Cable Visions - by Sarah Banet-Weiser & Cynthia Chris & Anthony Freitas (Paperback)

About the Book

"Through a series of highly original and carefully researched essays, Cable Visions offers a lively and comprehensive survey of the contemporary multichannel television landscape in the United States."--William Boddy, author of New Media and Popular Imagination: Launching Radio, Television, and Digital Media in the United StatesCable television, on the brink of a boom in the 1970s, promised audiences a new media frontier-an expansive new variety of entertainment and information choices. Music video, 24-hour news, 24-hour weather, movie channels, children's channels, home shopping, and channels targeting groups based on demographic characteristics or interests were introduced. Cable Visions looks beyond broadcasting's mainstream, toward cable's alternatives, to critically consider the capacity of commercial media to serve the public interest. It offers an overview of the industry's history and regulatory trends, case studies of key cable newcomers aimed at niche markets (including Nickelodeon, BET, and HBO Latino), and analyses of programming forms introduced by cable TV (such as nature, cooking, sports, and history channels).

Book Synopsis

Cable television, on the brink of a boom in the 1970s, promised audiences a new media frontier-an expansive new variety of entertainment and information choices. Music video, 24-hour news, 24-hour weather, movie channels, children's channels, home shopping, and channels targeting groups based on demographic characteristics or interests were introduced.
Cable Visions looks beyond broadcasting's mainstream, toward cable's alternatives, to critically consider the capacity of commercial media to serve the public interest. It offers an overview of the industry's history and regulatory trends, case studies of key cable newcomers aimed at niche markets (including Nickelodeon, BET, and HBO Latino), and analyses of programming forms introduced by cable TV (such as nature, cooking, sports, and history channels).

Review Quotes

"Cable Visions is a compelling exploration of contemporary U.S. television that grapples with the contradictory logic of consumerism and citizenship upon which cable TV is based. Thoroughly researched, accessible, and innovative in design, the essays trace cable from its early utopian beginnings as 'alternative' TV to its current-day realization as a multichannel (but not necessarily diverse) commercial system aimed at niche tastes. A 'must read' for anyone interested in understanding the opportunities and limits of the new media environment."--Lynn Spigel, author of Make Room for TV and TV by Design

"This comprehensive survey is a must for anyone interested in the opportunities, limits, and future projections of the new-media environment."-- "CHOICE"

"Through a series of highly original and carefully researched essays, Cable Visions offers a lively and comprehensive survey of the contemporary multichannel television landscape in the United States."--William Boddy, author of New Media and Popular Imagination: Launching Radio, Television, and Digital Media in the United States

About the Author

Sarah Banet-Weiser (Editor)
Sarah Banet-Weiser is Professor and Head of the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics. She is the author of four books, including Authentic(TM) The Politics of Ambivalence in a Brand Culture (2012), which won the International Communication Association's Outstanding Book Award, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World: Beauty Pageants and National Identity (1999), Kids Rule! Nickelodeon and Consumer Citizenship (2007), and Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny (2018). She is the co-editor of Cable Visions: Television Beyond Broadcasting (2007) and Commodity Activism: Cultural Resistance in Neoliberal Times (2012), both available from NYU Press.

Cynthia Chris (Editor)
Cynthia Chris is Assistant Professor of Media Culture at the City University of New York's College of Staten Island, and author of Watching Wildlife.

Anthony Freitas (Editor)
Anthony Freitas works as a media relations consultant for non-profit organizations in San Francisco.