They are not. Broadcasters are in the business of producing audiences. These audiences (or means of access to them) are sold to advertisers … The price of the product is quoted in dollars per thousand viewers per unit of commercial time, typically 20 or 30 seconds. 3
