ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the business of broadcasting with a special emphasis given to industry structure as well as strategy decision-making. The broadcast industry structure refers to the principle players involved in the production, distribution and financing of television programs to the U.S. public.
In this chapter, special attention is given to the following six players:
The Television Networks
Program Producers and Distributors
Network Affiliate Stations
Independent Television Stations
Public Broadcasting
The Advertisers
One of the important challenges facing the broadcast television industry is the changing relationship between the traditional networks and broadcast affiliates. In an era of Internet Over-the Top video streaming services, there is continued effort to directly video stream programs to the end user thus bypassing the once traditional affiliate partner. This is evidenced by the launch of a number of network video streaming services that include CBS’s All Access Network and Walt Disney’s Disney+, ESPN+ as well as its majority ownership in Hulu. Also important to the discussion is the importance of digital video recorders (DVRs) which has steadily transformed the business of television broadcasting by allowing users to record and time shift their favorite television programs to another viewing time. The continuing increase and reliance on DVR technology and OTT streaming services has fundamentally rewritten the rules of television program strategy.