U.S. television networks Essay Example for Free

U.S. television networks Essay Television is nowadays one of the most popular sources of information, so there is a number of networks, participating in the market competition and thus remaining sensitive to the audience’s beliefs and preferences; at the same time they to great extent shape the needs and culture of the population. The present paper argues that the popularity of a television network greatly depends upon its autonomy and ability to both combine creation and broadcast of a TV-product, as well as upon its rejection and deconstruction of the objective reality, which the target audience is likely to criticize, for the purpose of weaving an alternative world, dominated by the key values of the potential consumers. In her article, Johnson touches briefly the institutional structure and underlying economics of CBS and PAX-TV, high-rated and extremely popular networks, which seek to provide uniform TV-products around the country; moreover, they are also similar in their business approach: â€Å"Both networks share strikingly similar business strategies, branding appeals, the same flagship programs produced by Martha Williamson [†¦]† (Johnson, 2004, p.404). Whereas CBS has quite a democratic and friendly slogan, PAX-TV states its mission in quite religious terms; however, both networks are established by media magnates with orientation to pious audiences, so they share their programming content freely. However, there is also one non-commercial network called PBS, which positions itself as non-profit and thus does not own any broadcasting stations; as a result, it cannot reach the desirable uniformity of broadcasting CBS and PAX-TV demonstrate. According to Meehan Byars, two decades ago, there began a tendency for large companies’ ownership of TV channels; these corporations often engaged with the creation of their own TV-products like films and shows, so they were becoming increasingly more autonomous in the selection of the information to broadcast. Furthermore, the advent and popularization of commercial cable television allowed these large TV-industry players to ensure they had a stable group of loyal consumers (Meehan Byars, 2004, p. 92).   As opposed to this obvious integration of channels into large companies, it is possible to exemplify the abovementioned PBS, coordinated by several non-profit organizations, which seek to provide free and independent broadcasting.   Johnson observes that the audiences of CBS and PAX-TV are composed mainly of conservative, family-oriented middle-class and working-class Americans, who believe in God and greatly value conversations on religious topics. The owners of the two networks assume that the existing American culture is not fully tolerable by Americans themselves, especially by the older generation, and therefore seek an alternative reality, primarily through programming and display of movies and shows based upon idyllic pastoral and religious themes. As it has been mentioned above, CBS and PAX-TV have quite friendly or â€Å"peaceful’ slogans, which they used as promos in broadcasting; this turn seems likable to the conservative audience. Both networks tend to focus on nuclear family values, affiliation to Christianity and material well-being or ability to provide for oneself (Johnson, 2004, pp.406-407). Meehan and Byars take a little different approach and state that Lifetime has gradually shaped itself as a liberal feminist channel and â€Å"seized† in the 1980s a new audience, independent females with white-collar jobs (Meehan Byars, 2004, p. 94). One of the most powerful tools of reaching the target group was the creation and display of the company’s own films, dedicated to the occupational and interpersonal issues in working women’s life: â€Å"Both The Good Fight and Shame illustrated Lifetime’s operational definition of â€Å"television for women† during the emergent period† (Meehan Byars, 2004, p.96). Further, the network began to employ the characters of female officers, detectives and FBA agents, so there appeared the first female superheroes. The product was conceptually novel and thus met a fully expected response, the group’s adherence to Lifetime. In the present day, this segmentation has become even more obvious: for instance, there are networks for minority groups, such as Galavision and Telefutura, developing networks for children like Qubo and ThinkBright and specialized sports networks for those men who prefer to receive comprehensive sports news without switching between channels. However, the abovementioned companies use much simpler tools of spread amongst the target audience, including language (native to the minority group), interesting intellectual games and scientific problems for minors and focus on soccer and baseball most American men are interested in. Both articles, being addressed in the paper, identify a set of values the networks communicate for the purpose of obtaining their target viewers. In particular, CBS and PAX-TV broadcast explicit stories about self-sufficient and mature people, who dedicate themselves to their family and career; moreover, Johnson asserts the importance of â€Å"middleness† (Johnson, 2004, p. 408), which means both the corresponding geographic location and politically neutral views, which reconcile the right and the left. Conservatism as valuable by itself is often communicated through showing global and American cultural anomalies and positioning the traditional, time-honored lifestyle as a way of avoiding problems and succeeding in social life and work. In addition, order to achieve the admiration of â€Å"ordinary Americans†, CBS and PAX-TV also rely heavily upon the American dream, or realization of all dimensions of life through hard work and observance of religious principles; for this purpose, they include the â€Å"true† TV-stories about modest self-made Americans. The â€Å"telefeminist† network, in order to maintain customer loyalty, nowadays also orients to such values as love, family, as opposed to female strength, stressed in the early 1990s (Meehan and Byars, 2004, p.102). Intrafamilial harmony also becomes the emphasis in Lifetime’s films, which depict the peaceful coexistence of the couple of professionals, genuinely motivated for their job, but also interested in preserving their marriage and family as a source of support. However, it is possible to exemplify an alternative strategy, which can be categorized as â€Å"broadening of focus†, which consists in the attempt to respond the questions most Americans ask to themselves. For instance, ABC frequently broadcasts reality series (e.g. â€Å"Lost†) to define the degree to which a person might change under the new or stressful conditions; however, such TV-product also implicitly reveals the importance of the American dream and value of a self-made personality, capable of resisting real-life challenges. Works cited Johnson, V. â€Å"CBS, PAX-TV, and â€Å"heartland† values in a neo-network era†. In The Television Studies Reader, edited by Robert C.Allen and Annette Hill. Routlege, 2004, pp. 403-416. Meehan, E. and Byars, J. â€Å"Telefeminism. How Lifetime Got Its Groove, 1984 -1997†. In The Television Studies Reader, edited by Robert C.Allen and Annette Hill. Routlege, 2004, pp. 92-104.