The history of cable television in America is far older than MTV, ESPN, and HBO. Tracing the origins of cable back to the late 1940s, media scholar John McMurria also locates the roots of many current debates about premium television, taste hierarchies, minority programming, content restriction, and corporate ownership. Drawing from rare archives, Republic on the Wire reconstructs the pivotal moments when elite policymakers and disenfranchised viewers clashed over the future of cable television and the meaning of American democracy.
The history of cable television in America is far older than MTV, ESPN, and HBO. Tracing the origins of cable back to the late 1940s, media scholar John McMurria also locates the roots of many current debates about premium television, taste hierarchies, minority programming, content restriction, and corporate ownership. Drawing from rare archives, Republic on the Wire reconstructs the pivotal moments when elite policymakers and disenfranchised viewers clashed over the future of cable television and the meaning of American democracy.
JOHN MCMURRIA is an assistant professor in the department of communication at the University of California, San Diego. He is the coauthor of Global Hollywood and Global Hollywood 2.
Inhaltsangabe
Acknowledgments
Introduction: American Pluralism, Television Policy, and the Method of Equality
1Broadcast Policy, Television Spectrum, and the Pluralist Logics of Inequality
2Contesting (In)Equality at the Margins of Television Reception
3Pay-TV Orders
4Local Origination, Public Access, and the Hierarchical Logics of Civic Culture
5Blue Skies, Black Cultures
Epilogue: Neutrality, Connectivity, or Equality When Media Converge