The Arts and Media - Television

Television has defined two generations of consumers. It has, however, ceased to possess the unifying power it once had. A TV viewer of the 1950s or 1960s could tune in to comedian Milton Berle or Gunsmoke and know that he or she was sharing the moment with nearly every other American. Today, people have many more choices, including cable TV, satellite TV, pay per view, rented videos and DVDs, and computers. The American viewing audience has become fragmented.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) study U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales & Forecasts, 1999–2004 found that virtually all U.S. households had at least one television and three-quarters had more than one. Nielsen Media Research estimated that as of August 2004 there were 109.6 million TV-owning households in the United States, representing an increase of 1.2 million television households over the previous year.

Effect of the Internet on TV Viewing

Conflicting opinions have been expressed about the effect of Internet use on TV viewing. Some data has suggested that Americans online view less television, while other data has indicated that the time saved by online activities leaves more time to spend watching television. Veronis Suhler Stevenson observed that the projected 192 hours per year Americans would devote to Internet use in 2003 was just a fraction of the 1,610 hours they would spend watching television or the 992 hours spent listening to the radio. They forecast that the time saved using the Internet to perform tasks such as banking, paying bills, and shopping would free up additional hours Americans could devote to other media including television.

Cable and Satellite TV

Cable TV subscribers pay a monthly fee to cable companies to receive not only the regular broadcast networks but also such specialized channels as The History Channel, Animal Planet, the Game Show Network, Nick-elodeon (a children's channel), and ESPN (a sports channel). Cable TV subscribers who choose to pay more can also see the latest movies on such premium channels as HBO or Showtime. As of 1995 basic cable channels began to draw more total viewers than the three biggest networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) in homes that had cable. During prime-time hours, however, the major networks still attracted more viewers than the cable channels, but the cable networks' audiences have only grown over time.

According to Nielsen Media Research, 68.1% of American households with television (73.9 million) subscribed to at least a basic cable TV package in 2003. Almost 37% of TV homes (forty million) subscribed to a premium cable package, which included such channels as HBO. Another 19.4 million households had satellite television. According to Screen Digest, 283 different cable and satellite channels were available in 2003.