American Tv Industry Essay

American television is at odds with itself because its interests are torn between providing for the public and making a profit. Government plays the part of moderator although it has shown itself, through legislation, to side with commercial interests over the people it is supposed to be serving. Corporate greed plays another significant role and has proven its interests lie with maximizing profits not the public good. These two factors have resulted in the American television industry as an almost entirely commercial entity. American television is able to operate as a commercial industry because of the culture of consumption in place that is promoted by the American government. This culture started early on with television airwave licenses being
While the TV industry might claim that they need to be revenue based to produce content, in other countries, for example, the BBC in the United Kingdom, public television that is funded by the government has proven to be successful. Americans are told that television operates as a democracy, like our government, with audiences “voting” for what they want to stay on the air through their viewership. This notion of the audience having some degree of power relates to the way public interest is defined in America as whatever interests the public. The result of this conundrum is American television content being grounded in entertainment, i.e., what the public is interested in. Money holds the key to power in many realms of life, with American TV being a product of its sway. The regulations enacted by the government along with corporate greed have built and continue to foster a television landscape that makes its decisions based on profit. We may think of television as a democratic medium but, it functions with only itself in