Television and Globalization: The TV Content Global Value Chain

This study uses the global value chain (GVC) framework to analyze the globalization of television and argues that it has been driven by the dynamics of a newly formed TV content value chain. Distinct segments emerged as the chain globalized and firms sought a competitive advantage by expanding internationally within their sector. This article focuses on four dimensions of the TV content value chain and, documenting the growth of transnational TV networks and formats, argues that the TV industry's millennial global shift was triggered by internationalization of the chain's segments. Finally, it suggests that industry conglomeration should be comprehended in the context of Internet disruption and international fragmentation of production within expanding value chains

The making of an entertainment revolution: How the TV format trade became a global industry

From its humble origins in the 1950s, the TV format industry has become a global trade worth billions of Euros per year. Few viewers are aware that their favourite shows may be local adaptations but formats represent a significant percentage of European broadcasting schedules in access prime time and prime time. Formatted brands exist in all TV genres and reach almost every country in the world. This article defends the thesis that the format business turned into a global industry in the late 1990s. Before this turning point, the few formatted programmes were most likely American game shows that travelled slowly and to a limited number of territories. Following an overview of this early period, this article examines the convergence of factors that created a world format market. These include the emergence of four exceptional formats (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Survivor, Big Brother and Idols), the formation of a programming market, the rise of the independent production sector, and the globalization of information flows within the TV industry

The Advent of the Transnational TV Format Trading System: A Global Commodity Chain Analysis

This article argues that the format business transformed into a trading system in the 2000s, system being defined as a singular transnational space structured by networks of interdependent economic agents, firms, institutions and places. Following the global commodity chain/global value chain approach set out by Immanuel Wallerstein and developed by Gary Gereffi, this article then examines each dimension of the global TV format commodity chain that runs through this trading system. Beginning with the governance structure, this article counter-intuitively asserts that despite the current boom in TV production, it is a buyer-driven chain with power resting firmly in the hands of those making the acquisitions: the broadcasters. Considering the chain’s geographical configuration, this article identifies three tiers of format exporters and specific trade routes along which most TV formats travel. These findings enable us to reassess the claims made by the cosmopolitanization thesis about the nature of media globalization. Contrary to this thesis, this article asserts the need to comprehend media globalization within the context of an expanding capitalist world-system, and shows that the new transnational TV format trade and its commodity chain replicate the inequalities and power structures of former trading systems

Drama without drama: The late rise of scripted TV formats

This article revisits the history of TV formats - concepts of TV shows that are licensed for local adaptations – focusing on scripted entertainment. While the TV format revolution of the 1990s bypassed scripted formats, they have been catching up in recent years. This paper analyses both the reasons for this late rise and the factors behind the recent growth. It argues that the adaptation of scripted formats is more complex and risks remain higher than for other genres. The underlying economics of their production and distribution also differs from non-scripted formats. Stars came together when demand for drama increased worldwide, Hollywood studios began to mine their catalogues, new exporters and scripted genres emerged, and knowledge transfer techniques improved. Finally, this paper analyses the significance of the rise of scripted entertainment in the global TV format trading system

Standing on the shoulders of tech giants: Media delivery, streaming television, and the rise of global suppliers

This article uses the case study of Internet Protocol (IP) delivery for streaming television to demonstrate how technology and globalization combine to change what media firms do, how they create value, and with whom. Media delivery - the sum of the value-adding tasks necessary to transfer content from source to audience - has become a mosaic of technologies that sustain a complex and fast-evolving video ecosystem. Broadcasters had been in charge of the full transmission process once, of tasks deemed core to their business. Today, media delivery is externalized to the market and devolved to a network of suppliers. These suppliers are no ordinary firms, but tech giants that have developed deep global capabilities. They gain further leverage by being cross-sectoral, serving clients across multiple industries. Who are these suppliers? What makes them unique? And what are the implications for the television industry

Television & New Media : Volume 16, Number 1, January 2016

1. Drama without Drama : The Late Rise of Scripted TV Formats 2. Scenes from Imaginary Country : Test Images and the American Color Television Standard 3. Record/Film/Book/Interactive TV : EVR as a Threshold Format 4. Restarting Static : Television\u27s Digital Reboot 5. Regulating the Desire Machine : Custer\u27s Revenge and 8-Bit Atari Porn Video Game

Information technologies, social change and the future : online journalism in Portugal

The main objective of this article is to equate social change and new information and communication technologies (ICTs). From a multitude of theoretical entry points, the author decided to outline the key concept of time and to discuss its explanatory possibilities in a specific context: the development of online journalism in Portugal over the last decade. She takes the view that general formulations about the relationship between social change and technology could not elucidate the nature of social transformations nor the driving and opposing forces in particular contexts. Technology per se is not a relevant explicative variable but, in context, it certainly contributes to clarify social change. This article argues that the understanding of different simultaneous rhythms of change requires complementary incursions through the past, the present and the empirically accessible future