From Networks to Netflix
A Guide to Changing Channels
Preview
Book Description
Now in a second edition, this textbook surveys the channels, platforms, and programming through which television distribution operates, with a diverse selection of contributors providing thorough explorations of global media industries in flux.
Even as legacy media industries experience significant disruption in the face of streaming and online delivery, the power of the television channel persists. Far from disappearing, television channels have multiplied and adapted to meet the needs of old and new industry players alike. Television viewers now navigate complex choices among broadcast, cable, and streaming services across a host of different devices. From Networks to Netflix guides students, instructors, and scholars through that complex and transformed channel landscape to reveal how these industry changes unfold and why they matter. This second edition features new players like Disney+, HBO Max, Crunchyroll, Hotstar, and more, increasing attention to TV services across the world.
An ideal resource for students and scholars of media criticism, media theory, and media industries, this book continues to offer a concrete, tangible way to grasp the foundations of television—and television studies—even as they continue to be rewritten.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Pluto TV: Channels, Portals, and the Changing Television Cosmos
Derek Johnson
Broadcast Legacies
2. ABC: Crisis, Risk, and the Logics of Change
Kristen J. Warner
3. The CW: Media Conglomerates in Partnership
Caryn Murphy
4. PBS: Crowdsourcing Culture Since 1969
Michele Hilmes
5. Telemundo: Telenovelas for the Twenty-First Century
Juan Llamas-Rodriguez
6. TV Globo: Global Expansions and Cross-Media Convergence from Broadcast to Streaming
Courtney Brannon Donoghue
7. MeTV: Old Time TV’s Last Stand?
Derek Kompare
Cable and Satellite Survivors
8. NewsNation: Local Broadcasting, National Cable Channels, and the Evolution of WGN
Christine Becker
9. Cartoon Network: Adult Swim and the Evolving Use of "Edge"
Jacob Mertens and Lauren E. Wilks
10. Nick Jr.: Shifting Conglomerate Strategies from Scheduling to Intellectual Property
Erin Copple Smith
11. Freeform: Shaking Off the Family Brand within a Conglomerate Family
Barbara Selznick
12. Comedy Central: Trying to Grow Up by Getting Younger
Nick Marx
13. Bravo: Branding, Fandom, and the Lifestyle Network
Martina Baldwin and Suzanne Leonard
14. AMC: Story Sync and Frictionless Fandom
Suzanne Scott
15. Starz: Distinction, Value, and Fandom in Premium TV
Myles McNutt
16. Playboy TV: Contradictions, Confusion, and Post-Network Pornography
Peter Alilunas
17. El Rey: Latino Indie Auteur as Channel Identity
Alisa Perren
Streaming Ventures
18. Netflix: Streaming Channel Brands as Global Meaning Systems
Timothy Havens and Ryan Stoldt
19. YouTube: The Interface Between Television and Social Media Entertainment
Stuart Cunningham, Smith Mehta, Gabriela Lunardi, and Guy Healy
20. iQIYI: China’s Internet Tigers Take Television
Michael Curtin and Yongli Li
21. Amazon Prime Video: Scale, Complexity, and Television as Widget
Karen Petruska
22. The Roku Channel: Vertically Integrated Connected TV
Ramon Lobato and Eleanor Patterson
23. OTV | Open Television: The Development Process
Aymar Jean Christian
24. Revry: Making the Case for LGBTQ Channels
Julia Himberg
25. iROKOtv: Drama for the "Small-Small" Screen
Tori Omega Arthur
26. Crunchyroll: Contested Authenticity in the Creation of Niche Brand Communities
Susan Noh
27. Viki: Governing Transnational Fandom via Platforms
Wan-Jun Lu
28. Twitch.tv: Tele-visualizing the Arcade
Matthew Thomas Payne
Television Plus
29. Hulu: Negotiating National and International Streaming
Evan Elkins
30. Hotstar: Reimagining Television Audiences in Digital India
Shanti Kumar and Aswin Punathambekar
31. Abema TV: Where Broadcasting and Streaming Collide
Marc Steinberg
32. Mango TV: The Rise of a State-Controlled Entertainer
Xiaoying Han
33. Disney+: Imagining Industrial Intertextuality
Kyra Hunting and Jonathan Gray
34. ESPN+: Subscribing to Diversity, Marginalizing Women’s Sports
Jason Kido Lopez
35. Peacock: Network Heritage, Olympic Dreams, and the Transformation of NBC Sports
Deborah L. Jaramillo
36. HBO Max: Media Conglomerates and the Organizational Logic of Streaming
Gregory Steirer
37. Paramount+: "Peaking" Subscriber Interest in Legacy Television Franchises
Derek Johnson
Editor(s)
Biography
Derek Johnson is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His books include Transgenerational Media Industries: Adults, Children, and the Reproduction of Culture as well as Media Franchising: Creative License and Collaboration in the Culture Industries. He is also the co-author of Television Goes to the Movies, and the co-editor of books including Point of Sale: Analyzing Media Retail.
Reviews
"With this timely new edition, Johnson and his stellar collection of authors keep pace with the rapidly evolving entity once known simply as television. The collection offers state-of-the-moment accounts of the broadcast, cable, and streaming services that continue to play a central role in video entertainment."
Amanda D. Lotz, Professor of Digital Media and Communication, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
"With an expanded range of global case studies, the second edition of From Networks to Netflix is a must read for anyone seeking to understand television in the twenty-first century. Read separately, each case study offers a thoroughly examined investigation into the channels, streaming services, and platforms that shape television production and consumption today. Combined, the case studies challenge assumptions about how television is being altered by digitization, revealing the multiplicity of ‘televisions’ that form distinct, yet integral parts of the contemporary television industry."
Catherine Johnson, Director of Research and PGR (Media, Journalism and Film), University of Huddersfield, UK