High Tech in a Falling Market

Despite a decade of both apocalyptic and utopian predictions about life in the ‘post-television era’, the effects of technological and industrial realignments upon actual viewing practices and the advertising and programme forms of American television are still quite uncertain. This chapter provides a context for understanding these contemporary disputes through two case studies: the long and unhappy commercial history of interactive television over the past thirty years, and the recent controversies over changing programme and advertising practices which are seen as one industry response to the challenge of a new, technologically empowered television viewer.

Advertising · Business · Context (archaeology) · Falling (accident) · Interactivity · Multimedia · Political science · Television studies · Computer Science · Digital Games and Media · History · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology