Television Entertainment in the Post-Broadcast Era: A Literature Summary

Running head: LITERATURE SUMMARY
Literature Summary
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LITERATURE SUMMARY1
Television has always been an important tool of mass media since its inception.
However, the nature of television entertainment and its public perception have undergone
drastic changes over time. The presented article in this context describes this shift of
television entertainment along with its transformed role and purpose in the lives of common
people. More specifically, the article explains the role and nature of television as a form of
post-broadcast media. The research problem, however, in this article is to identify the purpose
and function of television as a tool of post-broadcast era.
The development of mass media can be categorized into two sections, i.e. broadcast
era and post-broadcast era. The concept of post-broadcast era was popularized by Amanda D.
Lotz. As opposed to the broadcast era that spanned from the 1950s to 1980s, the post-
broadcast era distinguished itself by the feature of multi-channel transition from the earlier
broadcast era, where cable networks had taken over the control of television as compared to
the government channels (Lotz (Ed.), 2010). To elucidate, the broadcast era of television
majorly was governed by the nationalised channels that telecast nationalised contents.
However, in the post-broadcast era, the inclusion of multiple cable channel networks
delivered a wide range of programs, which catered to the customised preferences of customer
niche groups.
Lotz also maintains that this specific era is defined by five aspects, namely control,
choice, customization, convenience and community. She specifies the transformed televised
entertainment are a consequence of advanced technology that influences these 5 Cs. First, the
development of media with time-shifting capabilities such as VCRs and DVRs has rendered
the on-air runtime of programs irrelevant. Audience can choose conveniently what to watch
and when to watch them. Besides, digitization of contents has only aided to this phenomenon.
It has brought television out of the confinement of home through platforms such as iTunes
and Netflix. As a result of this, people has personal access to contents and programs, instead