Multicasting

Lesbian Programming and the Changing Landscape of Cable TV

Bibliographic Data

ID12756203
AuthorsJulia Himberg (Arizona State University, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume15
Issue4
Pages289-304
Publication date2013-01-31
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTelevision & New Media (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1527-4764 • E-ISSN: 1552-8316
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1527476412474351
OpenAlexW2115051297
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited4

Paying particular attention to the ways in which lesbian consumers and programming are co-constituted, this article examines lesbian programming on cable TV as a strategic method for attracting audiences and branding networks. Drawing on interviews with TV industry practitioners and market researchers, I examine the impact of institutional beliefs and practices on the production of lesbian programming. Based on these interviews and investigation of the contemporary cable and marketing industries, I consider the use of lesbian programming as a method for targeting cable’s increasingly fragmented audiences. I use the basic cable network Bravo and the premium cable network Showtime as case studies, positing an emerging trend in television: cable channels use lesbian programming to tap into multiple markets. What I have termed multicasting, targeting several distinct audience demographics, provides a framework for understanding why lesbian images are commodifiable in the postnetwork cable TV landscape

Advertising · Business · Cable television · Demographics · Lesbian · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Telecommunications · Computer Science · Gender Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Marketing

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