Analogue Switch-off : A signal change in television, second report of session 2005-06, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence

Digital technology has revolutionized modern television but what exactly has changed? The history of the digital transition is one of great scientific achievement, expensive failures, and significant political and industrial power struggles. In Shut Off: The Canadian Digital Television Transition, Gregory Taylor examines the technology, institutional players, and the policies that have shaped Canada's efforts to switch from analogue to digital television broadcasting. Taylor shows how digital television is part of a global media movement by comparing the Canadian experience with the ways in which the digital transition has been managed worldwide. Shut Off is about more than television - the digital transition is also a precursor for new developments in mobile digital media. The wireless spectrum freed by the move to digital television is a multi-billion dollar public resource, whose auction is impending. The book reveals how digital broadcasting has been the site of dramatic change in the political economy of Canadian media, and questions the market-driven process through which the still incomplete transition has unfolded. Considering wide-ranging issues such as equal access and television as a public good, Taylor highlights public and institutional actors in the policy process to provide an analysis of government and industry. Succinct and insightful, Shut Off is a timely assessment of a period of technological and economic upheaval in Canadian broadcasting.

Media Firms presents studies applying the company level approach to media and communication firms. It explores differences among missions, strategies, organizational choices, and other business decisions. Reviewing economic factors and pressures on media and communications companies, this book seeks to improve understanding of how these elements affect market and company structures, operations, and performance of firms. The chapters, written by leading scholars worldwide, were selected from papers on the theme of media firms presented at the 5th World Media Economics Conference hosted by the Turku School of Economics and Business Administration and The Journal of Media Economics. The collected studies provide: *an overview of economic and related managerial issues affecting the structures of markets in which firms compete; *the operations of media and communications firms; and *their financial performance. As a result, it expands the discussion of economic issues traditionally associated with the field due to narrowed focus of initial books in media economics. It is hoped that this book will induce additional avenues of inquiry regarding such issues.

This account of the global switch to digital television, from its origins to its emerging outcomes, provides an understanding of how digital television is converging with the Internet. It pictures a future in which the democratic role of the media, freedom of expression and democratic participation can be enhanced.

. . . the authors succeed in presenting an excellent overview of the evolution of most of the general issues and challenges currently facing policymakers and regulators in virtually every area of the media industries. . . This volume will definitely be on my own required reading list the next time I teach a course in media policy and strategy. Richard Hawkins, Communications and Strategies This volume offers broad coverage of the economic and commercial issues involved in digital television in major regions and countries around the world. Regulators, executives and consultants in the broadcasting and communities sectors will find much of interest in the volume. It can also be useful additional reading for students in media or business studies. The bibliographies appearing at the end of each chapter will stimulate academic debate. Madely du Preez, Online Information Review Digital television is transforming both broadcasting and, as a result of convergence, the larger world of communications. The impending analogue switch-off will have a major impact on households all over the developed world. Digital Broadcasting considers the effects of digital television on the availability, price and nature of broadcast services in the Americas, Europe and Japan. It shows how this depends upon what platforms cable, satellite, fixed or wireless broadband countries have available for use and also upon government policies and regulatory interventions. The authors show how policies towards digital television are also closely linked with spectrum for example, whether to use spectrum released from analogue broadcasting for mobile communications or for broadcasting, including the newly developed mobile broadcasting. This is one of the key technological changes of the early 21st century and its development will affect many countries economies and societies. The book has an invaluably broad coverage of the economic and commercial issues involved in digital television in major regions and countries around the world. Regulators, executives and consultants in the broadcasting and communications sector will find much to engage them within the book. Researchers and academics of industrial and public sector economics will also find the book of great interest. Students in media studies or business courses can also use the book as additional reading.

The OECD Communications Outlook 2009 presents the most recent comparable data on the performance of the communication sector in OECD countries and on their policy frameworks.

Media power is a crucial, although often taken for granted, concept. We assume, for example, that the media are 'powerful'; if they were not, why would there be so many controversies over the regulation, control and impact of communicative institutions and processes? Further, we assume that this 'power' is somehow problematic; audiences are often treated as highly susceptible to media influence and too much 'power' in the hands of one organization or individual is seen as risky and potentially dangerous. These concerns have been at the heart of recent controversies involving the relationships between media moguls and political elites, the consequences of phone hacking in the UK, and the emerging influence of social media as vital gatekeepers. Yet it is still not clear what we mean by media power or how effective it is. This book evaluates contrasting definitions of media power and looks at the key sites in which power is negotiated, concentrated and resisted - politically, technologically and economically. Combining an evaluation of both previous literature and new research, the book seeks to establish an understanding of media power which does justice to the complexities and contradictions of the contemporary social world. It will be important reading for undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers and activists alike.