CTCS 191 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: How I Met Your Mother, Federal Communications Commission, Oligopoly

• School: USC
• Department: Cinema and Media Studies
• Course: CTCS 191
• Professor: Nitin Govil

Document Summary

Government regulation and policy-making plays important role in television history: favored major radio companies during transition to tv, favored development of strongly centralized network regime. Fcc (federal communications commission) financial interest and syndication rules in. 1970 forced major networks to give up their investments in primetime programming. Syndication opportunities income from network exhibition covered costs while syndication gave chance to turn a profit: syndication divisions: marketed large catalogues of programming, networks negotiate for financial interest in shows licensed for primetime. Networks were acting as buyers and sellers of programming oligopoly would exist in distribution and production sector of industry. Fin-syn rules banned networks from ownership of primetime programming with the exception of news/sports: could not produce or own a share of primetime programs they telecast. Government favored major networks from 1950-1970 finally started pressing for new players in tv industry. Response: cbs bundled production, syndication, and cable divisions into one company (viacom) as independent corporation in 1971.