The Television and Disruptions in Media Consumption

Introduction 

Today, digital television has become part and parcel of billions of people with a set located in billions of homes globally. They play a critical role in the dispersal on information on global as well as local proceedings, and entertainment. Though most modern families do not deem their homes complete without a Tv set, the same cannot be stated a century ago when no one knew what they were. Historical records identify that even during the late 1940s, television was not mainstream with only a few thousand units sold to families across America. When viewed from this perspective, it is difficult to understand how television became a niche present in the majority of living rooms. They have transformed from being sources of receiving signals to receiving internet signals, in other words, the modern Tv set has transformed into a simplified form of a computer.

History of the Television Sets 

Mechanical Televisions 

These sets were present before electricity was invented, they were first documented and presented to the public in the 1800s. They operated by mechanically scanning images then transmitting whatever was scanned to a screen. They were extremely basic if compared to modern televisions ( Understanding Media and Culture , 2010) . These mechanical televisions relied on disks with holes arranged in a spiral pattern that rotated at high speed. The invention was the creation of two inventors John Baird, and Charles Francis Jenkins made in the 1920s ( Understanding Media and Culture , 2010) . Though these devices are deemed the originators for the modern television sets, its contrary as the first mechanical television was made by German inventors. Called the electric telescope, it functions by sending images through wires utilizing a high speed rotating disk.

Electric Televisions 

The first publicly accepted electronic Tv set was created and presented to the public in 1927. Created by 21-year-old Philo Taylor Farnsworth, he wanted to improve the design that mechanical televisions had adopted ( Understanding Media and Culture , 2010) . While in high school he had a thought whereby he could take moving pictures and transform them into code that could be sent using radio waves to television sets. This device today is recognized as the camera, and his system was the most advanced form at the time. Nevertheless, the first ever image that was transmitted using this device was a simple line, and later he transmitted an image of the dollar sign when indirectly requested by a prospective investor ( Understanding Media and Culture , 2010) . After this invention was made public, it took time before being widely accepted, during this period, manufacturers of mechanical televisions made innovative changes to their products, but by the mid-1930s they eventually stopped. This was due to the public acceptance of electronic televisions as they offered a more automated and simplistic means of displaying the moving pictures ( Understanding Media and Culture , 2010) .

The technology that drove the electronic television was the cathode ray tube (CRT) that was first used as a component of television sets in 1907. Together with two anodes which represented the positive terminals and the cathode representing the negative terminal. The functionality was based on the heating of a filament enclosed in a glass tube. This would result in the release of electrons to the vacuum of the tube ( Understanding Media and Culture , 2010) . The negatively charged electrons are then attracted to the positively charged anode, which can be more than one; located at the screen end of the tube. It is obvious that this action as it is cannot create images, but by coating the screen with phosphor, the electrons would paint the expected image one line at a time on the screen ( Understanding Media and Culture , 2010) . Control to the television was offered through two steering coils. These coils used magnetism to push the electron stream to the user’s desired location. One of the coils would push the electrons vertically whereas the other pushed horizontally.

Color Television 

The color Tv set can be dated back to as early as 1904 when the creator a German national patented the idea without actually creating a functional prototype. The idea was forgotten until 1925 when inventor Vladimir Zworykin conceptualized the system developed in 1904 (Edgerton, 2007). However, the lack of necessary technology resulted in it not being created. For another two decades the notion of color television sets was set aside, but just after the Second World War, the idea was resurrected. However, the development and implementation of the color television set brought about the rivalry between the two giant television manufacturing companies, RCA (Radio Corporation of America) and CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) (Edgerton, 2007).

When the two companies are to be compared, CBS was the first to develop the first color Tv set. However, it was limited by the fact that it was mechanical as the original sets developed in the early 1920s (Edgerton, 2007). This made it incompatible with the other black and white sets that were being sold across the country. The FCC ignoring this major flaw made the CBS color television the national standard. RCA protested heavily and noted that the government wanted an alternative, developed their own color television sets that were compatible with those in the market (Edgerton, 2007). Even with color television sets available, television content was still in black and white until 1965 when color programming was first available across the nations.

Television Today 

Content consumers are regarded as the most evocative audience that the majority of brands have ever seen. Regardless of whether they have seen it or not they dictate what kind of content that programming companies such as Netflix, HBO, CBS, Sci-Fi and ABC studios among others, broadcast and how it is done. For marketers, this makes a lot of sense to use this landscape to their advantage (Hall, 2017) . Between the early 1970s and the 2000s, technology has taken the forefront in empowering the public. They have the power to conduct research, support, share ideas, hold varying levels of people accountable as well as others (Bennett & Strange, 2011). In other words, it is clear that television (TV) has played a critical role in empowering people with information from across the world thanks to the internet.

The viewing of traditional TV is still strong in the United States with research stating that people devote approximately five hours per day to watching television. However, it should be appreciated that the technology is changing (Hall, 2017) . Traditional TV programming is giving way for new platforms such as Hulu, Netflix, HBO, and YouTube TV among others. These platforms have shaken up the entertainment industry as they identify to the public that there are other forms of content (Hall, 2017). The changes have also affected the manner by which the content is developed. With many TV series today that are developed in varying manners, experts in the industry acknowledge that it is no longer about the TV or DVDs but rather ensuring that the viewers remain loyal to a single platform (Bennett & Strange, 2011). When modern television is compared to its early version, the change is clear from the technology to the power of the audience. The use of technology such as the implementation of 3D scenes in movies or programming is not limited to a single platform but rather competition.

Television today is not limited to cabling as it was in the 1960s, 70, 80s and 90s. The internet has not only increased globalization but also the functionality of television. This has created the next generation of televisions as well as programming; the technological advancement has modernized the development, distribution and fiscal returns (Thurlow & Mroczek, 2011). This chapter of the paper has identified how televisions’ power has exchanged hands in less than five decades. In the 1960s, the television stations dictated what its audience was to watch, however, the internet other technological advancements created variety which caused the power to be transferred to the owner of the TV. It has created a time whereby no one can predict the next advancement and how it will affect the entertainment industry.

The Rise of Internet 

This paper has developed the Tv sets from its invention, to how it contributed to the development of television stations and now, it has promoted internet programming. However, it should be appreciated that other forms of content are thriving on the internet. Social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube among others, have contributed to the disruption on traditional marketing and technology progression. In other words, before social media, it was close to impossible to reach as many people as it is today. With the ability of modern TVs to connect to the internet they have also affected newspapers. As stated earlier, modern TVs have been converted to simplified computers, and with more people relying on visual content, they have also played a role in limiting the amount of print media.

Moreover, the concept of television has changed with time as modern the smartphone screen has been converted to a TV set. They can display both news and entertainment content. This technology has disrupted the means by which the audience has consumed media in the past decade, and more changes are expected for the future (Bennett & Strange, 2011). Regardless of the notion that many take on the ideology, an accepted fact is that the majority of the audience today is online. For companies to maintain profitability and satisfaction of the need presented by the audience, they will have to move as well.

Conclusion 

The internet as an entity has had a detrimental effect on numerous printing companies. Some newspapers have been unable to maintain the competition while others are struggling. Libraries are competing for funding in a world where all the information can be accessed, updated and downloaded either free of charge or after a small charge. Moreover, the internet has limited to no regulations making it far cheaper to place contents online for consumption. Overall, the technology that the television was able to develop has advanced to a stage whereby more people are not relying on the traditional norms. This has resulted in the question of whether television will survive the era of the internet.

References

Bennett, J., & Strange, N. (Eds.). (2011). Television as digital media . Duke University Press.

Edgerton, G. (2007). The Columbia history of American television . Columbia University Press.

Hall, J. (2017). From TV To Digital Media: How Technology Changes Content Development. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2017/03/07/from-tv-to-digital-media-how-technology-changes-content-development/#d257db6517a3

Thurlow, C., & Mroczek, K. (Eds.). (2011). Digital Discourse: Language in the new media . Oxford University Press on Demand.

University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. (2010). Understanding Media and Culture . Minneapolis, MN.