Television
Media Technology
Television media technology has gone through a similar beginning and evolution to radio, albeit a later invention – 1927 (Stephens, n.d.) where moving pictures were coded onto radio waves and then transformed back into pictures. Early broadcasts in the 30s and 40s included news and sporting events, addresses by the President, advertising, and entertainment pieces. Television technology was not as quick, or as easy, to develop as radio technology, and it also had to contend with competition by radio networks. Entertainment programs which incorporated product placement advertising and “plugs” were very popular, as was children’s programming. Advertisers had contracts as sponsors of many of these programs, while in today’s television media there may be product placements in some programming, but advertisers pay handsomely for 15-30 second commercial spots during the hours best suited to their market niche. Entertainment shows have always been popular, as have documentary and news segments. Advertisers have enjoyed having a medium by which they can “enter people’s homes” to promote their products in both a visual and audio format. Television media technology developed to include digital and online formatting where program can be streamed live via satellite internet feeds. The variety and choice of programming is mindboggling. There are still networks which broadcast in traditional ways (through towers by which a television set may pick up a signal through its antenna), but people have options to receive television transmissions via cable, satellite dish, and internet receiver, to name a few.
