MEDIA BROADCASTING COMMUNICATION TERMS ABC AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMPANY

MEDIA/BROADCASTING: COMMUNICATION TERMS

ABC (AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMPANY) » Owned by the Walt Disney Company » First affiliate was ABC 6 in Philly » First O&O, WABCTV in NY » Former NBC Blue.

ADVERTISING » CPM - Cost Per Mille (Thousand) (M is the roman numeral for 1000) » CPM is used by marketers to price advertisements. Networks that sell advertising will guarantee an advertiser a certain number of impressions (number of times an ad is viewed and presumably seen), then set a rate based on that guarantee times the CPM rate. A program that has a CPM rate of $25 and guarantees advertisers 600, 000 impressions will charge $15, 000 ($25 x 600) for those advertisers' ads.

AFFILIATE » Or network affiliate is a local broadcaster which carries some or all of the programming line-up of a television or radio network. » Networks have a relationship with affiliates because they are trying to reach as many viewers as possible.

AVANTE GARDE » The suggestion that using the product puts the user ahead of the times. » Avante Garde: people or works that are experimental or innovative.

CBS (COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM) » Owned by Viacom. » The first network with a working color television system. » Nickname: The Tiffany Network

CELEBRITIES » Celebrities often appear on television in guest roles, cameos, testimonials, special guests, experts, etc. » Snob Appeal: the use of a product makes the customer part of an elite group with a luxurious and glamorous lifestyle.

CG OPERATOR » Designs credits, lower thirds, and titles for television productions.

CONTINUITY SECRETARY » A CS carefully makes notes on scene and continuity details as each scene is shot to ensure that these details remain consistent among takes and scenes.

DAVID SARNOFF » ‘Father of Broadcasting’ » Nickname ‘The General’ » Ran RCA (Radio Corporation of America) and eventually, NBC. » credited with Sarnoff's law, which states that the value of a broadcast network is proportional to the number of viewers.

DAYPART » Dayparting is the practice of dividing the day into several parts, during each of which a different program is aired. » Ex. Traffic every 10 minutes during rush hour.

DIRECTOR » The person in charge of everything on a television set including all details such as talent interactions and selection of cameras.

EDITOR » Responsible for blending or cutting scenes together while adding audio and special effects to the program.

ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION » Area of television production responsible for everything but sports and news. » Includes: Made for TV Movies, Sitcoms, Dramas, etc. » Operates separately as a self-contained agency. (news)

FCC (FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION » Regulates all non-federal government use of the radio spectrum (radio and television signals), all interstate telecommunications, as well as all international communications that originate or terminate in the US. » Does not license stations to operate on assigned frequencies.

FINANCE DEPARTMENT » Handles all the money for a television station.

GUGLIELMO MARCONI » Sent and received the first wireless signal. » Credited with starting wireless communication.

LOS ANGELES (HOLLYWOOD) » Most entertainment productions (sitcoms, dramas, reality shows, etc. ) take place in Los Angeles.

NBC (NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY) » Owned by General Electric (GE) » First major broadcast network in the US.

NETCOMP » Network Compensation » The amount of airtime the network buys from its affiliates. » Networks pay approximately 200 million dollars a year in ‘netcomp. ’ » Other factors: size of the market, commercial minutes, performance, demographics, etc.

NETLET » A small upstart/mini television network. » Examples: § § § Fox (now a network) CW WB Pax Oxygen

NEW YORK CITY » Most talk shows, soap operas, sports shows, and news programs are shot in New York. » Ex. The Young and the Restless, 60 Minutes, Today Show » Soap Operas are produced by the networks themselves.

OWNED AND OPERATED » A television station that is owned by the network with which it’s associated with.

PARTICIPATING SPONSOR » The purchase of independent time slots across several different programs and time periods. » Ads started targeting viewers. » A participating sponsor must receive a billboard during the program.

PBS (PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE) » Non-profit public broadcasting television. » The only network that runs without commercials.

PHILO FARNSWORTH » Developed electronic television as a teenager in Utah. » Known as the ‘Father of Television. ’

SET/PRODUCTION DESIGNER » The person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event. Works directly with the producer and director. » The production designer guides key personnel in other departments such as the costume designer, the key hair and make-up stylists, the special effects director and the locations manager (among others) to establish a unified visual appearance to the program.

SINGLE SPONSOR » Buys the majority of commercial time on a program. » Ex. Kraft Television Theater, Colgate Comedy Hour, etc.

SPOT BUYER » A spot buyer must buy commercials that are packaged together with other shows. » Spot buying refers to commercials bought by national advertisers, usually through a rep firm, on a market-by-market basis as opposed to buying time on a national network. This allows variety and extended coverage for an advertisements.

TELECOMMUNICATION OR COMMUNICATION ACT OF 1996 » Outlines provisions dealing with obscenity and violence, V-chip technology, Digital television regulations, broadcast license renewal, etc. » Forced telephone companies to share their lines with other companies. Hence you can use your cell phone number with different carriers. » No more than 2 stations owned in the same market.

TELEVISION ADVERTISING » The world's first television advertisement was broadcast July 1, 1941. The watchmaker Bulova paid $9 for a placement on New York station WNBT before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. » Advertisement revenue provides a significant portion of the funding for most privately owned television networks.

TELEVISION PRODUCTION » Consists of numerous cast and crew members (usually over 100) » Production Assistants do all the ‘little jobs’ during a production. (I. e. get coffee, make coffee, etc. )

TRAFFIC » The scheduling of program material, and in particular the advertisements, for the broadcast day. » The traffic department generates a daily log of programming elements such as commercials, features and public service announcements.

TV MARKETS » The top 5 television markets: § § § 1. New York City 2. Los Angeles 3. Chicago 4. Philadelphia 5. San Francisco

TV RATINGS » Divided into two categories: » Ratings - The percentage of households tuned in to the program. » Shares - Share is the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the program. » The markets are defined by the number of households. » Ratings are calculated by Nielson.

Free Speech » Speech without censorship or limitation. Freedom of speech, the right to say whatever you want without retribution, is protected by the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. » However, it’s not absolute. (Libel, slander, obscenity, sedition, etc. )

Copyright » Legal protection granted to the creator of literary works, graphics, recordings, lyrics, music, and audiovisual works. » Law allows the creator to distribute and profit from his own work. (Check worksheet)

Defamation » The communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image. It is usually, but not always, a requirement that this claim (rumor) be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed. » It’s exposing false information that serves to ridicule or ruin one’s reputation or cause harm through slander or libel. - Attacks on a person's professional character or standing Allegations that an unmarried person is unchaste (impure) Allegations that a person is infected with a sexually transmitted disease Allegations that the person has committed a crime of moral turpitude (evil, lack of integrity)

Slander » Spoken (Oral) defamation; speaking false information in public If the offending material is published in some fleeting form, as by spoken words or sounds, sign language, gestures and the like, then this is slander.

Libel » Written defamation; publishing false information If it is published in more durable form, for example in written words, film, compact disc (CD), DVD, blogging and the like, then it is considered libel.

Censorship » The intentional suppression or deletion of information (which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive or inconvenient) to prevent it from being received by audience. » Can stem from a media source or government (political) » Restricts Freedom of Speech or Press

Hot Media » Includes electronic media such as television, radio, film, photography, and the Internet » Enhances only one sense; person does not need to exert much thought or effort

Cool Media » Includes printed media such as newspapers and magazines » Requires more effort on the part of viewer to determine meaning (Marshall Mc. Luhan)

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) » US Agency for consumer protection » Attempts to enforce truth in advertising. » Protect consumers against unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce

Obscenity » That which is without redeeming social value. » Offensive to one’s feelings of modesty and decency. » Synonyms: Taboo, Indecent, Abhorrent, or Disgusting.

Obscenity » » In the legal sense, obscenity refers to explicitly sexual messages or images, most often pornography. If deemed obscene, a message/image is not protected by the 1 st Amendment. In 1957, the Supreme Court’s decision in Roth V. United States, defined obscenity as “utterly without redeeming social importance, ” protecting classic literature that also includes sexual imagery. However, the court has had a difficult time concretely establishing what constitutes as obscenity. The court revisited this definition in 1973 with Miller v. California, finally agreeing upon a test to determine obscenity. the Court acknowledged “the inherent dangers of undertaking to regulate any form of expression, ” and said that “State statutes designed to regulate obscene materials must be carefully limited. ” The Court, in an attempt to set such limits devised a set of three criteria which must be met in order for a work to be legitimately subject to state regulation: § whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards (not national standards, as some prior tests required), would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; § whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law; § "whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. ”