Looks beyond broadcasting's mainstream, toward cable's alternatives, to critically consider the capacity of commercial media to serve the public interest. This work offers an overview of the industry's history and regulatory trends, case studies of cable newcomers aimed at niche markets, and analyses of programming forms introduced by cable TV.

The Broadcast Century and Beyond is a popular history of the most influential and innovative industry of the century. The story of broadcasting is told in a direct and informal style, blending personal insight and authoritative scholarship to fully capture the many facets of this dynamic industry. The book vividly depicts the events, people, programs, and companies that made television and radio dominant forms of communication. The latest edition includes coverage of all the technologies that have emerged over the past decade and discusses the profound impact they have had on the broadcasting industry in political, social, and economic spheres. "Broadcasting as a whole has been completely revolutionized with the advent of YouTube, podcasting, iphones, etc, and the authors show how this closing of world-wide broadcasting channels affects the industry.

Just a few years in the mid-1950s separated the "golden age" of television's live anthology drama from Newton Minow's famous "vast wasteland" pronouncement. Fifties Television shows how the significant programming changes of the period cannot be attributed simply to shifting public tastes or the exhaustion of particular program genres, but underscore fundamental changes in the way prime-time entertainment programs were produced, sponsored, and scheduled. These changes helped shape television as we know it today. William Boddy provides a wide-ranging and rigorous analysis of the fledgling American television industry during the period of its greatest economic growth, programming changes, and critical controversy. He carefully traces the development of the medium from the experimental era of the 1920s and 1930s through the regulatory battles of the 1940s and the network programming wars of the 1950s.

Electronic Media connects the traditional world of broadcasting with the contemporary universe of digital electronic media. It provides a synopsis of the beginnings of electronic media in broadcasting, and the subsequent advancements into digital media. Underlying the structure of the book is a "See It Then, See It Now, See It Later approach that focuses on how past innovations lay the groundwork for changing trends in technology, providing the opportunity and demand for change in both broadcasting and digital media. FYI and Zoom-In boxes point to further information, tying together the immediate and long-ranging issues surrounding electronic media. Career Tracks feature the experiences of industry experts and share tips in how to approach this challenging industry. Check out the companion website at http://www.routledge.com/cw/medoff-9780240812564/ for materials for both students and instructors.

This is the first study devoted to the highly significant roles played by France and Britain in the formulation of European audiovisual policy, providing a truly comparative analysis of the contemporary audiovisual scene in the two countries.