Flow under Pressure: Television Scheduling and Continuity Techniques as Victims of Media Convergence?

摘要

The death of broadcast TV has been predicted since the mid-1990s. What is more, the transformation from TV as one technological platform to a myriad of platforms, devices, and thus also to multiple reception contexts has been described in a rich body of research from the mid-2000s onward (Katz and Scannell 2009; Olsson and Spiegel 2004; Turner and Tay 2009). In line with these observations of how TV is not ending, but rather being redefined in the digital age, our ambition with this special section is to go beyond the hype about the impact of convergence on the television medium. Our aim is to provide empirical studies that demonstrate how new ways of watching television emerge as a result of competing platforms with video-on-demand and time-shifting devices. The migration to online platforms in particular creates a considerable and new kind of competition for linear television to the point that some question its role, position, and even its very future.