ABSTRACT
The very obviousness of the differences between cinema and broadcast TV means that they are often overlooked. Cinema revolves around the purchase of the right to attend a performance of a single film text. The performance is public; the audience is prepared for it by the widespread circulation of the narrative image. Broadcast TV emits a series of signals that are available to anyone who possesses or rents a TV set. Broadcast TV is received overwhelmingly in domestic surroundings. The images involved are different: cinema’s is large and projected; broadcast TV’s is characteristically small and luminous. This much is obvious. However, the consequences of these differences for each medium are less obvious.
