Television on Demand: Curatorial Culture and the Transformation of TV

Description

Since 2010 “curation” has become a marketing buzzword. Wrenched from its traditional home in the world of high art, everything from food to bed linens to dog toys now finds itself subject to this formerly rarified activity. Most of the time the term curation is being inaccurately used to refer to the democratization of choice – an inevitable development and side effect of the economics of long tail distribution. However, as any true curator will tell you – curation is so much more than choosing – it relies upon human intelligence, agency, evaluation, and carefully considered criteria – an accurate, if utopian definition of the much-abused and overused term. Television on Demand examines what happens when curation becomes the primary way in which media users or viewers engage with mass media such as journalism, music, cinema, and, most specifically, television. Mass media’s economic model is based on mass audiences – not a cornucopia of endless options from which individuals can customize their intake. The rise of a curatorial culture where viewers create their own entertainment packages and select from a buffet of viewing options and venues has caused a seismic shift for the post-network television industry – one whose ultimate effects and outcomes remain unknown. Curatorial culture is a revolutionary new consumption ecology – one that the post-network television producers and distributors have not yet figured out how to monetize, as they remain in what anthropologists call a “liminal” state of a rite of passage – no longer what they used to be, but not yet what they will become. How does an advertiser-supported medium find, leave alone quantify, viewers who DVR This is Us but fast-forward through the commercials; have a season pass to The Walking Dead via iTunes to watch on their daily commutes; are a season behind on Grey’s Anatomy via Amazon Prime but record the current season to watch after they’re caught up; binge watched Orange is the New Black the day it dropped on Netflix; are watching new-to-them episodes of Downton Abbey on pbs.org; never miss PewDiePie’s latest video on YouTube, graze on Law & Order: SVU on Hulu and/or TNT and religiously watch Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show via digital rabbit ears? While audiences clamor for more story-driven and scripted entertainment, their transformed viewing habits undermine the dominant economic structures that fund quality episodic series. Legacy broadcasters are producing more scripted content than ever before and experimenting with new models of distribution – CBS will premiere its new Star Trek series on broadcast television but require fans to subscribe to its AllAccess app to continue their viewing. NBC’s original Will & Grace is experiencing a syndication renaissance as a limited-run season of new episodes are scheduled for fall 2017. At the same time, new producing entities such as Amazon Studios, Netflix, and soon Apple TV compete with high-budget “television” programs that stream around traditional distribution models, industrial structures, and international licensing agreements. Television on Demand: Curatorial Culture and the Transformation of TV explains and theorizes curatorial culture; examines the response of the “industry,” its regulators, its traditional audience quantifiers, and new digital entrants to the ecosystem of the empowered viewer; and considers the viable future(s) of this crucial culture industry. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1 Rites and Rituals of Transformation and the Television Industry/ies The process, possibilities, and power of the liminal Chapter outline 2 From Surf to Search to Seek . . . Curatorial Culture and the Transformation of Viewer Agency From choosing to curating . . . Curationism Curatorial culture Preconditions of a curatorial culture Metaphors of consumption: Theories of viewership Metaphors of control: The transformation of viewing Cultural shifts in our conception of viewing DVDs—we learn to binge OTT: Viewing outside of the box Television goes “off the box” Metaphors of affinity: Theories of liking “Curating’s just another word for saying ‘I choose you’.” (No, it’s not.) Cultural intermediation, citizen criticism, and the power of social networks 3 Who’s Watching? When? Why? Where? The Limits and Liminality of Audience Quantification The market for ratings products What do ratings mean? How are they calculated? How ratings are used The digital challenge C3/C7 ratings Total audience measurement Internet ratings OTT ratings Portals Social media, engagement, and TV ratings 4 The Industry: Ritual, Tricksters, Response, and Reification The structure of the linear, legacy OTB industry Television development, production, distribution, syndication Taking the shows to market: Upfronts Syndication and the aftermarket First run syndication Off-net/Aftermarket syndication Traditional linear programming strategies: Flow, daypart, and genre Dayparts Genre transformation in the post-network post-box era From genre cycle to genre silo—the long tail of television? The digital disruptors—interventions and new conventions Netflix Amazon Studios YouTube aka Netazon? Amaflix? YouTube as democratized archive YouTube as DIY broadcast platform / video yard sale / video co-op YouTube as “cable” system/alternative television distributor The industry responds Network sites Bridge content Hulu and Hulu Plus TV everywhere (with us!) and the reification of control Second screen apps Still liminal or passage complete? 5 Containment, Common Carriage, and Net Neutrality—Regulating the Long Tail of OTT Television A brief history of regulatory legislation 1934 Communications Act 1965 First Report and Order on Cable/“must carry” rules 1992 Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act 1996 Telecommunications Act Current FCC issues and actions Net neutrality Ownership Spectrum allocation and auctions MVPD vs. OVD—What’s in a definition? 6 Curatorial Culture Goes International The markets themselves One major difference from the US market Some similarities and some statistics Programs go to market Platforms go international Amazon YouTube Netflix Net neutrality around the world Global market domination: It is not just for American companies anymore 7 The Curatorial Future Global but not globalizing—the international televisual sphere Conglomerates, common carriers, and copyright—regulation in the curatorial age The reification of control and integration of new entrants—the American television “industry/ies” Production Distribution The search for common currency—quantifying the curators Power to the people—curators triumph Glossary Notes Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Bibliography Index