ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses ways of approaching the history of television, focusing on Britain but with comparison with and contrast to other countries. Television Studies has historically focused on television in national contexts. But the assumption that programmes would be viewed and discussed by a significant proportion of a national population is now proving less secure than before. The three factors that have given rise to this change in the nature of television are:
n the proliferation of channels n the presence of several television sets in a single household n the increasing control of television production and distribution by corporations
and institutions whose activities cross national boundaries.
