Midterm Flashcards
Define Monopoly
The exclusive possession or control of the supply of a product or service
Define vertical integration
- A company may manage multiple stages of a business
- Ex. hardware, software, and/or distribution
Define horizontal integration
When a company specializes in one thing and try to be the only option
Example: Amazon trying to dominate all distribution
Explain rate of return regulation
- Essentially capping the profit a company can make for providing a service in cable industry
- Giving companies subsidies or this monopoly and in exchange, they can’t make more than X% profit
Explain common carrier universal service
- Related to telephone industry
- Must serve customers in public interest without discrimination
Explain Universal access
Everyone has the right to access phone/TV/Internet
Define scarcity
When something has a limited amount
Explain retransmission consent
Local stations could charge cable companies for access to signals
-The cable company could refuse to carry the signal
Explain Bundling service
When you get cable, phone, and internet from the same company
Define subsidies
A sum of money granted by the government or a public body to assist an industry or business so that the price of a commodity or service may remain low or competitive
List characteristics of the coaxial cable
- Could transmit more than 3 stations at once
- The hardwired tether could reach most people
- Allows transmission of more data than copper wires
What is the goal of regulation?
To get technology to diffuse
What is the 1st Amendment
- Freedom of speech
- Governments struggle with the balance of freedom of press/speech with their need to control/protect citizens
What is the 4th Amendment
- Protects from searches
- How to apply to the Internet when no papers exist and data is stored online
The Communication Act of 1934
- Broadcasters should serve in the public interest.
- Wanted to prevent vertical integration and ensure competition, localism, and diversity.
- Company couldn’t be both distributor and producer.
- Federal law that Says we have to regulate right of way in a national level.
- Created the FCC (Federal Communication Commission)
1984 Modified Final Judgment (MFI)
- Opened long distance calls to competition
- Brought down the price of long distance calls
- AT&T forced a break up and they lost their monopoly
1996 Telecommunications Act
- Goal was to promote competition and reduce regulation to get better prices
- Led to convergence and monopolies
- Merges between phone and cable companies
E-mail and Privacy-federal Case Law - Balance privacy w/employer’s maintenance of workplace
- Employees have no expectation of workplace privacy
- Used for workplace misconduct
- Only applies where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy
- 4th amendment
Online Obscenity
- Internet legislation based on broadcast legislation
- CDA/COPA
Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996
- Regulated all online sexual content
- Only info appropriate for children would be available online
- Ruled unconstitutional
Libel
- Any expression that damages your reputation or causes others to disassociate themselves from you
- Publisher is responsible
Network Neutrality
- Organizational infrastructure of different industries
- History of corporations and ownership influence marketplace.
- Only the cable company pushed for net neutrality
Define convergence related to technology
The coming together of computing, telecommunications, and media in a digital environment
What is the role of information in new technology?
Information as an intangible public good or as a utility
Media products enter the economy as ____?
information
Intellectual property rights are retained by the ______?
Owner
Information lacks ____ presence and can be sold as many times as the market will allow. not manufactured
Physical
Internet disseminates info of all types
- Need to determine whether it is an information service or provider
- Global and crosses international boundaries
- Convergence of ownership
How to track diffusion?
- Have to measure with consistency
- Consider effect of shortened lifecycle of technologies
- Monetary measures are inconsistent
- Non-monetary measures are more consistent
- Used in different industries (e.g. monetary measures vs. units sold)
Principle of Relative Constancy
The amount of money individuals spend on media
- Determined by the state of the economy
- Consistent percent of disposable income
- People spend predictable amounts on media
What did the principle of relative constancy predict about the media industry?
- Successful new media harms traditional media
- New communication technologies are expensive
- McCombs (1972) suggested new media was different
What is the critique of the Principle of Relative Constancy?
It does not consider media economic theories
What is the goal of diffusion of innovation theory?
Tries to explain how an innovation is communicated over time through different channels to members of society.
What are the five groups that make up the Diffusion of Innovation Theory?
- Innovators
- Early Adopters
- Early Majority
- Late Majority
- Laggards
Adoption of innovation predicts a person’s future ____?
adoption
What is critical mass?
- Apart of the Diffusion of Innovation Theory
- Number of people required to get people to adopt, the tipping point
Explains what happens in the delay period between innovation and diffusion?
- Rate of adoption proceeds slowly
- Diffusion becomes self-sustaining (critical mass)
- Then the rate of adoption shoots up
What are the 4 stages of the product lifestyle?
- Introduction
- Growth
- Maturity
- Decline
What are the parts of the Umbrella Perspective of Technology
- Enabling factors - make technology possible
- Limiting factors - restrict or prevent technology
- Motivating factors - make people want to adopt technology
- Inhibiting factors - opposite of motivating
Umbrella Perspective - List the levels of the enabling factors
- Hardware level (capability to send digital signals)
- Political level (policymakers allocate spectrum)
Umbrella Perspective - List the levels of the limiting factors
- Hardware level - no available service connects to device
- Organizational/political level - laws of policies prevent use
Umbrella Perspective - List the Motivating factors
- Pool of rich users motivates corporations to provide service
- Content motivates people to pay for service/adopt technology
Umbrella Perspective - List the inhibiting factors
- Social norms
- Ethics
- Perceived appropriateness
- Cost
Theory of planned behavior: Technological vs. social determinism vs. mutual determinism
- Predicts adoption when no history of innovation
- Seeks to understand how to persuade people to change behavior
- Messages and attitude can influence behavioral intent
- Behavioral intent can lead to behavior change, but not always true
- Inconclusive predictive ability
What is the goal of a rational choice model?
Seek to predict media choice, assuming people make a logical choice.
What is the Social Presence Theory?
- Categorizes media on “salience” of the interaction partner
- Rational choice model
What is the Information/Media richness model?
- Assume people select media based on richness
- Rich media is best for personal/complex tasks
What is the social information processing theory?
- Predicts that people adapt their communication behaviors
- Absence of cues does not reduce sociability
- The choice depends on factors beyond media cues
Explain the Uses and Gratifications theory?
-Predicts that people will use media that meet their needs
What are the two assumptions of the Uses and Gratifications theory?
- Assumes active audience making choices
- Assumes people are aware of needs to be met
Explain the Social Learning theory?
-Predicting that people learn by modeling the behavior of others
What is the Principle of Relative constancy (McCombs, 1972)
“Only a fixed proportion of the economy is available to finance mass communication.” McCombs
Explain critical and cultural theories
- A different perspective on the role of technology in lives
- Feminist, LGBTQ, and racial scholars focus on ownership, presentation, and representation
In the media women are frequently shown as?
As mothers or sex goddess
How are minorities depicted in the media?
-Underrepresented and depicted stereotypically
Prediction diffusion of technology and innovations
- Affordances of Technology
- Policy sets regulations
- Social perception and goals
- Content is king
New innovations are more than just features (perceived to be new)
- Must reach “diffusion threshold” for wide adoption
- Innovation requires more than features of technology
How is the diffusion threshold reached?
Hardware, software, production, and distribution must be complete
What is the electromagnetic spectrum?
- Range of electromagnetic frequencies
- As sound, light, electrical energy used to transmit messages
- Measured in hertz
List characteristics of Spectrum use and standards
- Use regulated and licensed by FCC
- Wired channels
- Wireless spectrum
- Infrastructure of communication networks
Analog Signal
- Replica of original wave
- Measured in amplitude (strength)
Digital Signal - convert to binary (0/1)
- Each number is a bit and 8 bits make a byte
- Used to encode and decode messages
ASCII Code
- The binary language bits and bytes
- Baud rate and analog infrastructure
True/False The use of wavelengths are heavily regulated?
True
Analog bandwidth is measured in?
Hertz
Variation in (wave) frequency determines the ______?
intensity of vibration
What is a Wavelength
The distance sound travels during one cycle of the sound.
Radio spectrum includes what two kinds of waves?
- Ground waves
- Direct waves
Ground waves
- Travel along ground until absorbed
- Follows earths curvature
Advantages of ground waves?
- Able to go through objects ex. mountains, buildings, and forests
- More stable for long range communication
Disadvantages of Ground waves?
- Low frequencies have long wavelengths
- Require massive equipment for transmission (huge antennas)
Direct Waves
- Travel in straight lines following horizon (line of sight)
- Partially absorbed by obstacles in their path
- Does not follow earth’s curvature
What is the relationship between bandwidth and compression?
Compression techniques allow for more than one signal to be sent at one time through bandwidth. This is called simulcasting
Define digital television
Any technology that uses digital techniques to provide advanced television dTV, HDTV, or other advanced features and services (FCC definition)
What is the difference between analog and digital?
Analog can only send on channel at a time while digital can be digitized to be able to send multiple channels
What is NTSC?
Analog standard(infrastructure) that came before digital, 4:3 ratio. They can send more singals through meg-hertz. In the 60’s they add color
Explain the process of diffusion from analog to digital.
- The switch from analog to digital changed the protocol and let providers match the television set.
- didn’t mandate the number of scanlines
- Standard high definition is most common
Who pushed to make all digital transmission by Feb 17, 2009/ standards to change to allow color and then digital and other innovations to television
- FCC
- All analog transmission ceased in 2009
- Only DTV broadcast allowed after this date (progressive and interlaced allowed)
- Consumers upgraded TVs or purchased set-top box (not well advertised to consumers)
Interlaced scanning is used by _____?
National Television Standards Committee
What is one enabling characteristic of Television
Getting access to service and desired content
List a few enabling characteristics of television
- Policies on competition and retransmission of content
- Costs for programming and TV sets
Explain how content delivery changed television (push/pull)
- Used to be ‘pushed’ from media on schedule
- Now is ‘pulled’ by consumer whenever
Explain Negroponte switch and cutting the cord
- Transmissions going from wired to wireless
- Need spectrum and access (Net Neutrality)
- Battle between broadcasters and mobile phone providers for limited spectrum
Explain Broadcast flag technology
- To block the copying of flagged programs
- FCC put a requirement for the flag
- Public interest groups challenged this in court
- Court ruled that FCC overstepped
- Congress may revise FCC power to allow this
Cable television now is a ______?
Multichannel TV service
What is the primary form of video entertainment for americans?
Cable TV
Why was Cable TV created?
To get TV to people who OTA broadcast couldn’t reach
List barriers to overcome for diffusion
- Loop and architecture and move to coaxial cable and fiber optics (amplifiers and set top boxes)
- Infrastructure influence how technology can be used
- Converting traditional cable to digital
What is the FCC Anti Siphoning Legislation of 1970?
- Protect networks content (movies and sports) from cable
- Federal Circuit Court in 1977 rejected limitations and relieved cable industry
What is the Cable communications policy act of 1984?
- Regulated cable at the federal level
- Deregulated local and state restrictions on industry profits
- Resulted in the diffusion of investment into industry but less competition
- Rates skyrocketed and led to complaints
Satellite home viewer act 1988
Amends the copyright law to require statutory licensing of secondary transmissions of a primary transmission made by a superstation or a network station if such secondary transmission is made by a satellite carrier to the public for private viewing for a charge.
Cable TV Consumer Protection and Competition act of 1992
- Re-regulated price and service of the cable industry to spur competition
- Changed “must carry” to retransmission consent
- FCC considered including the Internet (VOD and PPV) be included
What is Must-Carry?
Requires cable service to carry local station, no compensation
What is Retransmission consent?
- Previously known as Must-Carry
- Local stations could charge cable companies for access to signals
- The cable companies could refuse to carry the signal
What is the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004
- Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 and the wardrobe malfunction
- Outraged parents and consumers
- Increased fines for indecency
- Allows for license revocation after 3 violations
- Indecency is not well defined and the act will be redefined (act does not consider violence)
What is Deregulation?
- Freedom from government control for corporations
- A “Free Market” should allow the best products to diffuse
- No rules on ownership, content, or universal service
- Maintain rules protecting and sustaining infrastructure and licensing
What is regulated control?
- Mandate that everyone can easily access communication
- Force companies to act in public interest
____ was seen as an extension of the post office
The telegraph
What industry was the first to fund infrastructure as private/public partnership?
Telegraph
Explain the differing regulation philosophy of the Telephone
- Initially regulated as a utility
- Seen as a necessity for citizens
- need for interconnection and universal service
Explain the Differing regulation philosophy of Broadcasting
- More heavily regulated than other industries
- Spectrum scarcity as public resource justified technical restrictions
- Limited licensing allows censorship and public interest requirement
- Radio rules largely transferred to television
Explain the Differing regulation philosophy of the Internet
- Requires new regulatory perspective - unique service
- Need to determine whether it is an information service or provider
- Everyone is a content consumer and provider
- Global and crosses international boundaries
- Convergence of ownership, and devices
- different considerations for access, content regulation,etc.
High-speed Internet
- Requires infrastructure upgrades
- Congress passes rules requiring it but not funds to enact
- Government trying to partner with corporations to upgrade infrastructure
