Chapter 2 - Televison Histories Flashcards
When was TV introduced in Britain?
1936 in PAL format
Who is often credited as the first inventor of television?
John Logie Baird demonstrated television in London in 1926 using an electro-mechanical system
When was TV introduced in America?
1939 in NTSC
When was TV introduced in Australia?
1956, delayed because we couldn’t decide which format was better, then finally with the Olympics scheduled for Melbourne the decision was made to introduce TV in the PAL system
Who launched and owned the first TV station?
Sir Frank Packer, Channel 9
Who was the first TV star?
‘The King of Television’ Graham Kennedy
Or Baird’s test subject, a mannequin head named ‘Eustace’
Who are some other inventors credited for development towards television?
Alexander Graham Bell 1876 Paul Nipkow 1884 Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton 1908 Boris Rosing 1907 Vladimir Kosma Zworykin (1889-1982) developed a device called an Iconoscope, followed by the Kinescope
What system eventually won out over Logie-Baird’s mechanical strobe
An electronic system dividing the screen into lines and dots. The raster refresh rate gives the illusion of motion
How was television regulated?
A ‘Broadcast Listener’s License’ issued by the PMG
What Jeremy Sandford play is the most frequently repeated television drama ever?
Cathy Come Home, directed by Ken Loach and produced by Tony Garnett
What is cable television?
Originally called Community Antenna Television (CATV). Transmission of television signals along cables in the ground
What is satellite TV?
Television signals beamed from a ground transmitter to a stationary satellite that broadcasts the signal to a specific area (called the ‘footprint’) below it
What is regulation in regards to television?
The control of television institutions by laws, codes of practice or guidelines
What was the principle idea of creating television images?
The same way that newspaper photographs were transmitted by telephone wires from the beginning of the 1900s, by decomposing an image into clusters of larger or smaller black dots, producing shades and outlines of an image
What was the chemical element brought us one step closer to television?
Selenium
Which company worked on a competing television system, at the same time as John Logie Baird who received government and BBC support?
The Marconi EMI Company
What is ‘public service’ in television?
The provision of a mix of programmes that inform, educate and entertain in ways that encourage the betterment of audiences and society in general
What is a television network?
A television institution that transmits programmes through local or regional broadcasting stations that are owned by or affiliated to that institution
What is sponsorship?
The funding of programmes or channels by businesses, whose names are usually prominently displayed in the programmes or channels as a means of advertising
What is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)?
The government body in the USA which regulates the operations and output of television companies and other broadcasters
What did Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong argue were the purposes of broadcasting?
- To publicise the decisions made by the ruling Communist Party
- To educate the population
- To establish a channel of communication between the party and the people
What was the Annan Committee?
A committee reporting in 1977 to the British government on the future of broadcasting. It supported public service broadcasting, the funding of the BBC by licence fee, and the planned introduction of a fourth television channel
What is terrestrial in relation to television?
Broadcasting from a ground-based transmission system, as opposed to broadcasting via satellite
What is Marxism?
The political and economical theories associated with the German nineteenth-century theorist Karl Marx, who described and critiqued capitalist societies and proposed communism as a revolutionary alternative
What is satire?
A mode of critical commentary about society or an aspect of it, using humour to attack people or ideas
What is the structure of broadcasting as we know it associated with?
Attempts to raise the cultural, educational and social standards of societies
What key features characterise the pattern of television broadcasting that dominated the 20th century and continues into the 21st century?
- Promotion of democracy and citizenship
- Participation in a modern consumer society
- The centrality of the home as the location of private leisure and family life
- Access by government and industry to private space and private life
What is an Outside Broadcast (OB)?
The television transmission of outdoor events such as sport or ceremonial occasions, using equipment set up in advance for the purpose
What is the difference between a series and a serial?
Each programme in a series has a different story or topic, though settings and main characters stay the same, whereas a serial has a continuous developing narrative unfolding across a sequence of separate episodes
What is a docusoap?
A television form combining documentary’s depiction of nonactors in ordinary situations with soap opera’s continuing narratives about selected characters
Where is the evidence for writing television history sourced from?
Audio-visual records of programmes, and also printed sources and archival documents
