Television Career Field Structure
Keep track of the number of hours you and your family spend in front of the TV and compare it to the national average—seven hours, and 40 minutes a day for each household. In any given hour, a cable or satellite viewer may have a choice of 100 programs; this number is increasing as more specialized cable channels develop original programming, and as digital television makes it possible to receive well over 100 channels in your home. As we channel-surf with ease, sitting back with our remote controls, thousands of people are hard at work to bring us these programs.
Some people in TV, such as talk show hosts, news anchors, and sportscasters, are prominent across the nation or in their local communities. Others work behind the scenes, putting together the many programs aired on broadcast television and cable on any given day. For example, broadcast engineers and technicians maintain the broadcast equipment and salespeople sell airtime to advertisers to keep the station profitable. Large stations located in metropolitan centers can employ several hundred people, whereas a small station in a small city may employ as few as 35 people. Some programs are put together by people working on a freelance basis; producers, directors, and writers can be employed by a station or a production company to work on a single project or production.
A local FOX channel doesn’t have the resources to put together an episode of 24. So how does the show manage to find its way piped into your home by a local station? Many television stations are affiliated with one of the national networks (such as FOX, ABC, CBS, and NBC). An affiliate station is not owned by the network but merely has a business contract with the network to obtain a large amount of its programming. 24, along with most of the original comedies, dramas, and news magazines in prime-time television, are supplied by the networks, while the affiliate stations put together local daily news broadcasts, coverage of local sporting events, and specials of regional interest.
Have you ever been frustrated by the sudden cancellation of a favorite TV show? Well, you may have been the only fan of this program. Ratings systems determine what people are watching and when. Maybe you’ve even served as a Nielsen family, filling out a diary, listing the programs you watched during a specific week. With numbers compiled by Nielsen ratings surveys, networks and affiliates determine what to charge advertisers for airtime during their programs. However, the highest-rated programs don’t always have the highest ad rates. Nielsen surveys also provide numbers about the kind of audience (such as young or old, women or men) watching a specific program, and some advertisers prefer to target specific age groups and genders. Because commercial TV stations rely on advertising revenue to stay successful, much in the broadcasting industry (scheduling, staff, salaries) is determined by ratings. Cable television networks operate under some of the same arrangements as commercial television stations. Some cable networks are advertiser-supported. Although one cable station may seem to rely entirely on reruns of M*A*S*H, Seinfeld, and other old, commercial-television products, others create their own programs. Cable networks that focus on specific subjects of interest, such as The Travel Channel and the Food Network, create special programming for their audiences. Other cable networks (such as HBO and Showtime) are subscriber-supported and run motion pictures, athletic games, entertainment events, and movies produced specifically for cable. Today, more than 110 million households have cable television, approximately 59.2 percent of television households, but increased available channels does not translate directly into increased viewing. According to TV Basics, the average viewer looks at up to only 19 channels even when presented with more than 100. Cable operators are currently upgrading their systems to offer even more services, such as digital and HDTV programming and high-speed Internet access.
Even the worst program on TV takes up its fair share of space in the air as it’s transmitted along electromagnetic waves. So, as an attempt to keep things in order in a variety of ways, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was created in 1934. The FCC is involved in many aspects of broadcasting, from business matters to the content of programs. The FCC supervises and allocates air space, makes channel assignments, and licenses television stations to applicants who are legally, technically, and financially qualified.
The commission also sets limits on the number of broadcasting stations that a single individual or organization can control. These limits were relaxed, however, in the mid-1980s. Broadcasters today no longer must perform as many public affairs and public service functions, the license renewal process is easier, ownership requirements are more lax, and it takes less time to buy and sell a station. In 1992, FCC regulations were relaxed even more, and this new leniency has paved the way for large station and network mergers in recent years. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed phone companies to enter wider cable markets. Part of the Act requires the FCC to review its media ownership rules every four years, and as part of that review in June 2003 the FCC revised several of its rules limiting broadcast ownership. Among the changes were an increase from 35 percent to 45 percent of the national television ownership limit and changes to rules regulating ownership of local radio and television stations. The changes became the center of controversy and were delayed in taking affect due to challenges in federal courts.
The FCC has also been involved in introducing digital television transmission. As of 2006 more than 1,500 stations were airing DTV signals. All other commercial stations in all markets were required to construct digital broadcast facilities by 2009.